Collective bargaining is how the union and management come up with the terms and conditions of employment for the workers through developing a collective agreement. Provincial or federal labour legislation sets out rules for how these negotiations take place and how disputes are handled.

Your bargaining committee is chosen by the elected executive of ATU 1724. A negotiation package is built on feedback from union meetings, surveys, emails, phone calls, depot visits and grievances. Your bargaining committee consists of co-workers who have common interests with you.

Negotiations take a varying amount of time, often depending on the history that the local has with the employer. Language interpretation is solidified across negotiation tables. It takes time to reduce or eliminate conflict over the meaning of collective agreement language.

By mutual agreement monetary items are last to be worked through. This is to strengthen language that affects day to day working conditions. This also allows both sides of the table to develop a respectful relationship, essential to successful negotiations.