Avoiding Unions

Making the Commitment

Resisting unionization does not begin when you first learn that a union is attempting to organize, represent your employees, or when you first receive word from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that a Union has filed a petition with the NLRB seeking a secret ballot election. Rather, if your Company has union-free or unrepresented employees, there must first be a clear management decision that you do not wish to have these employees represented by any union, and then the adoption of a positive strategy to resist unionization attempts.

Purely from the standpoint of costs and operating efficiency, it is preferable to have your employees remain union-free. Moreover, by providing a positive atmosphere in which to work, there is every reason to believe that a Company can be successful in resisting union organizational attempts. While there may have been a time in our history when some employees felt that they needed a union for job security and for other reasons, today most employers provide good benefits and working conditions, and most companies have perfected their employee relations techniques to a point that employees do not necessarily perceive a need for union representation.

Having made the decision to remain union-free a management should then determine what positive steps it will take to remain in this position.

The Phases of a Union-Free Strategy

In analyzing your union-free strategy, examine three distinct phases:

• Phase One: Your company is union-free, and as far as you know there is no interest in any union, or no union activity;
• Phase Two: You learn that some employees are talking about having a union, or you learn about specific attempts by a union to attempt to organize your employees;
• Phase Three: You receive a Petition from the National Labor Relations Board filed by a Union which has requested a vote by your employees as to whether they wish to be represented by the Union.

Your immediate objective should always be to remain in the Phase 1 position. If, however, you are moved into a Phase 2, or even a Phase 3 position, your objective must be to win any election that may occur in order to remain union-free.

PHASE 1: Developing and Implementing an Effective Employee Relations Program

In a Phase 1 situation, the key concept is employee relations. Review the material on this website concerning employee relations. At the core of any effective employee relations program, especially as it relates to maintaining your company's union-free status, is communication - management communicating with the employees, and the employees communicating with management.

Successful communications have several important aspects. In the first place, there should be an ongoing communications program emanating from management to the non-supervisory work force. These communications should consist of keeping the employees informed about the current state of the business and telling them about their working conditions and benefits.

The employees should be made to feel that they have a direct stake in the success of the company and should also be made to feel that the management believes that their contribution is significant to the success of the business. This can be done by providing employees with information about business affairs, sales information, new product information, information about competitors, information about the objectives that the company is seeking to obtain or information about certain problems that the company may be facing. The goal of such communications should be to enlist the aid and support of these employees in fulfilling the objectives of the company. By getting the employees to buy in to key management objectives, management will demonstrate to the employees that it is interested in them, and the employees will believe that they are part of a team.

Management should also develop and fully commit the company to implementing the type of employee relations program discussed elsewhere on this website. Without surrendering any important management prerogatives, management should attempt to get away from the idea of a "we" and "them" management style, meaning the attitude that the "we" are management of the business, and the "them" are the employees. Whenever possible, think in terms of "us", management and employees, making up one company, and attempt to project an attitude and atmosphere that will permit the employees to believe that they are part of the "us" and not considered as "them".

A small but simple example of something management can do to make employees feel that they are more a part of the business is to permit employees to escort visitors around the facility, instead of having a management person perform this task. This may seem very trivial until you consider what this does for the employee. The employee is being asked to do something that would normally be done by a management representative. In addition, it places the employee in a position of being an advocate or salesperson for the company. An employee will quite naturally wish to provide an atmosphere of interest and pride in his or her workplace and escorting a visitor through the facility gives the employees an opportunity to express themselves about their commitment and interest in the company. It is the expression of this same attitude which you will wish to call upon during the critical last days of any union organizing campaign.

Another important aspect of communications is taking steps to ensure that the employees understand that they have a good place in which to work. Specifically, the employees should understand their benefits and know what is being provided for them. Frequently, many employees don't have a very clear idea of what benefits are being maintained for them by the company. Make sure employees know what they have, especially if the company is providing good benefits to them. At a minimum, the supervisors should understand the benefit programs well enough that they are at least in a position to answer the simplest types of questions very easily and refer the more difficult questions to the human resources department for answers.

The other important aspect of communications must emanate from the employee. Every company with union-free employees should have an open door policy which allows employees to complain about anything that may be on their minds. Supervisors may think that such a procedure is a nuisance, but it serves as an early warning system of those signs and symptoms that could lead ultimately to a unionization threat. Management can give this procedure any name it pleases - that is not important. What is important is that the procedure exists and that it works effectively; or at least that the employees think that it works fairly and effectively. The procedure should be structured so that employees have a means of raising their complaints to other individuals in the organization, and they should feel that they will receive just and fair treatment when they use the system.

At some step in this process, the human resource manager should be involved. There are several reasons for this. Usually, the human resources department will be assigned the principle responsibility for carrying on a union-free strategy on a day-to-day basis. In addition, the employees should come to view the human resource department as a credible alternative they can use to obtain information from, concerning what they may rightly or wrongly perceive to be unfair treatment by their supervisors.

More importantly, if the human resources department is charged with the responsibility for maintaining a non-union work environment, it can take employee complaints into account in carrying on its day to day activities in the facility. For example, if there are numerous complaints about the activities of a particular supervisor or about a certain working condition, then the human resources department should work with that supervisor to find out what is wrong, or it may wish to consider recommending changes in certain working conditions to higher management. By following this procedure, the mechanisms set up to handle employee complaints can be used as an intelligence device for gaining early awareness of employee problems. If employees are not provided with such an outlet within the company, they are more likely to seek help from a third party - mainly a labor union if they believe they have a need for help.

PHASE 2: Responding to Union Organizing at the Early Stage

Despite management's best efforts, should union organizing activity begin, the company is in a Phase 2 situation. Now the objective is to prevent the union from gaining sufficient support to ask for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election. Simultaneously, not only should management be attempting to respond to those issues which may be making employees support the union, but also should be laying the groundwork for a Phase 3 campaign, should the union succeed in obtaining an election.

In analyzing a Phase 2 position, management should remember that any labor union needs only 30% of employees to sign union cards in order to ask the NLRB to hold an election. If a company assumes that despite its best efforts it may have at any one time about ten percent of the employees that will be discontent about something, 20% or 30% of the workforce will be critical in determining if the union asks for an election. While most unions will normally wait until they have at least 50% of the employees signed up before asking for an election, at anytime after the union has signed up 30% of the employees, an election can be requested.

During Phase 2, the company should not only respond to whatever gripes or problems that may have precipitated a move toward unionization, but should also step up the positive aspects of its employee relations program. This approach should be coupled with informing employees about the consequences of signing a union authorization card. If employees request information about how they can withdraw their union cards and get their cards back from the union, management is free to tell them how to proceed in this fashion.

Phase 2 is perhaps the most difficult phase to deal with in the strategy to remain non-union. On the one hand, it is important to attempt to prevent the union from obtaining sufficient card support to request an election. On the other hand, it is important not to say everything you can say about unionization, because as Phase 3 develops, a company may wish to be in a position to say something more to the employees that they have not already heard.

PHASE 3: The Election Campaign

If a company receives an election petition from the NLRB, it is now in a Phase 3 situation. Without a detailed discussion of the legal technicalities involved, the rules change concerning what you can do to thwart unionization once the union has asked for an election. Also, there may be many issues which should be raised before any election is scheduled. Those issues usually are resolved at a hearing before an NLRB representative. The delay that results from such hearings may provide management with valuable time to prepare for any election.

Once the petition is received and the election arrangements are made, a company should consider that it is now in a campaign situation. In the election the employees will be asked to choose whether or not they want to be represented by a labor union. However, the real choice they make is whether or not they wish to bring the union into the relationship which exists between them and the managers of the company. They will decide this question of whether or not they wish to have a labor union, or retain their existing relationship based upon what they believe to be in their best interests. It is management's job to convince the employees that their best interests are served by rejecting the union. This can be done in a completely lawful manner if management receives competent legal advice.

In helping employees make the "right" decision, you must remember that from a management standpoint, the company is engaged in a campaign which has, as its goal, the rejection of a union by the employees. Any good and effective campaign will have certain basic elements and goals. In the first place, a good campaign will be a well thought-out management effort at defeating the union. This will mean that the timing and content of the campaign will be decided by management, and not by the union. This may seem obvious, but in practice some employers fall into attempting trap when it comes time to mount a campaign.

Many managers will feel that every time that the union makes a statement, spreads a rumor, or circulates a leaflet, some response should be made by management. This is frequently the response of the uninitiated and those who believe that it is more important to do something, no matter what that something may be. Such a strategy of reaction robs management of the advantage that can be derived from good timing and from focus. The element of timing is extremely critical, because at certain times in the campaign you will wish to impart certain types of information to employees. Also, focus is the element whereby management, through its campaign material, is able to direct the attention of employees to certain types of issues and thus make it easier for the employees to vote against the union.

