The Union Advantage

YOUR CAREER IS CALLING!

WHY JOIN LOCAL 6?

Local 6 fights each day to improve the lives of our members. We offer the best wages, benefits, and retirement packages in the industry to provide you and your loved ones with security and peace of mind!

We demand safety on the job, workers’ rights, and equity for all, guaranteeing equitable standards through a legally-binding contract that protects working people and what we care about most.

When you join our team, you’ll receive credit in our training program for all of your existing trade knowledge and experience, and a starting wage that reflects that status. We will provide you with the rest of the training you need and get you DoL certified and ready for any challenge!

When you join the Insulators Local 6 team, you reap the benefits of more than 100 years of excellence!

Family-sustaining wages and benefits
Annual wage increases
Quality, affordable health care
Reliable pension for a secure retirement
Contractually-protected rights on the job
Industry-leading training
Program credit for existing knowledge/experience
Receive a starting rate that correlates with previous experience
Paid training to make you an expert in advanced insulation procedures
Various grants, scholarships, funds, and social services for members and their loved ones
Pride in your work and professionalism
A community of brothers and sisters

WHO ARE WE

The International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers Union Local 6 represents 700 certified insulation experts from across New England. We partner with the highest-quality insulation shops in the region, to provide our clients with the best-trained, most professional workforce in the insulation trade.

We offer clients a range of services related to mechanical insulation, including installation, hazardous waste removal, sound attenuation, and more. We work across sectors, serving public, commercial, industrial, higher education, and biotechnology clients.

Heat & Frost Insulators Local 6 sets the standards for quality in the insulation trade, and we work hard each day to continue raising the standards of the construction industry through fair pay, benefits, and opportunity for all.

ORGANIZE YOUR SHOP

Your Rights as an Organizer

The National Labor Relations Act extends rights to most private-sector employees, including the right to organize and bargain collectively with your employer. Employees covered by the Act are protected from certain types of employer misconduct and have the right to form a union where none currently exists.

Under the NLRA, you have the right to:

Attend meetings to discuss joining a union.
Read, distribute and discuss union literature (as long as you do this in non-work areas, during non-work times; such as breaks or lunch hours).
Wear union buttons, T-shirts, stickers, hats, or other items on the job at most worksites.
Sign a card asking your employer to recognize and bargain with the union.
Sign petitions or file grievances related to wages, hours, working conditions, and other job issues.
Ask other employees to support the union, to sign union cards or petitions, or to file grievances.

The National Labor Relations Act also protects employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted activities, with or without a union, which are usually group activities (two or more employees acting together) to improve working conditions, such as wages and benefits. Some examples of such activities include:

Two or more employees addressing their employer about improving their working conditions and pay;
One employee speaking to his/her employer on behalf of him/herself and one or more co-workers about improving workplace conditions;
Two or more employees addressing their employer about improving their working conditions and pay;
The NLRA also protects any individual employee’s right to engage in union support, membership, and activities.

Under the NLRA, your employer cannot:

Threaten employees with loss of jobs or benefits if they join or vote for a union or engage in protected concerted activity.
Threaten to close the plant or business operation if employees select a union to represent them.
Question employees about their union sympathies or activities in circumstances that tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in exercising their rights under the Act.
Promise benefits to employees to discourage their union support.
Transfer, lay off, terminate or assign employees more difficult work tasks because they engaged in union or protected concerted activity.

HOW TO ORGANIZE A UNION

Step 1: Industry workers meet to discuss issues and begin to form a union organizing committee.

Step 2: Pro-Union workers speak to their co-workers about workplace issues and the need for a union. Expand the organizing committee to include and reflect every level of the industry.

Step 3: Card Signing Day Organizing committee signs up co-workers on union cards authorizing collective bargaining representation. The goal is to receive signatures from 65-75% of the staff.

Step 4: Organizing committee requests voluntary recognition from the employer. If the recognition is denied by the employer, the union may file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a secret ballot election.

Step 5: NLRB Hearing — seven days later, the NLRB holds a formal hearing on the petition. Once the appropriate bargaining unit is determined, the facility’s election date, times, and voting location are set. The election is usually within 4-6 weeks from the NLRB hearing decision. The union must win the election by 50% plus one of those voting.

Step 6: NLRB Certification: Seven (7) days after the election, the NLRB certifies the election results. Directs the company to bargain with the employees over wages, hours, and working conditions.

* Between steps 5 and 6, the focus will be on member issues and union building. Contract surveys will be mailed to all eligible voters prior to the election and the organizing committee will compile the results. Work will begin on by-laws that once approved by the members will govern your bargaining unit.

**Once you win an election, your employer can no longer change existing practices without bargaining with you first. You will win the best contract when you are well organized, unified, and committed to strong participation in your union.

industry through fair pay, benefits, and opportunity for all.

For more information, contact Pat O’Toole