Collage of Caterpillar factory employees
Collage of Caterpillar factory employees

Our Position on Unions

We expect to conduct our business and treat our employees such that they do not feel the need for representation by unions or other third parties. Our employees have the right to decide that for themselves. We feel that employees also have the right to make an informed choice by understanding both sides of the issues and the risks.

This website is intended to provide employees with the facts and information on those issues. 

question mark in speech bubble

Ask a Question

Union Authorization Card

Your signature on the card means you authorize the union to act as your representative. If you sign a card, you will be authorizing the IAM to represent you in all of your dealings with the company regarding your wages, benefits, hours of work, and other working conditions. 

Here are some common myths and facts about union authorization cards.

Myths

Facts

Signing a card indicates you want to learn more about the union.

A union authorization card is a legally binding document that is generally valid for approximately 12 months. Your signature indicates exactly what the card says: You “want to be represented for purposes of collective bargaining by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.” It doesn’t mean anything less than exactly.

You have to sign a card.

You always have the right not to sign a union card. You have an equal right to sign a union card. You also have the right to revoke your signature and ask for your card back if you change your mind, but, if you choose to do so, you should ensure that the IAM follows through on your request. Signed cards are generally valid for approximately 12 months.

Signing a card will only be used to get an election scheduled, and then you get to decide if there is a union.

Signing a card is a legal obligation that authorizes the IAM to represent you for the purposes of collective bargaining. It does much more than support an election petition. Under current labor law, once the union has proof of a majority interest in a union, they can demand recognition without an election. So the union could use signed cards to avoid an election in the first place.

You can change your mind and get your card back. 

Once a card is signed and given to the union, it may be difficult for you to get it back if you have second thoughts.

You should sign a card just to learn more or get out of the conversation with the union supporter.

Signing a card authorizes the union to represent you and is valid for approximately 12 months. It is a legal obligation that is used for much more than providing you with information about the union. You don’t have to sign a card to learn more about the union, and no one should pressure you to sign or not sign a card. Whether or not to sign a card is your decision alone, but we believe that you should know exactly what signing a card means for you.

It’s Your Decision. Your Vote Matters.

You have the right to make the choice to join a union, and Caterpillar believes that decision should be an informed choice. We encourage you to listen to both sides of the issues, and then freely make your own decision.

  • We believe in our union position statement. 
  • We believe that employees should have the right to an independently supervised election for a question as important as whether they want a union to represent them.
  • We believe that employees have the right not only to make that choice, but the choice should be an informed choice. We believe employees should hear both sides of the issues and make their own informed and free decision. 

Example of A-card:

Example of A-card
of

Collective Bargaining Basics

During collective bargaining, both sides have the ability to present proposals to address their concerns. The union can make proposals and the company can also make its own proposals.

Neither the company nor the union is required to agree to any specific proposal. Both sides are only obligated to bargain in good faith with the goal of reaching an agreement. During these bargaining meetings, the union is allowed to ask for the things it’s promised you, but it’s also allowed to ask for things the union wants—things that you might not care about at all.

And the union can trade away things that you do care about to get what the union wants.

of

Facts about Collective Bargaining 

Reaching an agreement isn’t required.

Neither the union nor Caterpillar is required to agree to any specific proposal. Both sides are only obligated to bargain in good faith with the goal of reaching an agreement. 

You could gain, lose or stay the same.

Your current wages, benefits and terms of employment are not guaranteed in bargaining. It’s simply not true that things can only get better through bargaining or that you have nothing to lose as a result of bargaining. Through bargaining, your wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment could improve, stay the same, or get worse. 

Strikes or lockouts could happen.

If an agreement is not reached, the union may call for a strike until a new agreement is reached or the company may lock employees out. We’re not saying a strike or lockout definitely would happen, but the IAM does have a history of strikes

No changes allowed during bargaining. 

In general, if a union is certified as the collective bargaining representative, the company is not allowed to make unilateral changes to the current terms and conditions , even if the changes would be in your favor. Instead, the company is required to maintain the status quo.

Management Rights

In a typical union contract, you’ll see language that says the company has the right to:

  • Allocate its resources, manage its facilities and direct the workforce
  • Hire, promote, transfer, demote, and/or lay off employees
  • Sub-contract or contract out work
  • Establish and modify policies, rules and regulations governing safety, performance, procedures and conduct

Less Than You Bargained For

If the union were to win a valid election or otherwise be certified as the collective bargaining representative of our employees, Caterpillar would be obligated to bargain in good faith—and Caterpillar would do so.

  • Good faith bargaining does not mean that the company must agree to any union demand that it considers unreasonable. “No party can be required to agree to any particular substantive bargaining provision.” J&C Towing Co., 307 NLRB 198 (1992).
  • Bargaining starts from where you are now and after bargaining things can stay the same, get better, or get worse.  “… [C]ollective bargaining is potentially hazardous for employees and that as a result of such negotiations employees might possibly wind up with less after unionization than before.” Coach and Equipment Sales Corp., 228 NLRB 440 (1977).

There are no quick fixes and when it’s all over, you could even end up with LESS than what you have right now. Caterpillar would always bargain in good faith.  But good faith bargaining is a give and take process. There are tradeoffs. Things that are important to you as an individual may get traded off in bargaining to get something you don’t care about. That is the risk you take. 

You Need to Know

The union can promise you everything but cannot guarantee you anything (other than you will have to pay union dues to join the union).