While no two campaigns are ever the same, there are certain basic features which should usually be a part of any good campaign. The campaign should open with a speech, usually given by the plant manager or some other high-ranking management official, stating the fact that within 4 to 6 weeks, employees will be asked to vote on a very important question. In the speech, management should stress the importance of the question that the employees will be asked to decide. Not only from the standpoint of the employees themselves, but also from the standpoint of management. They should understand that management is vitally interested in the choice they make. The speech should also appeal to the employees' basic sense of fairness by urging them to keep an open mind about the issues that will be discussed during the campaign. Such a statement will lay the groundwork for future management campaign material.

Finally, the speech should skillfully solicit questions from the employees. The wording of this part of the speech must be very exact and measured against certain legal requirements. When you ask employees for questions, what you are really asking them for is not only their questions, but also for the employees to come forward with any gripes or complaints that they may have. Since, in some instances, it may be illegal to come right out and solicit complaints from employees, the technique of asking for questions is preferable.

Moreover, if the speech is properly worded, when asking employees for questions, management will wind up getting both questions and gripes. Hopefully, after the speech the employees will start asking questions and raising complaints. If this does not occur, the speech should be reinforced by individual communications from supervisors or other management personnel on a one-on-one basis designed to elicit this information from employees. The information obtained from the solicitations will be helpful in developing materials for the duration of the campaign.

In the meantime, management should set up a campaign committee which should meet frequently during the campaign to assess the situation. This committee should be composed of a very few people, not usually more than four. The decisions that have to be made by the committee are vitally important, and there is a compelling need for secrecy. While it is important to ensure the support of first line supervision in the campaign, they should not be directly involved in the campaign decision-making process or in the development of strategy.

Members of the campaign committee will need to interview all management personnel regularly during the campaign to get information from them. However, the strategy should be announced to the management group only when the committee is ready to move on a new front during the campaign.

After the initial presentation or speech, the campaign will take on a variety of forms and features which must be tailored to the needs of the particular situation. However, any good campaign will consist of certain features. You will want to give the employees sufficient information to enable them to make a wise decision - in other words, to give them enough of the right types of information that they will decide to vote against the union. The information will among other things reinforce the value of the existing benefits provided by the company, and it will also discuss the company's excellent working conditions.

In addition, it will stress the negative aspects of union membership and contain materials about negative aspects of the particular union seeking to represent the employees. This information can be imparted through in-plant meetings, letters, bulletin board notices, and in any other manner best suited to the particular company. One step which management should take is to get the employees' families involved in the campaign. This can be done by sending some of the campaign literature to the employees' homes and suggesting to the employees' families in the communication that they discuss it with the employee. This can be particularly valuable when the spouse, for example, is asked to discuss material about what could happen to the family in terms of economic loss in the event of a strike. Enlisting the support from the family and people in the community can be critical, especially if the election is likely to be close.

Finally, a campaign should always have a Twenty-Four Hour Speech. This Speech derives its name from the National Labor Relations Board rule that prohibits employer speeches to groups of employees during working time during the day before an election. In the speech, the major themes of the campaign should be reviewed and the conclusion reached that the employees should vote against the union. If possible, this speech should contain some new piece of information that may prove to be of telling significance in the minds of the employees. Also, it can be helpful if information can be given out at this time which the union may have difficulty rebutting before the election. In this speech the major theme of the campaign should be reviewed and the conclusion reached that the employees should vote against the union.

At this point, an example may be helpful. We were involved in a campaign where the issue of wages was important. We learned that the same union that was seeking to organize our employees had negotiated a wage rate with another company that was less than what the employees were already being paid. The question was, when do we tell the employees about this situation? If you were following the strategy of reacting immediately to what the union says, you would have mentioned this fact to the employees the first time the union brought up the subject of wages. However, in the campaign we conducted, we held this fact back until the Twenty-Four Hour Speech. Keeping the campaign committee small meant that we were able to prevent leakage of this important information to the management group early in the campaign, and save the information for dissemination at a time we believed to be critical to the success of the campaign.

Summary

In conclusion, it is absolutely imperative for any union-free company to realize that an effective non-union strategy requires the constant attention of management. It is not something that can be resurrected at a moment's notice in hopes of fighting off a union drive.

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