This introductory course helps every member understand the rights they already hold and where they come from — starting from the ground up, with no prior union knowledge assumed. Grounded in federal law (the LMRDA’s “Bill of Rights of Members”) and our own governing documents — the Local 109 and OPEIU International Constitutions — it reframes membership as an organization you help run rather than a service you buy. Across five short lessons plus a capstone, you’ll learn where your power comes from, your protections under federal law, the specific rights our constitutions guarantee (voting, running for office, taking part in meetings, and seeing how your dues are spent), what to do and who to call if you ever face discipline or an investigation, and what your dues pay for along with the choices you have. Each lesson pairs the documents’ own words with plain-language explanations and points you to union leadership at the moments that call for it. It’s self-paced and ungraded — think-first knowledge checks throughout, no test to pass — takes about an hour, and is the foundation the rest of our member and officer training builds on.

Learning Outcomes: By the end, you can:

• Explain what it means that membership makes you an owner, not a customer, of the union.
• Identify the two sources of their rights (federal law / the constitutions) and locate where a given right comes from.
• Distinguish the law governing the member–employer relationship (RLA) from the law governing the member–union relationship (LMRDA + constitutions).
• Describe their core rights in plain terms: voting, running for office, meetings, a voice in dues, information access, and fair internal process.
• Recognize discipline/investigation situations as moments to check with union leadership, and know where representation is covered.