If you think you have a union problem, you do, and it’s worse than you think.
Do your employees know that you prefer to operate without a union?
Do they know you do not want them to sign a union card?
Do your managers look for subtle signs of union organizing?
Would your employees vote for a union? 53% said “Yes” in a recent survey. 47% said they hated their bosses ... It may be too late when the union comes knocking on your door.
We are in a perfect storm for unions.
- A pro-labor Congress and White House...
- Threatens Corporate America with the Employee Free Choice Act,
- Passes Minimum Wage legislation putting upward wage stress on all employers with hourly paid employees,
- Accommodates illegal immigrants who find a safe haven with organized labor.
- The Change to Win Coalition...
- Uses $750 million to organize new members,
- Figures it out by targeting jobs that “can’t be moved” by offshoring,
- Scores a major victory by organizing 5,300 janitors in historically anti-union Houston, Texas,
- SEIU Healthcare union is 1,000,000 members strong with a $100,000,000 organizing war chest.
If this storm gets close to full force, employers won’t stand a chance.
To Secure Peace Is to Prepare for War
From: On War, Carl von Clausewitz
Unions win 67% (74% in healthcare) of the National Labor Relations Board representation elections.
Unions cost a lot of money … 32.4% in lost profits according to the Employment Policy Foundation.
Unions, while formidable, are beatable, but you need to beat them before they arrive.
Union avoidance is not about winning a battle, it’s about winning the war. Employers need to know what their employees are thinking and what they enjoy and dislike about working. Theories and experiments won’t win. Experience will. The perceptions and attitudes that send employees to unions are not unique. Some comments are:
“How do they expect us to get this work done when we’re so understaffed?”…“If we had a union, at least they couldn’t keep raising our (health insurance) premiums”… “Why does top management hate our best manager?”...“Is a 3% merit raise supposed to motivate me?”...
“Around here Tiger Woods meets expectations.”...
“Why don’t they just hire more nurses?”...
“Do we really need 16 vice presidents?”...
“Why is HR never around after 4:30?”...
“Do we have to work every weekend?”...
“Why don’t they send the big bosses home, when our workload lightens up, instead of us grunts?”...
“Is the president really worth all that money?”...
“We have to bring our own toilet paper to work.”...
“There is no American Dream for us.”...
“I wish to hell I’d get fired. It’s better than hitting the Lottery.”
Likewise for management reality becomes contempt.
“We still pay more than 70% of the premiums.”...
“Why don’t our employees appreciate that 3% merit increase? They should be happy they have a job.”...
“I think I’ll have some of the key employees (the vice presidents) over for a cookout.”...
“If they went to the gym at lunch like we do, they wouldn’t be sick so much.”...
“I didn’t hire your daughter. I hired you, and you have a responsibility to come to work.”...
“I need to make my numbers this month. We probably ought to cut a few people.”...
“Hey, she doesn’t have to work here. If things are so bad, tell her where the door is.”… “Remind them that they are employed at will.”...
“If I want his opinion, I’ll give it to him.”
Issue Identification
Finding out is not enough. You have to know the importance of an issue as a predictor of your employees’ inclination toward supporting a union. The Union Vulnerability Checklist© and Alienation Index® tell you where you are through a non-invasive process.
Employee focus groups or VIEWPOINT® the Employee Engagement Survey provide valuable precise data about what they think. Asking them after the union arrives is not only unlawful, it is too late. Right now, if you were asked why your employees would go to a union, you would probably get it right. The key is to ask them. Employees want to feel like they have a piece of the action. Asking them, telling them what they said and involving them in the remedy.
Remedial Action
“Can’t we fix it now?” How many times do employers ask this question after a union shows up? Fixing issues that might be subjects of bargaining will lead to probable unfair labor practices and a certain claim by the union that, “Your employer is only fixing this because we’re around.”
Allowing the existence of affordably remedied issues makes a union organizer’s job so easy.
Aegis The Total Shield Against Unions
Aegis is the only turnkey system that provides employers with the ultimate in union deterrence:
- Thorough and continuous assessment of employee relations issues
- Virtual indexing of union vulnerability
- Human resources policy development and management
- Ombudsman/mediation services on employee complaints
- Employee discipline intervention
- Implementation and management of your Alternative Dispute Resolution System
- Basic and periodic advanced union free management training for your front-line leaders
- Employee communications (telephone/email hotline, You Tube™, My Space™, website, video, print)
- Human resources management outsourcing
If you think you have a union problem, you do, and it’s worse than you think.
