Union Busters, Inc. - True Tales from the Inside

7 Come 11 Dollar Yo 

7 Myths Companies Need YOU to Believe About Unions

Once upon a time, I worked in Corporate America.  Like many of you, the “good” company I worked for doesn't exist anymore, not really. 

The company was originally owned by a Good Guy.   He didn’t believe in making decisions based on “shareholder value” and Wall Street.  It was his company.  He believed in treating customers and employees well.  He didn’t believe in fancy offices; his dad used to have his office in the middle of the action.   Good Guy insisted - even when the bean counters told him it was too costly – to offer his employees good benefits and pay them well.  His acts of generosity are still Legendary.  He is an icon.  This was a real company, or at least it used to be.  As I was young and naïve, I thought that everybody in “the industry” was just like Good Guy.  I was wrong.

As Good Guy grew older, he decided it was time to relax, ski, and hang out on the ranch.  He believed this legendary company and its core values would survive.  He was wrong, despite what the TV commercials tell you.

Good Guy sold the company.  In short order, it became a purple shell of its former self.  Many of us left to work for New Company. 

New Company wasn’t like Good Guy’s company.  Yes, New Company had people from Good Guy’s company, but it also had people from “Bad Hair Bankruptcy’s” Company.  Priority #1 was making money – for themselves. 

New Company made managers endure “Union Awareness” training.  One Executive, Big Ego, made sure New Company supervisors and managers “understood”.   Big Ego bragged about the unions he de-certified. 

 Big Ego was my Big Boss.

There are many union myths told to employees.  These tactics are not unique to my former company.   I am not an expert - I do not play one on TV.   The You Tube Reformed Union Buster has many more.  Use your "Google Machine" to view any Union's webpage.  They are a wealth of information.  Talk with "real" Union members; they will help you separate fact from fiction.

The myths below are just a sample.  This is my penance, or my rock-counting, or putting on my big girl underpants - for being associated with New Company for too long.

Myth #1:  “We don’t like Unions because want to be able to talk directly with our Team Members, not through a “third party.”

Union Busters and/or HR “team member relations” will use all sorts of nice phrases other than “labor and management.”  Fact: management can always talk to employees. The difference is that in a Union you will not be bullied behind closed doors.  You will know what you are being “sat down for” before it happens. 

You will not be the lone employee on one side of a table with members of Management on the other.  Rather, someone will be with you to ensure what you are “discussing” - most likely a disciplinary matter - is factual. 

Remember:  MOST states are “at will” states – An employee who is not covered under a CBA (or is not a member of Congress) can be fired at any time for any reason.  In non-Union environments HR and Management will try to get you to resign – and offer a “good reference” as bait.  This is BS.   Depending on where you live – if you file a claim or file for unemployment - your luck just ran out.  You resigned.  That is one of the “real” reasons corporations do not like Unions.  Unions level the playing field; your Union reps know about this little “game” and make sure you are not duped or fired for some stupid reason.

Myth #2: You want to give money to a Union? What have they done for you besides take your money?  They are crooks!  They are a 3^rd party; they are manipulating you; they are getting rich off your dues and supporting politicians with your money. 

You ARE the union.  You will never be a “member” of your company’s board.  You will never be able to vote on important matters in your company.  You will never be able to elect your company’s leaders or affect policy decisions.  As a Union Member you have a real voice in your Union. 

Crooks?  Really? Pause your campy 1960's Vegas Mob Movie and use your "Google Machine" - Who are the crooks?  Wall Street's Toxic Asset Managers, Speculators, Investment Houses, Madoff Men, Mortgage Companies, and Bankers.  Not the people fighting for your job.

Who is getting rich off of whom again?  What does "Record Corporate Profits" mean to you?  Further, your company likely contributes money directly or indirectly to politicians too – they just happen to be the OPPOSITE ones that your Union supports.   Usually. 

Myth #3:  “Employee Appreciation Parties” hosted by your company are “listening sessions” – they just want to find out what can be done “better” so you as an employee are “happy” at work.  They want you to feel…appreciated.

Ever notice that your company never asked your opinion or made you feel appreciated before there was Union Organizing noise?   What a coincidence.  Your company is not interested in a real discussion.  People from your company are taking notes – or the Union Buster is running the meeting and taking notes - to find out how they can spin your fears and concerns.   

They do not care if you are happy; they feel you should be "happy" to have a job.   If they did care, if they did treat you and your co-workers fairly, you would not be having an organizing drive.  It is too little too late.  They will say lovely things; they will applaud your ideas for change in these meetings.  They will never deliver.  Frequently, they are violating the law by having these meetings and “promising” you anything new.

Myth #4:  No pressure at all; these are voluntary listening sessions

Know your rights – know what they can and CANNOT ‘make you’ attend.  There is a LOT of pressure to attend.  The NLRB receives complaints about this all too frequently.  Your company will offer really good food, a drawing for a flat screen TV, big ticket raffle prizes.  

