You’re an Owner, Not a Customer – OPEIU Local 109 Training

You are not a customer of this union. You are an owner of it.

That’s not a slogan — it’s how a union is actually built. Our union isn’t a service you buy. It’s an organization we run: we elect its officers, we vote on its decisions, we set its direction. Every right you have as a member exists to protect your voice in that organization. Once you see that, “member rights” stops sounding like fine print and starts sounding like what it is — your share of the power.

Why this matters even if you’ve been a member for years. Plenty of long-time members have never voted in an election, never read the constitution, never spoken at a meeting — not because they weren’t allowed, but because no one ever told them the door was open. The rest of this course is about that open door. Rights you don’t know you have are rights you can’t use.

🧭 Reflect

Take 30 seconds before moving on:

Have you ever voted in a union election or spoken at a meeting?
If not — was it because you couldn’t, or because no one told you that you could?

Hold onto your answer. By the end of this course, “I didn’t know I could” should be off the table.

💡 Think first: What’s the best way to describe your relationship to this union? Picture your answer, then click to check it.

You’re an owner — someone who helps run a democratic organization, not a customer paying for a service or an employee working for it.

Here’s the tell: you help elect its officers and vote on its direction. Customers don’t get a vote in the businesses they buy from. That ownership is the root of every right we’ll cover in this course. If “customer” felt right at first, you’re in good company — it’s the most common way to think about it, and shaking it loose is exactly what this lesson is for.