Let’s create a better Unity Montreal
About us
The Unity Technologies Employee Collective (UTEC-CSN) is a union of Unity Montreal workers.
We’re a growing community of employees from diverse teams and backgrounds standing together to create a better workplace.
Our mission is to advocate for the rights and well-being of Unity Montreal employees, using our collective power to improve and protect working conditions, compensation, benefits, job security, office resources, and more.
The last few years have been tough — RIFs, reorgs, and erratic leadership have showed us that we have to stand up for ourselves. Let’s seize the opportunity to make our working lives better and show our industry what a modern tech union can do.
We hope you’ll join us.
Our goals
Here are some of the things we hope to achieve together.
These ideas will evolve as our union grows — become a member to have your say.
Working conditions
Flexible work arrangements — Protected autonomy to choose in-office, remote, or hybrid work setups, without disclosing personal circumstances or losing professional opportunities.
Job security & stability — Enhanced safeguards against layoffs and reorganizations, with longer notice periods and expanded severance packages.
Fair & transparent pay structures — Implementation of visible baseline salary grids, minimum increases tied to inflation, and efforts to address gender and other pay disparities.
Improved office facilities — Access to necessary equipment, ergonomic workstations, meeting rooms, and a wider variety of meals, classes, and events.
Enhanced protections & benefits — Restoration of the Wellness benefit, expansion of the Commuter benefit, enshrinement of year-end holiday time off, reduction of on-call employment, and improvements to office accessibility.
Transparency
Increased access to data — Reinstatement of the annual Pulse survey and visibility into data used to make decisions which impact employees’ personal or professional well-being (e.g., RTO, runtime fees).
Leadership accountability — Regular check-ins between company leaders and union representatives resulting in actionable, mutually agreed-upon outcomes.
Democratic structure
A voice for employees — More involvement in company decision-making and a stronger commitment from leadership to upholding Unity’s stated values.
Emboldened ERGs — Enhanced funding and influence for employee resource groups, with an emphasis on community outreach and social impact.
Localized support — A shift away from San Francisco-centric bias to better address the EST timezone and Montreal employee experience, including through improved legal and payroll processes.
Union benefits
Strength in numbers
Unionized workers negotiate with their employer collectively to both protect and improve wages, benefits, and working conditions for every member.
Job security
A union can create greater job stability and protection against arbitrary firings and layoffs by advocating for more optimal policies.
Legal support
Union members have access to invaluable legal expertise and protection in cases of workplace disputes, discrimination, or contract violations.
Healthcare & benefits
Unions negotiate more comprehensive healthcare coverage, retirement plans, and other benefits packages for members, supporting their well-being and financial security.
Growth opportunities
Unions can offer training programs, workshops, educational resources, and social events to help members better themselves personally and professionally.
Community & solidarity
Joining a union creates a sense of belonging and common purpose among workers, offering a platform for networking, mutual support, and collective action.
What Unity says
A running list of management’s responses to our efforts.
Union-busting bingo 👎
Learn more about union-busting tactics here.
July 11, 2024
On Slack, management tries to make UTEC sound scary by calling us a “third party,” pointing out that the union is not yet certified, and encouraging “each individual to determine whether or not they wish to attend [the UTEC Summer Party], in full knowledge of the facts.” We’re not a third party — we’re Unity Montreal colleagues working together, and we’re prepared to respond to shady union-busting tactics like this.
FAQs
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We’re currently in the process of forming our union by registering new members (“signing cards”).
We need a certain threshold of eligible employees to join in order for UTEC to be made official. Our goal is to have at least 50% of eligible employees join. If we achieve this, we can immediately file for certification and create our union.
If at least 35% of eligible employees join, but less than 50%, we have the option to hold a secret ballot so that workers can vote on unionizing.
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In general, anyone who receives a salary from an employer can join a union (s. 3, Labour Code). This includes part-time, contingent, casual, temporary, on-call, and contract employees.
However, there are some exceptions in our specific case. Those in management positions who represent the employer in their dealings with staff and have the power to hire and fire are not eligible to join. Employees on Human Resources and Legal teams are also ineligible to join due to the conflict of interest — their jobs exist specifically to protect Unity.
Get in touch with us if you’re unsure about your eligibility.
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All unions in Quebec are required to charge a one-time fee of $2 to each person who joins (s. 36.1, Labour Code).
Beyond that, ongoing membership fees (or “dues”) are how a labour union sustains its services, advocacy efforts, and resources for members.
Once our union is certified, we will collectively decide the amount we pay in dues. A rate of 1–2% of members’ gross salaries would be normal for a union of our size, but we may vote for more or less. The benefits of having a union far outweigh the fees because unionized workers make more money than non-unionized workers on average.
Union dues are tax deductible, collected from your paycheck, and will show on your T4 at the end of the year.
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Yes. Your anonymity is protected by the Quebec Labour Code (s. 36) and Unity has no way of knowing who decides to become a member.
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Employers generally aren’t happy when their workers unionize. However, union organizing and membership are well protected by law in Quebec, and it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against employees for joining or supporting a union (s. 14, Labour Code).
The best defence against employer pushback is for workers to stick together. Without a union, management can treat us however they like. With a union, we have the protection of the law and our colleagues.
It would be great if Unity embraced UTEC and committed to working with us in good faith. Unfortunately, we are beginning to see management employ union-busting tactics, which we are documenting in the section above.
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The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) is one of Quebec’s largest trade union federations, representing 1,600 unions and 330,000 employees.
As our parent union, CSN affords us access to a wide range of services and supports, including arbitration, bargaining, legal defence, occupational health & safety expertise, communications, mobilization, research, accounting, and training.
Support from CSN makes us much stronger, but we always remain a fully autonomous union, able to organize ourselves and make decisions democratically in the interest of Unity Montreal employees.
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Fighting for more is the best way to protect what we have.
Once we’ve filed for union certification with the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT), our employer cannot alter our working conditions without the union’s consent (s. 59, Labour Code). Then, we’ll begin negotiations with Unity and work to reach a collective agreement that union membership will approve.
Quebec’s labour laws are on our side, so we can’t lose what we have by fighting for more. Instead, forming a union will immediately protect the things we love about our workplace and empower us to change the things we don’t.
Join UTEC
Complete your registration today and help build a stronger, more equitable Unity Montreal.