nlc national labor consultants - hrma wne final... · composed of all former union organizers and...

NLC

National Labor Consultants

CONFIDENTIAL 2015 www.natlabor.com

!  Composed of all former union organizers and former union officials

!  Former SEIU, UFCW, CWA, CNA, IBT, NYSNA, USWA, LIUNA, AFT, TRADES UNIONS

!  Multi Lingual and Multi Cultural

!  Addition of the former highest ranking Teamster, SEIU, LIUNA, and SHEET METAL officials.

Our team

WHO IS IMPORTANT?

Who is the most important person in administration and

management?


Confessions…


"  Escalates in a deliberate, measured and rational way

"  Gathers momentum

"  Inspires participants

"  Every campaign is built on different emotions

"  Create a Crisis

THE PERFECT CAMPAIGN


"  Unrepresented Workers

"  Primary Targets

"  Secondary Targets (any agency or business which has influence on the primary)

"  EMOTIONS

4 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN A CAMPAIGN

"  CUSTOMERS, USERS, SUPPLIERS, FINANCIAL BACKERS, REGULATORY AGENCIES

STRATEGIC RESEARCH

"  All Shifts

"  All Job Titles

"  Ownership

"  People who will be trained to communicate with unrepresented workers

"  Phone banking

"  House Calls (Home visits)

VOC Volunteer Organizing Committee

"  Settling with the union has to be on the minds of management team. “Their last thought before going to bed at night the their first thought when they wake up in the morning.”

"  Crisis and victory are achieved when both are so well aligned that the target (management) is trapped between them

CRISIS & VICTORY

"  Places where workers can speak freely without feeling intimidated by the presence of their supervisors

"  Examples – homes, union halls, restaurants, bars

"  Listening is the KEY

"  Organizers become the “Go-to” person

"  Start talking to make workers comfortable

"  Move into issues and agitation: Ex: How long do you work at facility? As what the problems are? This brings out the emotions.

INITIAL CONTACT

"  Issues – "  Low pay

"  Favoritism

"  Poor working conditions

"  No breaks

"  Lack of benefits

INITIAL CONTACT

Most Powerful issue is Poor Treatment and Lack of Respect

Set visions and message

The worker has to admit that he/she needs the union to resolve their issues

INITIAL CONTACT

"  The federal NLRA leaves it up to the collective bargaining representation (the union) and the employer to work out an agreement. Within certain parameters, federal law contemplates that parties are free to do economic damage to each other.

What the NLRA states (as stated in internal organizing manuals)

Legally Protected Concerted Activities

"  Passing out Union literature

"  Signing Union authorization cards or petitions

"  Hand-billing

"  Picketing

"  Monitoring Working conditions

"  Seeking compliance with employment law

"  Meeting with management to discuss demands

"  Wearing Union t-shirts, hats, buttons and stickers

"  Demonstrations during free time

"  Strikes

"  Work Stoppages

As a note, whether protected or unprotected does not mean demands will be met CONFIDENTIAL 2015 www.natlabor.com

PREPARE FOR WAR

"  Phase I: "  Research, Planning and Development "  Who are the targets? "  Gather info about workplace, industry and sector "  Develop a strategy "  Attempt to infiltrate company by salting the workforce "  Research to find if any union members are currently employed

at the facility "  Know your demographic. Bi-lingual organizers, door knockers


PREPARE FOR WAR

"  Phase I: "  Start building a committee - Volunteer Organizing Committee (VOC) "  Give them ownership "  Start creating emotional issues "  Befriend them to earn trust, become the go-to person for them "  VOC are people who will provide the union with ALL of the information

needed about workforce – lists of employees, addresses, issues they may have, any gossip that can be used

"  Are they liked and well respected by the other workers? Can they challenge management? Are they committed to unionism or just personal gain? Are they trustworthy and reliable? Are they representative of all parts of the work force?


PREPARE FOR WAR

"  Phase II: "  Build support and momentum

"  Hold small meetings and move to larger meetings once that momentum is built

"  Phone banking "  Home visits

"  Keep the campaign silent to management while support is built "  Schedule appointments with employees…individually

"  Find out where employees’ spouses work, where children go to school, what churches are attended, stores shopped in.

"  Build a War Room – which includes psychological profiles on every employee, including management


PREPARE FOR WAR

"  Phase II: "  Create the Illusions – the illusion of:

"  Workers have a voice

"  Workplace safety

"  Annual raises

"  Tell them American was founded on unions

"  Sell Hope – Whatever the worker wants to hear

"  Hope for more money, hope for better staffing, hope for better workloads, hope for better healthcare, etc.

