CBA frequently asked questions

Often, yes. U.S. private-sector agreements covering larger units are filed in the Department of Labor's public OLMS collection; public-sector CBAs are generally public records; Canada's Negotech database publishes agreements full-text. Covered workers are always entitled to see their own agreement — ask your steward or local.

Typically two to five years, with three the most common. The duration article sets the expiration date, notice requirements, and any automatic-renewal (evergreen) language.

Everyone in the bargaining unit defined in the recognition clause — whether or not they are union members. Coverage follows the job, not the membership card.

In the U.S. private sector, most terms must be maintained as the status quo while bargaining continues, but no-strike and arbitration obligations generally lapse — which is why strikes cluster after expiration. Canadian statutes typically freeze terms during renewal bargaining, with rules varying by jurisdiction.

Not unilaterally on mandatory subjects — wages, hours, terms and conditions. Changes require bargaining (and often the union's agreement in a signed side letter or MOU).

It depends on jurisdiction. In U.S. right-to-work states, no one can be required to pay dues; elsewhere union-security clauses may require dues or fees as a condition of employment (public-sector agency fees were barred by Janus in 2018). In much of Canada the Rand formula deducts dues from everyone the agreement covers, member or not.

Yes — but almost always only for just cause, and you can grieve it. That's the single biggest practical difference from at-will employment.

The membership vote that turns a tentative agreement into a contract. Until the unit votes yes, there is no CBA — a voted-down deal sends both sides back to the table.

Day to day: stewards and members who know the contract. Formally: the grievance procedure, ending in final and binding arbitration. Labor boards and courts stay largely out of contract interpretation.

The CBA binds the union and the employer about the workplace. The constitution and bylaws bind the union and its members about the organization — elections, dues amounts, internal discipline. Different documents, different parties, different law.

In the U.S., a unionized worker's right to have a union representative present in an investigatory interview that could lead to discipline. The worker must request it.

The agreement obligates employers to contribute — usually a negotiated amount per hour worked — to a pension fund. In multi-employer industries that fund is a jointly trusteed Taft-Hartley trust, with its own plan document, eligibility and vesting rules, and government filings. The CBA's contribution language is the root of the entire operation.

A benefits-eligibility mechanism common in construction and other seasonal industries: hours worked above the monthly requirement are banked, and drawn down to keep coverage in slow months. The rules live in the CBA and trust documents — and they are notoriously hard to administer by hand.

A plan funded by many employers under one or more CBAs, jointly governed by union and employer trustees. Members keep one pension while moving between signatory employers; in the U.S. these plans are insured by the PBGC's multiemployer program.

Ask your steward or local office; many locals post agreements online. Public sources: the U.S. DOL/OLMS file and Canada's Negotech (see our examples page for all of them).

Language stating the agreement is the complete deal — both sides waive bargaining over anything else for the term, whether or not it was discussed. It closes the contract shut, like a zipper.