Think of it is putting peanut butter in a mouse trap.  Same thing.  Perky HR and Communications people will bounce around in areas where you have never seen them before (like outside of their office) and “talk up" the "event." 

Conversely, you will be accused of not having an “open mind” if you choose not to attend.  You will be asked what you are “afraid of” – Don’t fall for the bait.  One VERY effective strategy is to ensure that NO ONE attends voluntary meetings.  Your company and it's over-paid Union Buster Bully cannot brow beat a room full of empty chairs.  Know your rights https://www.nlrb.gov/faq/nlrb

Myth #5:  This is not about wages; we all know (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) that this really isn’t about money; it’s about what we can do to make your work life better. 

Yes, yes it is about money.  Most of it.  Employee wages are flat.  Full time employees become part-time or “on-call” employees.   Many lose their health insurance.  Employee schedules are manipulated to ensure that even though you worked 10 hours on Monday and 12 on Tuesday, you “Get to leave early on Friday!”  To ensure they don’t have to pay you OT.  Your boss was told awhile back – NO OVERTIME (it will affect your bonus, Mr. Manager – so keep it in line!)

Rather than raises, the company "pays for performance" – which in most places is a subjective, sadistic, sycophantic system at best.  Too often this system results in you busting your ass, but the boss doesn’t "like" you, so you get an extra ten cent an hour raise while Sammie suck up gets a dollar.  No, this isn't true in all companies.  Some organizations do take employee evaluations seriously.  Some bosses do try to do a good job and be fair - unfortunately there are more "bad" than "good" bosses and the pool of cash the top fat cats give you to "reward" employees is tiny.

Not about money?  The “consultant” in front of you won’t even accept a first class plane ticket until there is a signed big dollar consulting agreement.  Big Bonus if union problem goes away – HUGE bonus if pre-existing Union is decertified.  Your company does not want a union because in general, union wages are higher and benefits are better. 

In mixed-labor companies, the Company usually has to offer higher wages and better benes to match the Union.  Some companies choose to "do one better" in health plans for non-union employees as a way of sticking it to the Union.  This is a tactic to make employees wonder whether the Union is really a good thing.  It is a way to sew doubt.  Why?  They want to be the "only deciders" so much so that they are willing to pay big money to accomplish this goal.

But it’s not JUST the money - your company leaders likely believe the right-wing dogma about the evils of unions.   They believe the ALEC spin.  This is ideological as much as it is financial.    Does "right to work" sound like double-speak to you?   Sure does.  Anyone else notice that "Card Check" was ignored into oblivion.  Check out the ALEC website to find out their "model legislation" ideas.  It is "decidedly" Anti-worker.   Corporate “Deciders” are GOP men and women.  They do not DVR Rachel, Ed, or Keith.  They are Dittoheads in corner offices.  Corporate America is working very hard to keep you in "your place."

Myth #6 “It sounds like you’re upset with your supervisors and managers.  If we “trained” your supervisor to “be nice”, I bet you’d change your mind about a Union.”

In many organizations supervisors and managers are part of the problem. They do not, however, seriously impact pay and benefits.  The problem originates much higher up the food chain.   All of us have had a bad boss.  However, no union drive has ever started because of a “few bad apples” the union buster is talking about.  If the company had cared – or a Union had held it accountable – those “bad apples” would have been long gone.  The “bad managers” are symptomatic of an organization that has treated it workers badly or ignored them for far too long.

Myth #7 – For Supervisors/Managers – If you think managing is tough now – wait until a Union comes in!  It’s IMPOSSIBLE to work with these people.

Most of the people telling you this have never managed in a union environment and are making much ado about nothing.  I have worked in both.   Some bad managers have a tough time because they are actually held accountable.  Some good managers who "mean well" have a tough time too.  Why?  They are not allowed to screw around with schedules, play favorites, or fire people because they looked at the labor budget and decided there was “too much seniority” on payroll.  

Busters tell you that unions lower productivity and union members don't care about quality.  They warn you that union members do not care about your customers.  They scare supervisors into believing the union will "grieve everything."  This is a bunch of steaming BS.  If anything, it is easier to supervise and manage because the "rules of engagement" and "expectations" are quite clear. 

If your employees simply put in their 8 hours and don't give a damn - you have a leadership problem, not a union problem.  Unions have been the Scapegoat of Peter Principled Corporate America for too long.

Our story continues...Big Ego and I did not have a long, happy time together.  Ms. Underpants was - and is - a little too sassy and comes from solid Union stock.  New Company had a little “reorganization.”  My position was eliminated.  It was a good thing.  

Fast forward a few years... New Company lost some of its properties.  New Company is having a tough time of it - some 'Jersey bankruptcy issues.   

There are some good people who still work at New Company properties, but there are a lot of the "senior people who still worship at the feet of "The Hair" and his progeny" who - in the words of Ricky Ricardo - "got some 'splaining to do."

I could wax poetic about Karma/Vipaka and New Company, but I will let you decide. 

7 come 11 dollar Yo.