What to Expect
A Union gives workers the leverage and power to bargain for better wages, benefits, and a way to address or eliminate unfair or harsh work rules. For management, however, a Union means less power and control. As a result, many employers tend to resort to both subtle and drastic measures to keep workers from thinking a Union will benefit them at all. When workers understand they have rights to form a Union they overcome management’s tactics and take the steps to improve their job for everyone. Many employers respect workers’ rights and basic freedoms to choose when it comes to Union representation but sometimes they try to get in the way. Some companies who are opposed to allowing the employees to form a union resort to various tactics to prevent organizing.
Love Tactics and Scare Tactics -- While opposite in their approach, both tactics can have equally damaging affect for workers trying to make necessary improvements for them and their families.
LOVE TACTICS
Your employer might try to sway you from supporting a Union by saying or doing the following:
Love Tactics and Scare Tactics -- While opposite in their approach, both tactics can have equally damaging affect for workers trying to make necessary improvements for them and their families.
LOVE TACTICS
- Give us a chance. Your boss may admit to making mistakes assuring that those mistakes will be fixed and will never occur again. Management may send out "love letters" which stresses they have an open door policy and watch out for these paid union sales person. They will pledge and promise a better future if you decide against forming a Union.
- Bribes. Overdue pay increases, promotions, enrollment for health care and new evaluations take place. Your company may implement temporary changes or improvements in reaction to a Union organizing campaign. These changes rarely last for any significant period of time and disappear shortly after the threat of a Union goes away.
- A Sudden Change in Attitude. The attitude of your employer towards you and your fellow workers will dramatically improve. Management is suddenly very concerned with showing you how much they appreciate and respect you and your work for the Company. Activities, such as lunches, dinners and picnics are organized for workers and their families - activities that did not exist before the Union began the organizing campaign. A simple “Hi” or “Thanks” begins to appear now that the employees want some rights in the workplace. If the company is willing to act so nice to you because a Union may represent you, just think how nice the company will have to act after you vote in favor of a Union, and have options you don’t have now!
Your employer might try to sway you from supporting a Union by saying or doing the following:
- Management will not listen to the Union. Management wants you to believe that workers coming together in a Union have little power and that should the workplace become unionized, management will not bargain with the workers or comply with the workers’ contract. What management does not want you to know is that, by federal law, they must cooperate when workers form a Union.
- Threatening your benefits. It is against the law to threaten your benefits as punishment for supporting a Union or to reduce your benefits in retaliation for forming a Union.
- Pressuring Team Leaders and Supervisors. Management may pressure your supervisors to subtly, or not so subtly; spread anti-union messages around your job site. Many times supervisors will use their personal relationships with employees to manipulate and harass. Again, under federal law, management is not allowed to promote, recruit, or fund any form of an anti-union committee.
- We’re a Family - We’re a Team. Management might organize a mandatory meeting in order to spread an anti-union message throughout your workplace emphasizing that the Company is a family and should stand united against the Union. It is not unusual for anti-union videos and other forms of propaganda to be shown at these meetings. The Company is allowed to hold mandatory meetings providing they pay you to attend. In most cases before the meetings start they have question and answer sessions with pre-arranged questions and answers.
- Union Busters. Management may choose to hire union-busters, or better known as Labor Management Consultants to roll out and implement a way to defeat the workers attempt to organize. These highly paid professionals sign a contract with your Company, and then work to prevent the employees from having a contract with your Company.
- Strikes. The reality of strikes is very rare. Unions will examine all other alternatives before a strike is deemed necessary. Statistically less than 1% of all negotiated union contracts end in a strike. The workers are required to approve a strike and must vote to authorize such action by a two-thirds secret ballot vote. The Union does not approve a strike, the workers do.
- $ Money, Money, Money $. Not one single penny will be paid towards Union dues unless the workers receive and vote to approve a contract covering their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Only the employees can accept or reject the terms of their contract. So why would you or your co-workers vote to accept anything less than what you currently have? Your employer may attempt to frighten you with talk about all the money you could pay in Union dues or Union fees. Employees who are present when your first contract is accepted have their initiation fees waived. No employee voting for that first contract will pay a single penny towards initiation fees nor back dues. Employees hired after a contract is in place will have to pay a low initiation fee of $25 to $150. Union dues bring large rewards in pay raises, benefits, job security, Union representation and guarantee of working conditions. The additional pay and benefits workers receive through belonging to the Union are much more than the cost of Union dues. UFCW Local 1564 dues range from $6 per week to $11 per week based upon the pay rate of the employee. The low weekly cost of Union dues is nothing compared to the savings on Health Care, higher wages and safer working conditions a Union provides.