What should I expect from my employer?

·         At first, most employers don’t like the idea of employees forming a union. Why? Because unionizing means management must share control and decision-making power.

·         In nearly every union organizing campaign, employers send letters and hold mandatory meetings under the guise of “educating” employees about the union. They hire expensive attorneys or consultants who train employers how to use scare tactics to weaken union support and keep the company “union free”. They will talk about strikes, dues, how the union can’t guarantee you anything and how it will hurt business. This happens in nearly every union campaign.

·         It is illegal for your employer to interfere with your rights to organize in any way. It is illegal for your employer to ask you questions about your union activities, to harass, discipline, fire or lay off any employee because of his/her union activity.

·         The challenge for employees during union organizing efforts is to stick together, to stay organized around the issues that are important to you and to make sure your co-workers have the true facts. And remember, supporting a union doesn’t mean you’re against your employer or your supervisor, it just means you want to have a greater say in what happens in your workplace.

You’re not alone:

·         At least 75% of employers hire consultants or union-busters to help them fight against being organized. Some of their tactics: forcing you to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with your supervisors, mandatory closed-door anti-union meetings.

·         Employers are legally allowed to “predict” (although not “threaten”) that a workplace will shut down if workers vote for the union, often scaring and intimidating workers out of exercising their freedom to choose a union. 

·         Percent of the public who say laws protecting the freedom to join unions are important:: 74%

·         Percent of the public who knows what happens at work when workers try to form unions: 44%.

·         Nonunion workers who want to join a union: 42 million.

Statistics are from a great article in AFL-CIO’s America@Work Laureen Lazarovici; these are the sources: