“Change to Win,” a coalition of seven unions, recently announced it would  target the following industries for aggressive union organizing campaigns:

• Transportation
  
  
• Distribution
  
  
• Retail
  
  
• Construction
  
  
• Leisure and Hospitality
  
  
• Health Care
  
  
• Property Services
  
  
• Laundries
  
  
• Food Production and Processing

           

If your company is in one of these industries it is important that you recognize and understand union organizers’ aggressive organizing tactics and take steps to implement union avoidance policies to avert the possibility of a union invading your workplace.  If a portion of your workforce is already unionized beware the union does not target the remaining, non union employees.

What is “Change to Win”?

Change to Win, operating under the slogan “Make Work Pay” aims to form cooperative cross-union campaign teams made up of organizers from the seven Change to Win members unions, in order to create a unified effort to organize millions of workers in the state.  The seven unions which make up the coalition include UNITE HERE, UFCW, Teamsters, Laborers, SEIU, Carpenters and United Farm Workers.  The Change to Win federation was formed when these unions broke away from the AFL-CIO in 2005 and prior.  The primary reasons for the Change to Win federation’s rift with the AFL-CIO was the federation’s desire to focus on aggressive regional organizing as opposed to national politics.

Can My Company be the Target of a Union “Corporate Campaign”?

As union representation has plummeted below 8% in the private sector workforce, many unions have turned to a coercive form of organizing known as the “corporate campaign”.  In a corporate campaign, a union targets a corporation and pressures its executives and directors to submit to the union’s demands.  It is a form of top-down organizing that seeks to bypass the National Labor Relations Boards (NLRB) election procedures with the goal of forcing recognition through a so called “card check” in lieu of the more traditional secret ballot election.

In a “corporate campaign,” unions utilize a variety of actions, including economic, political, legal and regulatory warfare, in an effort to redefine the image and tarnish the reputation of the target company until it yields to union demands.  In our experience no company is too small for this type of organizing effort.  Unions will enlist the help of the media, public officials, and religious and community leaders in its efforts.

Specific examples of corporate campaign tactics include:

• Filing class actions and other lawsuits alleging wage hour violations, discrimination, health and safety violations, environmental violations.
  
  
• Pressuring the company’s lenders within the financial community with threats of union boycotts against those lenders.
  
  
• Staging rallies and demonstrations at the company’s corporate headquarters to protest the company’s policies.
  
  
• Discrediting the company in the media by releasing reports attacking its policies, buying advertising time, and speaking to reporters.
  
  
• Letter writing campaigns to employees, spouses and children, and retirees.
  
  
• Calling for a boycott of the company’s product or services.
  
  
• Harassing the company’s customers and suppliers through picketing, hand billing and letter writing.

The main objective of many corporate campaigns is to obtain an agreement for “card check” recognition, forcing the employer to recognize a union upon presentation of authorization cards signed by a majority of the employees, in lieu of a NLRB supervised secret ballot election.

Union Avoidance Practices Your Company Can Adopt Now

It is possible to fight against a union organizing effort, and to adopt policies now that would prevent a union from targeting your company for organization.

One simple union avoidance tactic is to review your company’s handbook and policies to ensure they are fair, uniformly applied, and understood by all employees.  Policies relating to compensation and health care are not button issues to union organizers and, as such, should be closely scrutinized for fairness.

Another strategy is to train managers on the company’s overall labor strategy, early warning signs of organizing activity, how to respond to suspected “card check” activity, and what the company can and cannot say when faced with an organizing effort.

Should you have any questions about other union avoidance tactics or issues, please contact one of our lawyers in the Labor and Employment Group or the lawyer with whom you commonly work at Hoge, Fenton, Jones & Appel.

For more information,
please contact a member of our employment group:

Robert M. Coelho
rmc@hogefenton.com

Kathryn Meier
kkm@hogefenton.com

Lisa Aguiar
lea@hogefenton.com

Jonathan Hicks
jdh@hogefenton.com

Vanessa Inman
vri@hogefenton.com

Alison Buchanan
apb@hogefenton.com