Trade Union

A trade union (or a labor union) is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas, such as working conditions.

The role of unions in the Imperium

The primary role of unions is to represent their members in negotiations for labor contracts with employers. Unions may also provide their members with direct services, such as include: health insurance, unemployment insurance, legal aid, subsidized vacations, education programs, etc.

Closed shop and open shop

Some Starports are "closed shop" (employers agree to only hire union members, and employees must remain members of the union at all times in order to remain employed) while others are "open shop" (employees are not required to join a union as a condition of hiring or continued employment). Characters without a union "ticket" (membership card) may find it difficult to obtain work at a Starport with a closed shop. Conversely, union members may find themselves blacklisted at Starports in systems that are strongly anti-union.

Organization of unions

Due to the vast size of the Imperium, authority within a union is typically decentralized to subregional councils (1 per subsector), joint councils (1 per system), and individual locals. A single Starport may have more than one local branch, e.g. the IBLT may have one local to represent shuttle crews, another to represent cargo handlers, etc. These local branches come together in joint councils, e.g. IBLT Kinorb Joint Council.

List of unions in the Imperium

Unions in the Imperium include:

• The Interstellar Association of Longshoremen and Teamsters (IALT) is a labor union for Starport workers. The union represents blue-collar and white-collar workers. It is one of the largest unions operating in Imperial space. There are persistant rumors of corruption and organized crime involvement within the IALT and the union has been subjected to periodic investigation by the Imperial Bureau of Labor.
• The Interstellar Service Employees Union (ISEU) is a labor union representing low-wage sevice sector employees in a variety of public (government) and private (business) sectors. It is one of the largest unions operating in Imperial space. The union is famous for its long-running "Citizens Not Bots!" campaign - citing the superiority of sentinant human (Vilani, Solomani, etc.) employees over robots and automated systems.
• The Interstellar Maritime Officers Association (IMOA) is a labor union for licenced (i.e. officer) merchant mariners. The union's leadership considers its members to be professionals (similar in standing to doctors and lawyers) and the IMOA is less militant than its "brother union" the ISU. Due to the "officer heavy" crewing of merchant starships, the IMOA is significantly larger than the ISU.
• The Interstellar Starfarerers Union (ISU) is a labor union for unlicenced (i.e. non-officer) merchant mariners. Membership includes starfarers in the deck, steward and engineering departments. The union's leadership is noted for its pugnacious defence of members rights and privileges - particularly when an officer from its "brother union" the IMOA occupies a job that it believes should be held by an ISU member.