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| Be Prepared! |
Your employer may disguise its reasons for fighting the Union. The company won’t tell you the truth by saying: “Vote against the Union so I can make more money.” Instead, management may/will use many common Union-busting techniques. Thier purpose is to make you forget the real issues — dignity and respect, a voice on the job, low wages, poor benefits, no job security or seniority rights, and inadequate working conditions.
During your organizing campaign, be prepared for the following:
Supervisor Pressure
Supervisors will be the front-line troops against the Union, delivering letters and engaging in informal chats and speeches prepared by Union Busters that your employer may have hired.
Union Busters will write you many letters during the campaign — only they will not be signed by Union Busters. Instead, the letters will come from the corporate president or even your supervisor.
In some of the letters, Union Busters will have the bosses say how much they really appreciate all that you have done for the company. They might even admit mistakes. The goal of these letters is to convince you that the bosses really are good people and can be trusted to treat you better in the future.
Most of the letters will paint a pretty ugly picture of the Union. They want you to think the Union has a lot to hide and that you can get the “facts” from the boss.
Offerings
Union Busters will tell the boss to give you larger than usual or completely unexpected wage increases or bonuses. They also may instruct the boss to improve or provide additional benefits. Under the direction of Union Busters, they also may restore lost wages, differentials, benefits, or hours. And, they may establish or revive employee participation committees. The goal of these offerings is to show that you don’t need a Union to get a lot of good things from the company. The fact is, if you weren't now trying to form one, these so called "improvements" wouldn't be happening. And once the campaign stops, so do the "improvements".
Helping Hand
Union Busters will tell the company to start correcting problems. Major issues and little ongoing problems will be fixed. The company will solicit and settle problems in your favor to show their decency.
Your New Friends
Your bosses will be everywhere. They will walk the floors day and night offering a helping hand, engaging in friendly conversation, and setting up meetings so they can find out what is on your mind.
Meetings
Your supervisors will call you in for face-to-face discussions and lectures, which are scripted by the Union Busters, regarding the Union. If management insists, workers have no choice but to attend these meetings.
Captive-Audience Meetings
Employees will be required, on company time, to attend meetings where supervisors will deliver speeches and possibly present videos prepared by Union Busters. These meetings are not intended to be free, open discussions or debates; they are management forums.
Isolation
Union Busters will instruct management to isolate strong Union supporters so others won’t “catch the Union bug.” Identified Union supporters are usually not invited to attend the anti-Union meetings other workers are required to attend.
Divide and Conquer
Another major technique of Union Busters is to play one group of workers against another — Unionized workers trying to “use” non-Union employees; one ethnic group versus another; men versus women; older versus younger and one department against another — whatever system works, they're going to do it!
“Vote No” Committee
A committee of “concerned” employees may be established to “stand up” for the company and fight the bullying tactics of the Union. They want to “save” the company from the Union and give management “another chance.”
Sacrifice One of Their Own
If all else fails, the company’s president, personnel director, or some other “big management type” may be forced to resign or be fired. Then, the company will try to convince you that all your problems with the company left with that one person, and you should give them “another chance” to treat you better.
Repeat Negative Messages
Union Busters know what kinds of messages have a negative impact on organizing drives, and they instruct management to use them over and over again. Among the most common sayings are:
• “The Union is harassing you . . . You don’t have to talk with Union organizers . . . Let me know if you have any problems.”
• “The Union is a ‘third party’ . . . They are ‘outsiders’ who will come in and tell us what to do . . . The Union will spoil the ‘family’ we have worked hard to build.”
• “Union means strikes! . . . Can you afford a strike?. . . Can our business and our customers survive a strike?”
• “The Union is desperate to organize you because they need your money . . . They need your dues to support highly-paid Union staff and officers . . . The Union stands to gain hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars from you.
Updated on 07/10/2006 02:44 PM
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