Organizers should be aware that employers have access to U.S.
Labor Dept. reports which unions are required to file annually.
These reports inform them about the union's structure,
membership, dues and assessments, salaries and expenses of
officers and staff, constitution and bylaws.
Employers can also get copies of union contracts and data on
the number, length and outcome of strikes, and the union's
successes and failures in previous organizing campaigns. Through
government documents, newspapers and anti-labor publications,
they can collect dossiers on alleged union violence and
corruption.
Employers will inform their workers about whatever evidence
they believe is damaging to the union. Organizers must be
prepared with quick, convincing answers.
Most employer attacks against unions are predictable, because
they have used them again and again to defeat unions. Organizers
should have a thorough advanced knowledge of those tactics and
devise ways to counter them, depending on the circumstances of a
particular campaign.
Employers, through their lawyers and high-priced " Union
Busters," will vigorously oppose the manner and content of the
authorization cards that unions will be collecting from workers
at the start of their campaigns. They will tell employees that
by signing the cards, they will be surrendering their rights to
the union and may risk losing their jobs when the employer finds
out about their disloyalty.
Organizers shouldn't have difficulty
persuading workers that their signatures on the cards refer only
to union representation and will not be available to their
employer. Furthermore, the union will not be using the NLRB
election process, so it can continue collecting cards until it
has a majority.
A favorite tactic of the Union Busters is to spread a rumor
that if "outsiders" (the union) are allowed into the workplace
to dictate policies, the enterprise will cease being competitive
there'll be layoffs.
Actually, it's the "insiders" (employees), not "outsiders,"
who make bosses and managers lose sleep for fear they might
decide to join a union. It's sheer nonsense to say that the
union wants to take over management's job of running the
company. What most workers want is a
voice in determining their conditions of employment, and that's
what the union provides.
Union Busters often make a big deal of the dues and
assessments that employees would have to pay if they became
union members. They may circulate a leaflet containing photos of
various home appliances that workers could possess for the cost
of the union dues they would have to pay.
You may wonder why employers are suddenly so interested in
saving their employees' money. What
really bothers them is that the dues money will be used to
strengthen the union, so it can be more effective at the
bargaining table.
Employers try to frighten their workers by warning them that
a union can force them out on strike for months or even years.
The truth is that no strike can be
called without the approval of the employees. Unions call
strikes only as a last resort, when every possible effort to
compromise has been exhausted.
It's worth noting that more than 97% of the thousands of
collective bargaining contracts that are negotiated annually are
settled without a strike. There
would be even fewer strikes if employers would negotiate with
unions in good faith.
Organizers also have to contend with persistent criticism
about the high salaries and perks of union officers, many of
whom justify their pay because they work endless hours in a high
pressure job that requires them to deal with a constant flow of
problems on behalf of hundreds of thousands of union members.
The company CEO or his top manager, at some point, will send
"love letters" to the homes of employees, advising the spouse
and other family members about the dangers that unions represent
for the company and its work force.
Union organizers should be able to offer a quick response to
employer arguments in a mailing to the same audience.
"Captive audience meetings" are probably the surest way the
Union Buster has to jolt employees into deserting a union.
Workers are forced to listen to speeches and watch videotapes
that depict union leaders as greedy, strike-happy, sinister and
violent.
With a union, they're told, they'll have to pay whatever dues
and assessments are demanded of them.
But of course working in a "Right to Work
State" such as Nevada, all union dues are optional.
Organizers must react swiftly to counter the damage that
these meetings can cause the campaign. It is essential that they
talk to all pro-union workers, either in groups or as
individuals, to refute the employer propaganda.
The dealers union can demand equal time to
address the employees. They can publicize the
company's improper behavior in the local media. They can produce
a video giving the union's side of the story.
One of the employer's favorite arguments is that all that the
union can offer is promises, but their the one who sets the pay
for their workers. To respond,
organizers can produce scores of examples of workers who cashed
in on those promises, winning higher pay and better benefits in
a union-negotiated contract.
