Employers' Anti-Union Tactics Getting Bolder

Three words explain why employers are getting bolder in the use of intimidation, coercion, terminations, and other illegal tactics to frighten their employees when they organize — because they can.

Employers are more aggressive today because they know they will not face any serious consequences for illegal or borderline illegal behavior within the confines and time constraints of our labor laws. Firing a worker for union activity may be illegal, but it doesn't carry a stiff penalty, just a negligible back pay award if the worker eventually prevails. An employer can't be sued for wrongful termination; the worker must file a complaint through the NLRB.

Sadly, the lack of penalties and length of time that it typically takes the Board to render a decision — 1,232 days — makes the firing of union activists a useful and pain free tactic for employers who want to send a strong signal to union supporters.

Here's one worker's account from his 2005 organizing effort at a Chicago area company:

"We organized a meeting on Saturday and I had eight of 11 guys sign cards right then. When we came to work on Monday, we all wore little union buttons and that's when the boss came up to me and told me to get my tools and get the hell off his property. He fired me and one other guy because he found out that we led the campaign. I just went numb. I couldn't believe it."

Recent studies indicate that employers fire union activists in 25 to 32 percent of organizing campaigns. Looking back on the number of back pay cases won by workers, employers' use of this tactic has increased 300 percent since 1970, rising from 6,000 to 24,000 today.

Yet employers seldom rely on a single tactic to prevent unionization. Most use at least five illegal or coercive tactics to "persuade" employees to oppose, or not to get involved in their co-workers' organizing campaign. Here are six tactics employers use:

• 92 percent hold mandatory anti-union meetings.

• 78 percent force employees to attend "one-on-one" meetings with their supervisors.

• 49 percent illegally threaten to close the plant or facility if employees win a union.

• 48 percent illegally promise improvements in wages or benefits if employees oppose a union.

• 31 percent illegally coerce employees into opposing unionism by offering bribes, raises, or special favors.

• 31 percent illegally assist employees who oppose a union into forming "anti-union" committees.

No single tactic will generally overcome widespread worker support for a union, so employers use multiple tactics (62 percent of employers use at least 5 anti-union practices) to reduce union support. A 2005 study of organizing campaigns indicates that workers' union win rate dropped below 17 percent when employers used between 11 and 16 anti-union tactics.

Once workers formally file for an election, the 42-day election period that is provided under NLRB election procedures gives employers a big advantage over workers and union organizers who are assisting them. During this six-week period, employers concentrate their threats, and step up employee "one-on-ones" with supervisors, mandatory captive audience meetings, reminding workers on a daily basis of the power they hold.

The hostile environment an employer creates during the final weeks of the campaign can wear down even the most ardent union supporters.

Preventing First Contracts

Even when workers succeed in overcoming the anti-union campaign, employers know there's another a way to defeat the union — by preventing a first contract.

The law requires both parties to negotiate in "good faith," but its provisions are not strong enough to stop an employer from using delay and other tactics to prevent workers from achieving a contract that they could possibly support.

Once a year has passed, and no contract is reached, frustrated workers (often illegally aided by management), can petition to decertify the union. The tactic works. Nearly 40 percent of workers who organize never get a first contract.