Below are just five do’s and don’ts of a union organizing drive. This issue is so important to the future of the company, the employees, and their families that it requires more than a few do’s and don’ts. It requires a commitment to manage in such a way that employees believe that a union is unnecessary.
- Unions will attempt to get union authorization cards signed without the Company’s knowledge.
Your management team needs to know the warning signs of union activity, such as an increase in the frequency of employee complaints, employees visiting with other employees to whom they normally don’t talk, employees clamming up around supervisors, etc.
- Employees feel the need to join unions because of management mistakes.
To evaluate your union vulnerability, conduct a comprehensive employee relations audit through the use of a confidential Employee Opinion Survey or individual interviews. The key is to learn employees’ true concerns about supervision, policies, working conditions, compensation, etc.
- Supervisors are excluded from voting in a union election. However, they are the first line of defense against unionization.
Identify which employees meet the standards of being a supervisor as defined by the National Labor Relations Act. Train them on what they can and cannot do under the law. Make sure they use sound management practices in working with their employees. They should know their employees as people, not just as workers. Terminate the incompetent supervisors.
- Management should strive to include most employees in the voting unit.
Having the right voting unit can be the difference between winning or losing. Unions will often carve out a voting unit of employees who are most receptive to the union. Conversely, statistics indicate that the larger the number of employees voting, the greater chance of a Company victory. Thus, make sure specific job classifications share a community of interest with other employees such that it will be more difficult for the union to isolate and target the smaller groups. This has to have been done before any union activity.
- Union campaigns are like political campaigns.
Your employees are deciding whether they believe the management of the Company or they believe a union organizer whom they hardly know. The Company will need to effectively communicate the Company strengths, recognize and verbalize the employee concerns, point out union weaknesses and explain the impact unionization has on the employee and Company. All of this must be done using various forms of communication that will reach each employee and to some extent, their family.