Frequently Asked Questions

What does our union want? 

Unions are created by workers to have a voice in decisions that impact them. What our union wants depends on what we want. Our union, Monterey Bay Aquarium Workers United (MBAWU), is going to advocate for, but not exclusively:

• Fair and equitable pay: reflecting the cost of living in Monterey County, predictable pay raises tied to inflation and job performance, and protection from layoffs.
• Comprehensive benefits: affordable and inclusive healthcare options prioritizing mental health and increased paid leave including additional paid parental leave and coverage for family and personal emergencies.
• Career development and transparency: work together to uphold our strategic plan to provide robust learning opportunities and create avenues for professional development, empowering staff with skills and knowledge necessary for continuous growth, inclusive leadership, and increased effectiveness as a whole.
• Workplace flexibility: work-from-home options, worker input on scheduling, and a clear universal policy covering expenses for travel, per diem, and lodging for employees both remote and onsite. 
• Workplace culture and morale: such as support for employees continuing to be impacted by COVID layoffs and ongoing support for internal and external diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts.
• Safe and accessible working conditions: ensure that workplace safety, inclusivity, and accessibility are prioritized by guaranteeing that workers have a meaningful voice in decision-making processes and holding management accountable to us. Our well-being must be supported through fair accommodations, adequate access to resources, and equitable, clearly defined policies. 

Your input is critical to our ability to bargain for a robust contract that takes care of all of us. It is possible that you found something missing from the above list. We don’t expect that we have already covered everyone’s needs in our concerns by this point.

Being a part of a union will make it more difficult for our organization to break labor laws, skirt accessibility to services or accommodations, and harass employees. The reason for this is because we will have our own union representatives. Union representatives act as a spokesperson for union members within a workplace, representing their interests by addressing concerns, negotiating with employers on issues like pay and working conditions, and supporting members during disciplinary actions or grievances, essentially ensuring their rights are upheld according to the collective bargaining agreement.

Who is eligible to join the union? 

Most employees will be eligible to join, however the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prohibits the inclusion of three classes of staff: managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees. There are definitions for these categories which are not determined by management. While management may contest your role, it is not their unilateral decision on whether or not you are eligible to be in the Union. Just because your title has “Supervisor,” “Lead” or “Manager” in the title does not necessarily mean you are supervisory or managerial. It comes down to your job duties, not the title!

• Managerial employees have the authority to make and enact policies for the organization. These are typically C-Suite titles and Heads of HR.

• Supervisory employees have independent authority to hire, transfer, suspend, layoff, recall, promote, discharge, direct, reward, or discipline other employees. Supervision of outside vendors, independent contractors, or student interns does not necessarily count as supervisory authority, and departments/offices where the Aquarium claims multiple levels of employees are “supervisory” will be looked at closely by the Labor Board. Being a team lead, project coordinator, or administrative coordinator does not mean you are supervisory. Ultimately, Supervisors need to be able to make personnel decisions. 

• Confidential employees have access to management’s confidential position in labor-relations matters, such as negotiations. They must either “assist and act in a confidential capacity to persons who formulate, determine, and effectuate management policies in the field of labor relations,” or “regularly have access to confidential information concerning anticipated changes which may result from collective-bargaining negotiations.” Simply having access to personnel records, for example, would not make someone a confidential employee. This is typically reserved for high-level executive assistants and Heads of Finance or HR. 

If you are unsure about your eligibility, please reach out to us at [email protected] and we can provide more information. You can also call our Organizing Director, Shane Anderson, at 916-291-8749 or [email protected]. 

What are the benefits of forming a union? 

Winning our union guarantees us a seat at the decision-making table.

By banding together we can amplify our voice! A major part of this is collective bargaining, in coming together as a group of workers we will negotiate a contract to deliver meaningful changes for ourselves. Management must legally bargain in good faith over conditions of our employment. This includes negotiating in good faith over: compensation, promotions, health insurance and benefits, workplace culture, workplace flexibility, and more. 

After our union election is held, our next steps will be filling out a bargaining survey, hosting listening sessions, and nominating and electing our bargaining team. 

We will only bargain up from what we currently have. Our union is how we empower ourselves, by coming together we are able to have a stronger voice and gain agency to create an environment that benefits us all.  

What can we fight for in our contract? 

We can negotiate for what matters to us, such as: wages, benefits, and working conditions. What precisely we request is up to us. Some items currently top of mind are: fair and equitable pay, comprehensive benefits, career development and transparency, workplace flexibility, and dedication to workplace culture and morale. 

Through bargaining surveys and listening sessions, we will be able to gain a better understanding of the needs of our individual members and work towards the changes that meaningfully improve our position at the Aquarium. Please voice your opinions and needs through these channels for the benefit of all! 

Check out our public letter to see some of the key things we would like to improve.  

What is a bargaining team? 

A bargaining team is a group of union members that sits down with management to negotiate our union contract. We (everyone in the union) elect our Bargaining Team. Your bargaining team will:

1. Act as the voice of employees in MBAWU making sure to present concerns, goals, and priorities to the Aquarium. 
2. Be responsible for keeping union members informed about the progress of negotiations and seeking feedback from MBAWU members. 
3. When we reach an agreement, the Bargaining Team will communicate and answer any questions regarding the final draft of our contract and make sure everyone is informed before we vote yes or no. 

