One Member, One Vote

USW democracy begins at home, in more than 1,800 local unions throughout Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. Membership is open to all without discrimination.

Steelworkers come from cities and towns in every region of our countries, workers who join together in local unions to bargain a better deal - more job security, a healthier and safer place to work, better benefits, and an end to arbitrary, unfair treatment.

Union officers at every level are responsible to the membership. And the principle of "one member, one vote" applies whether we’re electing our local officers, deciding our goals and priorities in contract negotiations, choosing delegates to help establish the USW’s overall policy at our triennial international convention, or voting for the international, national and district officers who make up our executive board and direct the Union’s day-to-day work.

USW collective bargaining agreements set the pattern for hundreds of thousands of workers in dozens of industries. Union contracts do more than raise wages and deliver an array of benefits such as pensions, health care and vacations. They also secure equal treatment on the job and provide an established procedure for resolving differences with supervisors and management — a grievance procedure that resolves disputes on their merits, not on favoritism.

Trained professional staff provide our districts and local unions with expertise in research, economics and public policy, legal services, health and safety, and communications. Equally important, thousands of USW members are trained every year by our Union in these and other skills.

This is Our Union, an organization fighting to improve our wages, benefits and working conditions; to ensure justice and dignity on the job; and to create a social movement to better the lives of all working people.