Agreements Take Time

If your facility votes to form a union, it may take a long time before an agreement is reached, if ever. Although every negotiation is different, and we do not know what would happen here if the IAM were to be voted in, according to research done by a reputable news organization:

  • It takes 465 days, on average, before a union reaches an agreement with the company for a first contract.
  • 64% of facilities can’t reach an agreement within the first year.
  • 25 – 30% of facilities never reach an agreement. 

The chart below shows that only 36% of newly organized units have collective bargaining agreements within the first year and only 66% within three years.

First Contract Rate: 36% within 1 year of an election; 58% within 2 years; 66% within 3 years; 68% more than 3 years post election
of

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Understanding Strikes

We are not saying that a strike will happen here if the union gets in, and we certainly hope that a strike never happens here. However, with the IAM there is always a risk of a strike. During bargaining, a union may hold a vote among the employees to give them the exclusive authority to call a strike. Even if you don’t vote to authorize a strike, if the majority of employees vote for it, the union will typically expect all members to go on strike.

  • Timing. Unions will often request authorization to strike before bargaining has concluded and sometimes before it even starts. You may not know what issues are being discussed when you are asked to give the union the authority to decide if there’s a strike.
  • Who calls for a strike. Once the union has this authorization, the union decides if there’s a strike and how long the strike lasts.
  • You may feel pressured to strike. While employees have both the right to strike and the right to choose to continue to work, the union may pressure you to strike even if you want to continue working. 
  • You may be fined by the union if you continue to work. Even though employees have the right to work during a strike, the union can fine members who exercise their right to work. The amount of those fines can be as high as all the wages you earned while working during the strike and can be enforced by the courts.
  • You might be permanently replaced.  During an economic strike the law even permits employers to permanently replace economic strikers where the hiring of permanent replacements is necessary to make sure that its work gets done during the strike.
  • That means that permanently replaced strikers would have to make an unconditional offer to return to work to be placed on a preferential recall list and then wait for an opening to occur before they are reinstated. These openings can take weeks, months, or even years, and that means that it could be weeks, months, or even years before a permanently replaced striker who makes an unconditional offer to return to work is actually reinstated to his former job. Put another way, there is no requirement to bump a permanent replacement to create an opening for an economic striker, even after the economic striker makes an unconditional offer to return.
of

 

Strikes impact everyone – especially our production workers. While we hope that a strike never happens here, it’s important for you to understand the risks and impacts to you should a work stoppage or strike occur.

 

 

What Happens to Your Pay And Benefits If You Strike

If you elect to participate in a strike, you will receive no pay from the company during the time that you are on strike and not working. Let’s say that again. Paychecks from the company stop when you are on strike and not working. The company may also elect to terminate health care and other benefits during the strike.

Here’s what else is at risk if you participate in a strike:

You may receive a small amount of strike pay.

  • Based on our understanding of IAM strike pay, strikers would receive $150 per week as long as there was a minimum of $1,000,000 balance in the strike fund. But you should ask the IAM to explain its strike pay provisions, including these requirements and whether there are any other requirements, such as actively picketing.
  • You are still required to pay taxes on strike pay received. 

You may miss out on incentives and benefits.

  • Because you are on a strike and not working, you’ll miss out on overtime pay.
  • You’ll miss out on 401(k) contributions — both from you and Caterpillar.
  • Strikers may have to pay the entire premium for any medical insurance policies.

You may not be eligible for unemployment benefits.

  • If you live or work in Texas and in many other states, you aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits while on strike.
  • While working in Texas, you cannot be required to join a union. If you have not joined a union, you are likely not eligible to receive strike pay or vote in union elections, but you should ask the IAM what its requirements are. 

What A Strike May Cost You

An average employee at Channelview who is on strike and not working and who regularly works 8 hours of overtime per week could lose nearly $1,250 per week after strike pay in addition to the above benefit losses. A four-month strike could cost over $20,000 in addition to the loss of 401(k) match and potential loss of health care coverage.

Weekly Solar Pay - Regular Pay: $1074 + Overtime Pay: $322.20 = Total Weekly Pay: $1396.20 minus Strike Pay: $150 = $1246.20 loss per week of strike
of

IAM Work Stoppages

Strikes can occur if the parties do not reach an agreement at the bargaining table, and, based on its track record, the IAM is not afraid to call its members out on strike.  We are not saying that a strike will happen here if the IAM gets in, and we certainly hope that a strike never happens here. But with the IAM there is always a risk of a strike.

Since 2013, the IAM has been involved in 85 work stoppages, which put more than 21,000 of their members out of work.

IAM's Recent Track Record

Chart of IAM Work Stoppages: total - 85 works stoppages since 2013 involving 21,360 workers
of

Source: Bloomberg BNA

Understanding Union Dues

If you join a union, you’ll be required to pay monthly dues. How much depends on the union. IAM dues are $63.04 per month or $765.48 per year. Think about all the other things you could buy with $765.

In Texas, employees cannot be required to join a union as a condition of employment. However, if you do not pay union dues, you are typically not eligible to vote in union elections and you typically cannot receive strike pay.

Accordingly to the IAM’s constitution and Local ___’s bylaws, by exercising your right not to join the union you cannot:

  • Vote for your union representatives
  • Vote whether to authorize a strike or not
  • Vote whether to accept a contract or not
  • Receive strike pay

 

Additional Resources

Find more information about unions below.

  • National Labor Relations Board:
    Website: nlrb.gov / Phone Number: 1-844-762-NLRB
  • National Right to Work Foundation:
    Website: nrtw.org / Phone Number: 1-800-336-3600

Company

Investors

News

Careers

Working Together

Cat® Products & Services

Caterpillar Brands

  • © 2025 Caterpillar. All Rights Reserved.