Union Issues

Union Plus Disaster Relief Grants of $500 are available to eligible participants of one of the following programs:

• Union Plus Credit Card Program²
• Union Plus Life Insurance
• Accidental Death Insurance
• Union Plus Auto Insurance 
• Union Plus Mortgage Program
• Union Plus Retiree Healthcare or
• Union Plus Personal Loan

To qualify for a Union Plus Disaster Relief Grant:

1. Your residence must be in a county qualifying for “Individual Disaster Assistance” from FEMA. To check if your county has been designated as an area eligible for individual assistance, visit FEMA’s disaster declarations page.
    
2. You must have had a Union Plus Credit Card for at least three months, Union Plus Personal Loan for at least six months, Union Plus Mortgage, Union Plus Retiree Health Insurance, Union Plus Life or Accidental Death Insurance or Union Plus Auto Insurance for at least 12 months with that account or policy in good standing (be up-to-date on payments).

If you participate in the Union Plus Credit Card Program and want to apply for a disaster relief grant, call 1-800-622-2580.

If you participate in any other of the designated programs and want to apply for a disaster relief grant, call 1-800-472-2005.

The Union Plus Disaster Relief Fund has provided nearly $1 million in assistance to union members facing hardships following Hurricanes Michael and Florence, floods and other natural disasters. Head to the Union Plus Disaster Relief Fund page to learn more about the benefits and eligibility requirements.

These grants and assistance programs are specially designed to help union members through uncertain times. 

For Union Plus Credit Cardholders**: 

• After three months as a cardholder, you may be eligible for a $300 Strike Grant*.

For Union Plus Mortgage Customers: 

• We offer Union Plus Mortgage Assistance. Strike/lockout grants can make mortgage payments if you’re participating in a union-approved strike or are locked out for more than 30 consecutive days. 
   
• For detailed information, applications or options for strikes/lockouts lasting less than 30 days, call 800-472-2005, extension 840. 

For Union Plus Personal Loan-holders: 

• After six months as a loan-holder, you may be eligible for a $300 Strike Grant.

For Union Members Who Participate in the Following Programs: 

• Union Plus Auto Insurance: Union Plus policyholders involved in a union-approved strike or a lock-out lasting 90 days or longer can defer premium payments for two months. To take advantage of this deferment, call 855-666-5797.
   
• Union Plus Life Insurance: Union Plus policyholder premiums are waived for up to three months during union-approved strikes lasting more than 30 consecutive days. This waived premium never has to be repaid. To use this strike benefit, call 800-393-0864.
   
• Union Plus Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance: Union Plus policyholder premiums are waived for up to one full year during a union-approved strike or a lockout lasting 30 days or more, providing the coverage remains in force. This waived premium never has to be repaid. To use this strike benefit, call 800-393-0864.

For a list of other resources that you may be eligible for as a union member or retiree, visit unionplus.org/hardshiphelp. 

What is Union Plus?

Union Plus is a non-profit and we're the ONLY consumer benefits organization created and endorsed by the AFL-CIO. 

Here at Union Plus, our mission is to improve the quality of life for union members and their families, provide valuable benefits and services that strengthen the ties of union members to their unions and contribute funding to the labor movement.

We’re Union and We Stand by Union

• We’re committed to supporting U.S.-based and union workers, right down to using union printers and union-made products in our offices. 
• Our staff are members of Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), Local 2 in Washington, DC.
• Our volunteer board of directors is made up of top union leaders from more than 60 international unions and chaired by AFL-CIO president, Richard L Trumka.
• We contribute funding to the labor movement and support important union activities whenever we can.

What Do We Do?

We’ve negotiated with some of the biggest names and brands to get union members like you the benefits you deserve and the protection working union members need — such as hardship help, strike grants and disability benefits. We pass along the exclusive benefits we’ve negotiated on behalf of union members and their families directly to you. 

We believe that our country’s middle class was built by union-strong members like you, so we diligently research every benefit and tailor them to support you and other union members. 

We partner with your union to deliver these benefits to you.  So, for instance, we provide communication materials to your union so they can distribute it on your union website, emails, membership meetings, new member welcome kits, etc. If your union leaders need anything from us, tell them to visit unionplus.org/leaders.

We’re working hard, to make life a little easier for you.  

