Union Free

Staying Union Free

Q: OK, so there's a union organizer hanging around and trying to get people to sign cards where I work, I don't want a union but I'm just one person, what can I do?

A: Make sure management knows about it. That may sound stupid but, just like with affairs where the spouse is the last to know, many employers think that they know what's going on when they don't.

Union organizers like to do as much spade work as possible before management finds out they are active. There are all sorts of rules about what your company can and can't do when there's a union organizing campaign but there's not any rule that says you can't tell them what's going on.

Find out what the union is saying. Believe it or not, sometimes union organizers stretch the truth a little bit when they are trying to get people excited about how great life will be once they have a union.

Thanks to the Internet there is a lot of information available and it's not all that difficult to check the facts from reliable sources. If a union organizer isn't getting the facts straight and you can prove it, telling your coworkers the truth is a powerful tool to help you stay Union Free. You can contact us with help on the research.

Don't be afraid to talk with your fellow employees about your concerns. Union organizers love to use the "everybody's doing it" line to make people who want to stay union free seem like misfits when in reality they are the majority.

When you learn why some of your coworkers want a union, we can help you find the information for them to show them that being union isn't going to achieve their goals.

When you find coworkers who agree with you about staying Union Free, offer them encouragement. If the people who want to go union are using buttons, you can balance the scale by getting some "Union Free" buttons from us, usually at no cost.

Remember that unionism is a business and the union isn't going to invest a lot of money in a losing proposition. If the organizer realizes that 30 percent of your coworkers aren't going to sign cards or that even if they get 30 percent on the cards they will lose an election, the union will be out of your hair in short order.

You are not alone in opposing unionism. We can help. Let us hear from you.