Why Does the CBA Go Three Years?

Ever wondered why the SEIU Local ???? (790?)(1877?)(USWW?)/Covenant collective bargaining agreements are effective for three years? So if everything goes to hell from Octobr 1 in year two and on into year three when the TSA rolls out a "bridge contract", can anything be done? Why is that?

It's because workers have rights!

Say what? It's all about the timing to vote OUT the union, or bring in a different representative.
It's about the union containing your ability to remove them.

Here are some guidelines to follow. For specifics, or exceptions, an attorney consultation may be useful.

Contract of less than three years in duration: stability in labor-management relations overrides employee free choice of representative. There will be a window period toward the end of the contract during which a petition to remove or replace the current union can be filed.

Contracts longer than three years - may have a window period during year three, and a petition can be filed at any time in year four and onward; here employee free choice trumps stability in labor management relations. Many unions avoid contracts longer than three years for this reason.

The practical effect of these "rights" is that employers will recognize that unions want contracts to be two years eleven months and 31 days in length. They will then try to extract concessions from the union in exchange for their preferred contract length.

Now at SFO, they try to make us believe contract length was the last thing hammered out. Yet, they always end up the same length. Draw your own conclusions.

See, you've got rights! You might not survive the toil to exercise them, but trust me, they're there.

Next time - what's that other petition?