Excerpts from the introduction to the special section on unionization:
If you were one of the 1,300 RECEs to get a call offering you a spot in the new Early Learning Program (ELP) classes opening this September, your phone will likely ring again and again and again. These next calls will be from representatives asking you to join their union.
Unions are what this issue of the eceLink is all about. Big changes are taking place for the RE CE profession and unionization is one of them. By the time the Early Learning Program is in all 4,400 elementary schools in Ontario an additional 20,000 new RE CE positions will have been created, forming what quite likely will be the largest single group in the profession.
These new positions will be located in the highly organized education sector making it inevitable that the RECE partners in the ELP will be brought into the union tent. Twenty thousand members is a catch for any union and several are gearing up to woo RECEs into their fold. In labour organizing, the majority rules so those with the most cards signed win the right to represent everyone. All this can be very confusing; even for labour veterans.
Which is why this issue features Joining A Union 101, a comprehensive primer on labour organizing, union certification and collective bargaining.