It seems obvious that, if an employer is worried about unions knocking at the workplace, it should take steps to keep employees content and happy — and monitor for union activity. But at what point do anti-union efforts morph from proactive to problematic?Last week, PressProgress published a column entitled: “A&W Tells Anti-Union Conference It Keeps a Secret ‘Watch List’ to Make Sure Workers Don’t Unionize.
For certain companies, unionization raises the spectre of excessive costs. Some unions understand that their interests and the company’s are aligned insofar as a bankruptcy proceeding is not in a union member’s interest. An employer may try to fire an employee who is harassing other workers or is a sub-par performer who forces others to pick up the slack, but find itself unable to do so because a union has a policy resisting discipline for its members, however deserving.
It's usually easiest to show employees how much union dues are and what little benefit they get from them. Most will reject unionization after that, especially those who already earn the lowest wages in the economy.