How do we ratify a contract? 

1. Elect the Bargaining Team: Choose representatives to lead contract negotiations. MBAWU will do this by electing its members.
2. Set priorities: Use a bargaining survey to identify key concerns and draft proposals based on those priorities.
3. Form a Contract Action Team (CAT): Designate members to share updates and maintain communication with coworkers.
4. Submit proposals: Make finalized proposals public for review; the Aquarium does the same for their proposals.
5. Negotiate: Bargaining teams meet to discuss, adjust, and agree on sections, creating “tentative agreements” pending final approval.
6. Action and escalation: If negotiations stall, consider actions like solidarity movements or, as a last resort, public demonstrations or strikes. THIS IS A LAST RESORT IF THE AQUARIUM DOES NOT NEGOTIATE IN GOOD FAITH.
7. Finalize tentative agreement: Both sides confirm a draft contract and prepare it for approval.
8. Ratify the contract: Union members vote to approve or reject the agreement; approval makes it official. During this time the MBAWU Bargaining Team will hold town halls to go over the tentative contract and answer any questions that members may have. 

Our jobs are so different, how will our contract work for all of us? 

Contracts are extremely long documents! Although it is one document, the document can contain amendments and sections that are specific for specific work groups. It’s also important to remember that many of the goals we are working towards are universal such as better compensation, better benefits, more PTO, more transparency in decision making by the organization, DEIA goals, etc. 

However, for specific instances or asks we can use those amendments and sections. For example we know that the flexibility in our work week is something that is important - for some that may mean having hybrid schedules or the ability to work from home. For onsite staff like Guest Experience and Animal Care that isn’t really an option, but we could advocate for these work groups to have different work schedules like 4x10s or 9x80s therefore building flexibility into their work week. 

Could a union take funding from the organization's mission? 

An investment into the employees at the Aquarium is an investment in our mission’s success. When employees’ needs are met - when employees aren’t worrying about rent, food costs, and other basic needs - we have more bandwidth to focus on innovative, creative, and courageous ways to continue driving the Aquarium’s mission forward. 

When looking at the financial status of the Aquarium, we should not have a scarcity mindset. 

For an easy summary and breakdown of our financial status check out:

• ProPublica NonProfit Explorer

• 2023 990 Tax Filing

• 2023 Consolidated Financial Statement

Do unions protect bad workers?

A union offers a structured pathway to address challenging working conditions. Your contract can clarify processes for raising concerns and ensure that mechanisms for resolving workplace issues are transparent, accessible, and equitable for all employees.

Even with a union in place, it remains management's responsibility to ensure workplace performance and address issues effectively and equitably. In some cases, managers may attempt to deflect their own inaction by attributing it to union constraints. However, unions are not responsible for preventing management from addressing underperformance or misconduct.

A union’s role is to protect workers’ rights and advocate for fair treatment. Contracts may include provisions such as grievance procedures, just-cause clauses, and protections against unfair disciplinary actions. These safeguards are designed to promote fairness, not to shield employees who disrupt the workplace or undermine team morale.

Who, what, and where of striking? 

A strike only happens when a very large majority of our union votes to strike, typically 90% or more. 

A strike is a collective work stoppage by employees to force their employer to meet their demands. Strikes can be called for a variety of reasons, but most often to improve working conditions, benefits, or wages for example when we are negotiating our contracts.

It’s important to remember that NO ONE wants to strike. It takes a lot of coordinated effort and time, BUT it is an important tool for having our collective voices and intentions heard. Most of the time just the threat of striking is enough to get an employer to take our demands more seriously.  

What about people who provide essential services to the animals and facilities?

We want to make this very clear: strikes can be organized in a way that essential services like feeding the animals, delivering medications, and making sure that water quality remains good is provided. The welfare of our animals is always going to be guaranteed. Having the ability to strike and bargain guarantees our welfare!

How do "union dues" work?

Minimum Dues are $50.40 a month, or $25.20 a paycheck.

Nobody pays dues until after we get our first union raises! Dues are baked into that first raise.

What are union dues, and what are they used for?

Union dues are regular payments made by members of a labor union to support the union's activities and operations. 

Union dues fund various activities and services that the union provides, including:

• Collective bargaining: Negotiating contracts with employers to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions.
• Legal representation: Covering legal costs for representing members in disputes, grievances, or arbitration processes.
• Advocacy and lobbying: Promoting legislation and policies beneficial to workers and unions at the local, state, or national levels.
• Operational costs: Running the union office, paying staff salaries, and maintaining resources like communications or training programs.
• Member benefits: Providing access to training, professional development, scholarships, or other member perks.
• If we strike we have access to a strike funds: Building a reserve to support members financially during strikes or work stoppages.
• Community Initiatives: Supporting charitable causes or organizing events that benefit members and the broader community. 

If we unionize will we lose our ability to have volunteers?

No.

Unionizing does not mean that we are unable to have volunteers. However, a union protects your job/role from being turned into a volunteer position, meaning that staff cannot be replaced by volunteers. 

Once we go public, can management change operation practices or expectations?

No. 

Once we go public as a union, management cannot change operation practices or expectations. This includes things like how we clock in and out or the "fun" parts of your job.