I work for an environmental engineering consultant company. It is a standard 9 to 5 office job. There is a union for office workers (OPEIU), but none specific to our industry.
I have one coworker who has expressed mild interest, but it doesn't seem like anyone else is interested.
We don't get sick leave. We get three weeks paid vacation, and are expected to use that if we get sick and need time off. Apparently this is the industry norm, but that doesn't make it okay. We also get zero company stock options, and our pay is on the low end for the work that we do.
How do I convince my coworkers that, if we organize, we would be able to negotiate sick leave, better pay, and an overall better work environment?
Does it matter that none of our competitors are unionized? My one coworker who expressed interest said he was hesitant because he thinks it would hurt our competitiveness in the market, even though, if we unionized, it could inspire the other consulting firms to do the same.