Get the Facts

By signing a card, you are formally authorizing a specific union to serve as your exclusive representative and are waiving the right to represent yourself individually in conversations about your employment.

Signing an authorization card is not just a showing of interest or a request for more information – it is a legally binding declaration of support for a union.

If enough authorization cards are collected, a union can file for certification or demand to represent you without a formal election.

Signing an authorization card is a declaration of support for the formation of the union and is a crucial first step towards unionization.

Signing a card does not “waive the right” to represent yourself in conversations about your employment. No scientists, engineers, or professionals with the UAW-affiliated unions have negotiated a contract that removes individuals’ ability to address their individual needs.

UAW researcher and professional staff contracts have established minimum rights on different aspects of working conditions, while preserving the ability of individuals and supervisors to agree on terms. For example, at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), which is another FFRDC where workers won a union contract, project scientists negotiated reasonable work hours and schedules (see their contract here) but stipulated the need for unit members to be flexible with those hours. The only thing that changes once we have a union is that JPL must maintain our current standards or, if they want to make changes, negotiate with us as equals.

After a majority of JPLers sign authorization cards, there are several routes to union certification. For more details view “How does union recognition work?” and “Could the union be voluntarily recognized by JPL/Caltech?” on our FAQ page. You can also read the card to learn more about what it means to sign.

If a union is certified, it becomes the exclusive representative for everyone in the defined unit – regardless of whether you vote for the union in an election (or vote at all) or choose to become a union member.

An individual employee in the defined unit cannot opt out of the union’s coverage, rules, and representation even if the individual does not vote for the union or choose to become a union member.

Once a majority of JPLers sign union authorization cards, there will then be a vote to form a union. If a majority of JPLers vote in favor, then our union will be certified and we gain the right to collectively bargain with JPL. “Exclusive representation” means that all JPLers benefit from and are protected by the contract should we vote to ratify it.

Right now, we are all covered by policies created unilaterally by JPL management. JPLers currently have no representation and major decisions that impact our lives are ultimately made by senior management without our input.

Collective bargaining is a democratic process. One can see the commitment to these principles at FFRDC unions like LBNL (see Articles 6 and 9 of their bylaws for an example). At JPL, this process will include electing a bargaining team made up of JPL employees, collecting feedback through surveys, townhalls, and more, drafting and voting on initial bargaining demands, exchanging proposals with JPL at the bargaining table, and eventually voting on whether or not to ratify any proposed agreement before it goes into effect.

Signing an authorization card functions like a power of attorney that transfers your agency to the union in its efforts to get certified.

You may come across union materials that focus heavily on broad ideals that a union seeks to achieve but offer less detail on specific, long-term implications or difficult questions.

We encourage you to press the union representatives for specifics, ask for clarity where things feel vague, and consider how union representation may affect workplace flexibility, JPL’s unique workplace culture, performance-based systems, your ability to directly advocate for yourself (or others) in the workplace, external relations and contracts, and other issues that matter to you.

Power of attorney does not accurately capture the relationship between workers and the union we govern, by ourselves and for ourselves. Signing a card means you support forming a union and want to be represented by the union in collective bargaining as outlined by the NLRB. Power of attorney grants very specific powers to a trusted individual under specific procedures that are different from signing a card.

We - JPL employees - are the union and will all have a voice in the collective bargaining process. Currently, JPL makes all decisions about our working conditions, for example: workload + job “scope creep,” the ACC and ASR processes, severance, retirement, Key Staff contributions, etc. Any of these policies can be changed at management's choosing with no discussion or input from JPL individual contributors (see recent decisions on RTO, changing Key Staff contribution levels, and layoff procedures). By forming a union, JPL employees will have a voice in decisions about our working conditions. The long-term implication is that JPL cannot alter our working conditions without negotiating with JPL employees.

We encourage you to ask about specifics. We, the JPL workers (individual contributors), are the union and we will work on these difficult questions together. Through the process of forming our union there will be many opportunities for JPLers to weigh in on issues that matter most to them. Ongoing conversations have already generated a growing list of issues that matter to JPLers. Bargaining priorities JPLers have already shared include changes to the layoffs process, flexible and remote work, rights for foreign national workers, clear pathways to promotion, and more. 

We would appreciate knowing if anything on our website is unclear - please email us at info@jplworkersunited.org and a fellow JPLer who is involved with JWU will be in touch.

The idea that the formation of a union on Lab is solely JPLers coming together to brainstorm and request changes leaves out a key part of the union process.

Once certified, a union becomes a third-party legal representative with exclusive bargaining rights over your employment, and individual employees no longer have the full freedom to advocate directly for their own interests – even if an individual feels that they can better convey their own situation or contributions than the small number of JPL employee representatives who may be speaking on the employees’ behalf.

Union representation is a complete transfer of agency to an external entity even if some of the persons involved in your representation do happen to be JPLers.

This relationship becomes increasingly layered when a union is backed by a large international union like the United Auto Workers (UAW) that operates across sectors and has its own structure, leadership, and agenda. Such a union would not just represent your voice in the room, but those of a permanent intermediary with its own constraints and priorities.

Forming a union is much more than brainstorming and requesting changes! By forming a union, JPL employees are coming together to collectively bargain over working conditions. Without a union, JPL employees do not have the ability to collectively negotiate with management and reach a legally binding contract, which leaves our key interests such as parental leave, health and retirement benefits, layoff rights, and pay transparency unprotected and vulnerable to unilateral change.

No, union representation is not “a complete transfer of agency to an external party.” By forming a union, we will have the power to win more than we would be able to by ourselves and is a highly democratic process. Once the contract is ratified by us JPL employees, it is legally binding and enforceable. Management will have to bargain with our democratically elected representatives if they wish to make unilateral changes to our working conditions.

Any contract that the bargaining team tentatively agrees to would be subject to ratification by a majority of JPL employees before it goes into effect (UAW constitution section 3). UAW 2478, the Caltech Graduate Worker and Postdoc Union, recently ratified a contract they negotiated with Caltech.

JPL employees reached out to UAW in 2024 to help us successfully form a union. UAW is one of the most diverse unions in the United States, and in particular is the union of over 125,000 scientists, engineers, and academic workers, including Graduate Student Workers and Postdocs at Caltech; Academic Researchers, Postdocs, Graduate Student Researchers at UC; Research Scientists and Engineers at UW; Postdocs and Graduate Student Workers at USC; Fellows at the NIH; and many more (contracts can be found on our webpage here).

Whether you choose to sign a union authorization card is entirely up to you.

It’s important to know that union organizers may be receiving direct instruction to be persistent in their outreach and demands for you to sign cards, and the cards may be presented as casual or symbolic.

While that approach is within organizers’ rights, you should never feel pressured into signing legally binding documents before you are fully ready or fully informed.

Yes, it is entirely up to you to choose to sign a card. We encourage all JPL employees to make an informed decision about unionization.

JPL Workers United organizers belong to every division of the lab. We are motivated by a collective desire to improve working conditions for us and all of our colleagues.

We are choosing to have conversations with colleagues to ensure everyone is fully informed and has their questions answered about signing a card.

If you signed an authorization card without knowing its full implications or legal weight, or if you’ve otherwise reconsidered your choice, you have the right to ask for your card back or notify the union that you no longer support its effort.