1. It's the single best way to improve your working conditions, wages, health care and other benefits. Joining the Guild gives you a voice in the union as we help determine your wages, vacation and personal time, work environment and other terms of employment.
2. It shows the AP you are a dedicated professional, serious about spending a good part of your career here.
3. It shows that you stand side by side with your many colleagues who are union members, including more than 15 Pulitzer Prize winners, dozens of Beat of the Week winners and many domestic correspondents. Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll and most bureau chiefs and foreign correspondents are former Guild members.
4. Unions are about strength in numbers, and joining will boost our clout at the bargaining table, in pursuing grievances and on other issues that arise. Plus, only union members can run for office, serve as negotiators and vote on proposed contract offers and other key matters.
5. It’s only fair to support an organization that fights for you, and you get the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done your part to keep the AP a great place to work. Nonmembers dilute our strength, and the company uses that at the bargaining table to argue -- unfairly – that many employees support the company's positions, not the Guild’s.
6. The union maintains online discussion groups that help members get advice, learn from each other and exchange information about a variety of problems and issues arising nationwide. Our new Web site features a social networking tool you can use to build relationships with other members, connecting on personal, professional and union issues.
7. Dues amount to only about 2.5 hours of your straight pay each month, and overtime and holiday pay you earn are not touched. It's one of the smallest deductions from your paycheck.
8. The union brings you guaranteed minimum annual raises, plus annual scale increases for those early in their careers. Other financial benefits won in contracts over the years include: company matches to retirement plans; fully paid life insurance; increased job training; paid paternity leave, including for adoptions; more vacation and holiday time off; increased sick and disability time; more reasonable work schedules; sabbaticals after 10 years' service; an employee assistance program; same-sex partner benefits; high mileage reimbursement; and improved severance pay.
9. The Guild supplies valuable support, including legal assistance, if you have problems with management. When employees are unfairly targeted, the union can ask an independent umpire to return employees to work with back pay. Employees have no such recourse in non-union workplaces.
The Guild supplies valuable support, including legal assistance, if you have problems with management. When employees are unfairly targeted, the union usually saves or wins back their job, including back pay. Employees have no such recourse in non-union workplaces.
10. You'll get access to union-only discounts and special deals on hearing, dental and legal services, credit cards and life insurance, car rentals, Disney World hotels and more. These benefits are all spelled out in detail in a flier in the recruitment package. Union members and their relatives also are eligible for annual scholarships for college and other career training.