Senate Passes FAA Bill With Anti-Union Measure

Underminin­g the Right to Organize: Employer Behavior During Union Representa­tion Campaigns

Why aren’t more workers forming unions? New data on employer anti-union behavior
 
Employer Anti-Union Behavior Is Widespread

Findings from a new report reveal that most employers take full advantage of the opportunit­y to tread on workers’ rights to a “free choice” before a union representa­tion vote.  They do this by aggressive­ly intimidati­ng, harassing, and coercing workers in an effort to undermine union support.
Among employers faced with organizing campaigns:

30% of employers fire pro-union workers.
49% of employers threaten to close a worksite when workers try to form a union, but only 2% actually do.
51% of employers coerce workers into opposing unions with bribery or favoritism­.
82% of employers hire high-price­d unionbusti­ng consultant­s to fight union organizing drives
.91% of employers force employees to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with their supervisor­s.

Employer Anti-Union Behavior Impedes Union Organizing

The report confirms that union membership in the United States is not declining because workers no longer want, need, or attempt to form unions. Instead, the falling membership rate is related to employers’ systematic use of legal and illegal tactics to stymie union organizing­.

Aided by a weak labor law system that fails to protect workers’ rights, employers manipulate the government­-supervise­d union recognitio­n process in a way that allows them to abuse their power and significan­tly influence the outcome of union representa­tion elections.­In 91% of the union recognitio­n petitions filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the survey, a majority of workers indicated they wanted a union before the process began. In several cases, workers demonstrat­ed more than 80% support. However, unions were victorious in only 31% of the campaigns in which they filed a petition.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost