Winning a Union Salting Campaign
Union salting campaign can intimidate or cripple
a nonunion contractor. Union salts want to intimidate a contractor
into signing a union contract. If the contractor refuses,
union salting is designed to force the contractor to spend
money and waste time defending unfair labor practice charges
before the NLRB.
How does a company combat a salting campaign?
Through carefully drafted hiring policies, by making good
and non-discriminatory hiring decisions, through the publishing
of and consistent application of work rules and other procedures,
and through the support of its employees.
Work rules and other procedures
The company should have a handbook. The company
should also have a written hiring policy. The hiring policy
should provide that all applicants complete the employment
application, and take the necessary tests, before being considered
for hire. References should be checked before an applicant
is hired.It is important for all employees, and especially
all supervisory employees, to be familiar with the handbook,
and the work-rules contained in the handbook. Those rules
should be applied consistently; to both union salts and non-union
employees. If a non-union employee is forgiven for a rule
violation, and a union salt is disciplined for the same rule
violation, the prospect of prevailing on a ULP suffers.
Employee support
Employees must be convinced that it is in
their own best interest to work for the company as a non-union
company.Employees need to be told that the union would present
an adversary relationship with management. Unions are political
organization and often make a "show" and create
problems in order to justify its existence. The energy and
resources consumed in this "power" struggle would
eventually steal the flexibility, productivity and profitability
of your company. Also, employees should be reminded of the
fact that union employees are frequently laid off, and union
dues are used to finance salting campaigns and targeted jobs.There
is a continuing general decline in the percentage of the total
work force holding union membership. Because of their financial
problems, unions are attempting to recruit as many new members
as they can in order to survive. This is especially true in
the construction industry locally, as the Ohio legislature
recently repealed the prevailing wage applicability to school
construction. What a union is interested in is your employees'
money. The primary motive to organize your employees is
purely and simply -- their dollars. Unions are big business.
Communication is the keyThe
process of defeating a union organizing campaign hinges on
communication. The most respected members of management
must form a team as primary communicators. Only truthful
information should be passed on to employees. Don't be timid!
Take command of the situation and then stay in control.Your
supervisors have every right to listen and offer their opinion
about anything that relates to it. Being accessible to employees
so that they have an opportunity to discuss the matter is
very important.There are some key concepts that need to
be communicated:
- The employee's vote is not necessary.
The union wants the company to sign the union contract.
The union contract requires the company to employ only union
members. The company's current employees are not union members.
Get the picture?
- The company does not have to sign a
union contract. The company can "force" an
election. In an election, the NLRB sets up and conducts
a polling of the employees to determine if they want to
have the union be the exclusive bargaining representative
for the company's employees. Keep in mind that this rarely
happens in the construction industry. In the construction
industry, unions want the company to sign a contract without
an election. In non-construction industries, such a practice
would be unlawful.
- By signing a union authorization card
the employee does not become obligated to support the union.
He may now understand some things that he had no idea existed
and he is therefore not obligated by his signature.
- Bargaining is a two-way street.
If the union wins an election, an employer is obligated
to bargain with the union. In bargaining, things can go
up or down. It's possible to lose some things you have now.
Regardless of what the union organizer says,
the union does not have the power to deliver on anything.
It can only ask, and if the company says no, it can strike
or back down. The union can guarantee nothing!Some
of the things we don't like are about the union: (1) we hire
people who we think will be good and productive workers; we
don't want to base the decision on whether people are union
members or not; (2) we do not want to require that all of
our employees belong to the union or that they have to pay
union dues; (3) we think we will lose some of our current
employees if we have to employ only union carpenters; and
(4) the wages and benefits will hurt our ability to get contracts
in our current market.
Management's Mission
Remember that your employees will resist new things. Management's
job is to let your employees see that it is in their best
interest to resist the union.
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to Union Salting page
Fortney
& Klingshirn
4040 Embassy Parkway, Suite
280
Akron, Ohio 44333
telephone 330-665-5445 - fax 665-5446 |