Eligibility 

• These benefits and programs are FREE to union members and their families. There’s no membership —if you’re a current or retired union member or a family member — you’re in. No Union Plus membership. No Fees. No Waiting Period. No Hassle. 
• Don't have access to a union job? Consider joining Working America for free.

What We DON’T Do

We don't manage or use any union membership dues to finance our budget or benefits. Period.

We also don't manage any union pension funds or health care funds. Typically, your union negotiates wages, health care and pensions directly with your employer.

How to Get Your Union Plus Benefits

Getting started couldn’t be easier. Simply create a profile on our site, and start using your benefits and discounts today!

CREATE YOUR PROFILE
 

Check out these three ways in which AT&T and unions work together: 

1. AT&T is the only nationwide unionized wireless carrier. 
    
2. AT&T has the largest full-time union workforce of any company in America. 
    
3. AT&T provides special savings to union members with the AT&T Signature Program Discounts through Union Plus. 
   
   
   Learn More

He was affiliated with AFSCME for more than four decades, serving in a number of different capacities. He helped found Council 31 in Illinois, securing the first union contract for thousands of state workers and city of Chicago employees, shaking up Chicago’s old patronage system in the process. He later became the director of Field Services and eventually executive assistant to the president.

But resume items don’t capture everything he brought and meant to AFSCME. His leadership helped the union grow and thrive, becoming more diverse and dynamic. He was a gifted organizer. He combined passionate idealism with strategic smarts. He spent every day fighting for the right of public service workers to have dignity, security and a better life.

Paul devoted a lifetime to the pursuit of social justice. As a young man, he was an outspoken and influential voice against the Vietnam War. He was one of the leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, one of the most influential youth activist organizations in the nation’s history; and he helped craft the Port Huron Statement, the 1960s New Left manifesto.

Paul was also a man of generosity, decency and integrity, who believed in paying it forward – in grooming the next generation of activists. He has been a mentor and teacher to so many in AFSCME and beyond.

Paul is survived by his wife, Heather Booth, a powerhouse of her own in the progressive movement. They met at an anti-war sit-in more than 50 years ago, and Paul proposed just a few days later. Paul and Heather have two sons, Gene and Dan, and five grandchildren. 

Paul Booth leaves behind a loving family, legions of friends and admirers, and a towering, inspiring legacy.
 

Unions like the one you belong to have long been a powerful force for improving the living conditions of working families. Consider how these impact your life.

1. Weekends without work are the result of strikes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that led to shorter work weeks with weekends off. This gave workers time to take care of personal matters and spend time with their families.
2. Child labor was condemned by unions as early as the 1800s, but it took until 1938 for the Fair Labor Standards Act pass. It federally mandates minimum age requirements for employees and working hours for children.
3. Social Security provides payments to retired workers 65 or older. It helps ease the economic uncertainty created when workers retire from the paid workforce.
4. 8-hour work days haven't always been the standard. In 1890, the average work week for a full-time manufacturing employee was 100 hours. It wasn't until decades later that union negotiations resulted in 8-hour work days.
5. On-the-job health and safety issues are an ongoing concern of unions. Before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created 43 years ago, an estimated 14,000 workers were killed on the job every year. Today, the number of fatal workplace injuries has dropped to 12 a day. Unions continue to work to lower that number.
6. Health care benefits have always been central to union negotiations. Today, the Affordable Care Act and its provisions provide points for continued discussion and lobbying efforts.
7. Employer-provided pension plans are more likely to be provided to unionized workers than to their nonunionized counterparts. Employers of unionized workers also contribute more toward pensions.

Unions will continue to play a pivotal role in improving and maintaining a better quality of life for America's workers and their families. Help get the word out--unions work for a better standard of living.

Did you know Peeps are union-made? It's true!

Check out how this family-owned business hatches 5 million Peeps per day in Bethlehem, Pa., and it only takes six minutes start to finish. These sweet birds are Easter's best selling non-chocolate candy.

Union members looking to buy a sweet gift or table decoration can click here to save 25% on flowers with Teleflora.

VIDEO from The Washington Post: Take a conveyor belt to see how Peeps are born

Planning a summer vacation? Make it union

Wherever you go for a summer vacation, your family is likely to enjoy the services of union members: getting you to your destination safely, on time and comfortably; preparing and delivering food; keeping you safe and entertaining you. Check out the Union Plus Travel Center - the travel and entertainment section offers exclusive discounts for union members.

When you take in a live performance, a concert or show, a major sporting event, stay in a comfortable hotel or take a meal in a classy restaurant. More than likely, union members will be part of the experience.

Did you know that the most successful U.S. theme parks are staffed by thousands of union members?

Disney World employs some 27,000 union members from 9 different unions including musicians, actors, stage hands, hotel and restaurant personnel from UNITE HERE, Teamsters and many more.

AFSCME represents thousands of municipal workers at city and state parks and zoos. U.S. Interior Department workers who staff federal parks and monuments are also union-represented by NFFE, an affiliate of IAM. AFGE represents many employees who build exhibits, conduct research and maintain the world-renowned Smithsonian Institute Museum in Washington DC.

Thousands of employees working in Major League Baseball stadiums are represented by several unions including AFSCME, UNITE HERE and the Service Employees.\

If you're planning a family vacation, check the Union Label website for hotels, airlines, rail service and highway transportation available in the region you'll be visiting.

Most major U.S. airlines are union front to back. Continental has union pilots, but other elements of the line are non-union.

Greyhound buses are operated and maintained by members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) which also represents the operators, drivers and support workers for the Metro (Washington DC) transit system.

Here are ten reasons to thank unions for the equal job opportunities you and others enjoy today.

1. Fair minimum wage is a battle unions continue to fight for our country's lowest-paid workers.
2. Overtime pay is now mandated by the Fair Labor Standards Act at the rate of one and one-half times a worker's normal rate for time worked over 40 hours, but it hasn't always been so.
3. Employer discrimination is prohibited by Title VII V of the Civil Rights Act. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religious, sex and national origin. Sexual harassment is included as a form of sex discrimination.
4. Workers' compensation is a state-mandated insurance program that provides compensation to employees who suffer injuries and illnesses due to their work.
5. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prevents discrimination and promotes employment of older workers based on ability rather than age. With today's workforce of aging Baby Boomers, this issue is more timely than ever.
6. Wrongful termination laws protect against being fired for lodging a legal complaint against an employer or bringing an employer's wrongdoing to light as a whistleblower.
7. Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in jobs, as well as schools, transportation, and all public and private places open to the general public.
8. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 and 2011 require men and women be paid equally for the same amount of work.
9. Veteran's Employment and Training Service protects the employment rights of veterans and transitioning service members.
10. Workers' right to strike is protected by the National Labor Relations Act.

The collective power of unionized workers have made a difference in union families like yours — and will continue to for years to come.

Want to learn more about labor history? Text HISTORY to 22555, and we’ll send bimonthly labor history updates right to your phone. Msg and data rates May apply. Reply STOP to opt-out.

Benefits Help in Right-to-Work States

"New hires generally are very interested in the benefits and this has helped recruitment," says CWA Local 6203 Secretary-Treasurer Janice Bell. She uses the benefits to organize AT&T workers in Lubbock, TX where each hourly employee has to be signed up to join the union since Texas is a right-to-work state.

Lofty Organizing Goals Motivate Shop Steward

"My goal is to have everyone in our unit to be dues-paying members. I also want our members to be active in the union. One way to do that is to get them to appreciate what the union offers," says Mellody Huntley of AFGE Local 1395  in Oak Brook, IL.

The union's offerings will be clear to anyone who walks in Mellody's office and spots a large bulletin board displaying AFGE and Union Plus information. In addition, Mellody distributes Union Plus flyers every chance she gets.

Successful union leaders, like Mellody, recognize that a personal connection is vital. That's why she makes a point of personally sharing her stories of how both the union and Union Plus benefits have helped her.

Watch Mellody in action as she talks about her new favorite organizing tool: the Union Plus benefits!

Benefit Helps Organizer Save Home

Organizer for CWA Local 7901, Joseph Crane of Wshougal, WA knows first-hand about how useful the Union Plus benefits are. One saved his home when he faced several months without a paycheck.

"These days, every dollar counts," says Crane, who shows members how union benefits can save you money and provide a safety net like they did for him.

One More Reason to Join

"Significant savings for member, information they want to have, good outreach to families, help for organizing, what's not to like?" says Joe Weidner, AFSCME Council 8 in Ohio.

Brother Weidner's members have been winning scholarships and saving money thanks to Union Plus for years, but recently he decided to use the benefits to help strengthen his union through organizing.