"  Pick the Perfect time to begin card-signing (majority of workforce has been reached)


PREPARE FOR WAR

"  Phase II: "  Research continues

"  Plan the media campaign: rallies, religious organizations, ethnic organizations, informing public on the issues, DOH complaints, OSHA complaints, EEOC and DOL complaints – BEGIN THE CORPORATE CAMPAIGN

"  Now, card signing begins


A CORPORATE CAMPAIGN IS DEFINED AS…

"  A coordinated, long term, multi-faceted, wide ranging union effort to force a business to make concessions by:

"  Attacking a business’s reputation

"  Undermining public confidence in the business and damaging its stakeholders relationships

"  The goal is to cause the organization so much discomfort, embarrassment and financial damage that management yields to union demands

Corporate Campaign

"  Comprised of a mix of social, economic, legal, psychological, and political pressure

"  Attack the viability of the essential relationships that businesses rely on: relationships with customers, vendors, lenders, regulators, elected officials, and the community at large

"  They manipulate the news media to exploit, exaggerate, and spin acts, events and circumstances of a business in order to harm it financially

Corporate Campaign

THE UNIONS MAIN TACTICS INCLUDE…

"  Contacting Outside Interests

"  Filing class action lawsuits, IRS complaints and unfair labor practice charges

"  Disrupting construction projects

"  Attacking a corporate campaign target’s tax-exempt status

Some companies are more vulnerable to public opinion and publicity than others. Unions know that this one issue could

trigger union recognition.

Corporate Campaign

"  Unions still use fear and intimidation tactics

"  They want you to know they are there

"  Hanging out outside your facility, pro-company employee homes, pro-company employee hangouts or management homes

"  Turning employees against each other

"  Turning employees against management (and vice-versa)

"  Turning public against management

"  They have two goals

"  Strike fear in non-union supporters

"  Force management into making mistakes (emotional)

WAR HAS BEGUN

Does the organizer care

"  We were not trained to care. We were trained to not care about people with emotions. They represented a monetary value.

"  Organize with the mentality of Death by 1000 cuts. The most successful campaign employs all activities to increase tension and disrupt the employer.

"  The key is to create situations where management will worry from the time they wakeup till they go to bed. “If you do your job really well, they will wake up with nightmares.”


Samples of Union Campaign Manual

"  Sample language includes:

1.   “Follow supervisors instructions to the letter even when you know those instructions are wrong or the supervisor has mistakenly left out key steps.”

2.   “In some cases you may be able to persuade the customers not to do business with the employer because the employer is not being fair to the workers.”

3.   “Management will try to describe the strike as being called by “the union”, local officers, “ a small group of hotheads”, or the International union. Going the extra mile to make sure everyone feels they had the chance to vote may help insure that this charge doesn’t ring true.”


Samples of Union Campaign Manual

4. PAGE 2 -15 OF THE CONTRACT CAMPAIGN MANUAL…the union explains that, “ if appropriate, show workers some interest in them as a person.” 5. During a strike, strike benefits, if any, are not automatic. Some campaign manuals state that an employee must exhaust all bank accounts, investments, friends and family, before they are eligible. Oh and they forgot to mention, with every union, even when you are on strike, the employee still has to pay dues.

6. PAGE 2-25 OF THE CONTRACT CAMPAIGN MANUAL… “IF members are supposed to believe in the phrase ‘you are the union’…they have to see it in some publications.”


Actual page taken from Union organizing manual

This page describes in detail what the union actually thinks of the very people they unionize and take money from. It states, “ A SCAB is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water-logged brain and a combination backbone of jelly and glue….No man has a right to SCAB so long as there is a pool of water deep enough to drown his body in, or a rope long enough to hang his carcass with. Judas Iscariot was a gentleman compared with a SCAB. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself, a SCAB has not….”

When entire groups of people believe in this to their core it has been met with violence, fear and intimidation.


WHAT DOES THE UNION WANT

"  1. UNION SECURITY CLAUSE(Right to work versus non- right to work state)

"  2. DUES DEDUCTION

PEOPLE ARE CONSIDERED DOLLARS. WE HAD QUOTAS TO FILL FOR MONEY AND WE DID EVERYTHING WE COULD TO

FILL THAT QUOTA.


"  Workers compensation cases

"  Dumpster diving

"  Meet the neighbor day

"  Sexual harassment claims

"  Unfair labor practices

REAL Stories

REAL Stories

"  Cardboard coffins or gravestones symbolizing “the death of workplace justice.”

"  Greeting cards or petitions signed by employees for management.

"  A skeleton symbolizing a “bare bones” benefits package.

"  A block of ice to protest wage freezes.


REAL Stories

"  Bags of dirt left outside the offices of management to signify…treating employees “like dirt.”

"  Marching into supervisors offices during breaks blowing whistles or holding signs.

"  Bring in mass numbers of organizers to organize small groups of employees to show power in numbers. CONFIDENTIAL 2015 www.natlabor.com

Salting the workforce “Covert Salt”

•  Salting – implanting pro-union “moles” into an organization for information and support. SALTS ARE PAID BY UNION in addition from job.

•  At one time we had up to 50 salts in one company working in virtually all departments including Human Resources, Executive Assistants and a Vice President.

•  Salts would deliver a pro-union message, get vital information and report EVERYTHING back to me

•  No information was too private •  Org Charts •  Personnel Files •  Site Diagrams •  Policies & Procedures •  Security Schedules and Routes •  Financial Statements •  Personal Information


Obtaining Signatures

"  The law may require 30% but most organizers won’t touch a campaign until 65-70% is inevitable

"  Organizers do “swindle” signatures

"  Sign in sheets for meetings

"  Name/Address/Phone Number

"  Intimidation

"  If someone said “no”, I knew where to park my car the next night

"  Employee surveys

"  Questions crafted to get signatures CONFIDENTIAL 2015 www.natlabor.com

PERCEPTION IS REALITY (YOUR EMPLOYEES, YOUR

FACILITY, YOUR PEOPLE, YOUR CULTURE)

WHY MY EMPLOYEES?

WHO WANTS THE UNION

WHY DO EMPLOYEES WANT A UNION?

WHAT TYPE OF EMPLOYEE OF LEADS THE ORGANIZING

MOVEMENT?


Leaders

Are they liked and well respected by the other workers?

Can they challenge management?

Are they committed to unionism or just personal gain?

Are they trustworthy and reliable?

Are they representative of all parts of the work force?


Why Employees Seek Unions

Employees feel they lack job security because:

!  Management condoned arbitrary separations. !  Management failed to have proper documentation before taking

action and the result was an upset former employee and, even more serious, an upset organization.

!  Management was just “too busy” to listen. !  Management “too busy” to investigate and obtain answers. !  Management was not following a consistent promotion-from-

within policy – no considerations given to seniority. !  Management showed favoritism.



Wage program deficiencies:

!  Management not keeping consistently abreast of competitive wages in

the area for like work. !  Failure to review salary schedules and make salary adjustments when

necessary. !  Failure to inform employee of new wage rate when salary increase is

given. !  Erratic, short hour schedules. Exceptions to the normal schedule not

fully documented on employees’ records. Flexing Down.

Employees fail to understand organization benefits or policies:

!  Employees not provided with the necessary information to fully understand how to use the benefit program. Although our organization provides an excellent benefit package – most of this effort goes without credit when employees do not understand and utilize that which is rightfully theirs.

!  Employees have not received updated Employee Handbooks. What language is the handbook in?


Supervision deficiencies:

!  Inconsistent standards – favoritism. !  Job duties not defined. !  Failure to recognize individual achievement. !  Failure to treat employees with respect. !  Failure to properly orient new employees. !  Failure to conduct “Employee Annual Review.” !  Lack of uniform rules and regulations, or if established, not made

known.



Employees feel ignored:

#  Changes made without employees being informed or consulted.

#  Employees’ suggestions not given consideration.

#  Employees don’t have a say on the things that affect their jobs.

#  Employees have a feeling of “not belonging.”

#  Employees see no apparent advancement opportunities.

#  Favoritism shown in promotions.

#  Inconsistent administration of policies and regulations.


Poor working conditions:

!  Dirty lounges, inoperative restroom facilities, lack of restroom supplies.

!  Improper ventilation and temperature.

!  Lack of proper equipment and supplies.

!  Unreasonable delay at exit floor after punching time card.

!  Skipping Meals and Breaks


Education of not only management but ALL staff is essential

Unlike popular thought from employers, educating the employees on what to expect when an organizer shows up at

their door or in the parking lot, they will be ready to know the organizer is promising only ONE thing, HOPE. Nothing

is guaranteed.

For more information please contact Keith Peraino, RN at (718)309-8149. Email [email protected]

WWW.NATLABOR.COM

EDUCATION

nlc national labor consultants - hrma wne final... · composed of all former union organizers and...

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