Privacy Policy

The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this Website. The type and amount of information received depends on how you use the site.

Website Usage/Information Collection

When you visit the USW Website, we automatically obtain information from you about the name of your Internet service provider, the browser and type of computer you are using, the Website that referred you to us, the pages you request and the date and time of those requests. We use this information on an aggregate basis to generate statistics and measure site activity to improve the usefulness of the site to our visitors. For example, we use this information to track which pages are most popular among visitors as a whole. We do not track the pages you or any individual visitor may look at during a visit to our site and we do not collect any other information without your knowledge and permission. We do not collect or store personally identifiable information, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address or phone number, unless you provide that information.

Collection of Personally Identifiable Information

The USW provides Web forms so you may provide your contact information to engage in USW activities such as online activism (i.e., contact Congress), to place orders for products or services, to correspond with the USW or to submit a testimonial (i.e., share your story). Any information we collect, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, type of request you are making and any additional information you provide, is collected and stored by the USW. The information is used to fulfill your request and track aggregate information about usage of these features. The USW makes every effort to ensure the secure collection and transmission of your sensitive information using industry accepted data collection and encryption methodologies, such as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR PARENTS: 

We want to help you guard your children’s privacy. We encourage you to talk to your children about safe and responsible use of their personal information while using the Internet. The USW does not collect, use or distribute children’s personally identifiable information to any third parties. If you have any reservations, questions or concerns about your child’s access to this site or how information that your child provides is used by us, please contact us.

USW’s Sharing of Personally Identifiable Information

The USW may share the personal information that we collect about you with your local unions as well as third parties that perform services on our behalf and have signed a non-disclosure agreement. We provide personal information to these third parties on a completely confidential basis to enable the third party to perform certain tasks, such as maintain a membership database or send E-mail alerts and/or newsletters, on our behalf. These third party providers are committed to protecting the privacy of our members and subscribers, and will not utilize your information for any other purpose but to provide the services which we contract for.

The USW Website will not post your personal contact information, including e-mail address, street address and phone numbers, without your consent. Without such consent, Website staff will withhold posting personal contact information for that individual.

Financial Information and Payments

We use a secure server for processing payments and financial information. USW staff log in to the secure site to retrieve the information.  Credit card and ACH processing is handled by a secure vendor that houses sensitive financial information, this information is not stored for access by USW staff.   The USW does not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s hard drive containing information about the user. The USW Website uses a cookie for measuring aggregate web statistics, including number of monthly visitors, number of repeat visitors, most popular web pages and other information. The USW will also use cookies to facilitate your online visit by maintaining data that you provide for online activism activities so that you will not need to resubmit certain information. The USW does not use cookies to track what specific pages an individual site visitor views.

Opting Out of E-mail Lists

People who subscribe to e-mail lists via the Website will receive periodic updates from the USW by regular mail, fax or e-mail. You may opt out of receiving future information via e-mail by using the unsubscribe procedure specified on the e-mail message or by sending an e-mail message with the name of the list you are a member of to: webmaster@usw.org.

Outside Links

This site contains hypertext links to other sites. The USW is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Websites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site, and to read the privacy statements of each and every Website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Website.

Security

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. We use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to protect the transmission of information you submit to us when you use our secure online forms. You are on a secure page when the lock icon on the top of Web browsers such as Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer become locked, as opposed to un-locked, or open, when you are just “surfing.” All the information you provide us through these forms is stored securely off-line.

We use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also protect user information off-line. All user information is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need information to perform a specific job (e.g., our billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. All employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Finally, the servers that store sensitive information are kept in a secure environment.

If you send us an e-mail, you should know that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. So, if your communication includes sensitive information like your bank account, charge card, or social security number, and you prefer not to use one of our secure online complaint forms, contact us by mail or by telephone rather than by e-mail.

Corrections/Updating Personal Information:

If your personal information changes (such as your ZIP code), or if you wish to have your information removed from our database, contact us and we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update or remove that personal data provided to us.

Disclaimer:

Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USW. All USW names and trademarks are the property of the USW in the United States and other countries.

This privacy policy was updated March 2015.