Why a union?

Why are VRS interperters organizing?

VRS interpreters deserve respect on the job. VRS interpreters deserve the right to collectively bargain over wages, benefits, and working conditions. 

Sorenson and ZP Better Together, the largest employers of VRS interpreters in the US, together make over half a billion dollars annually in revenue—but how much is shared with its employees? The FCC just issued a massive 50 percent bump in their compensation, based on an estimate that wages and benefits for interpreters will increase by 65 percent over the next five years. But instead of those kinds of raises, interpreters have received 4 or 5 percent raises (if that) since the rate increase came in.

What happens once we win our union?

Once we win our union, we’ll nominate and elect a bargaining committee of our peers who will sit down across the table from management and go through proposals one by one. Each of us, as union members, will have the chance to provide real input into what is proposed: through bargaining unit surveys, focus groups, membership meetings, and elsewhere. If there’s an issue you really care about, bring it to our bargaining committee. If there’s an issue many of us care about, we’ll have even more leverage at the bargaining table if we act collectively and show management we care.

What can we win with our union?

• Higher wages that make up the difference between community and VRS interpreting.
• Benefits for part time workers. 
• Breaks.
• More training and mentorship for new interpreters.
• Real deaf community input into the business.
• More CDIs.
• Better staffing and so less wait times for users.
• More support for interpreters.
• More support for trilingual interpreters.