Modern Union Busters Work From the Inside

For the union-busting employer, the goal is to set wages and conditions, work rules, and job security unilaterally and to maintain the option to lower those standards solely at employer discretion. This is done either by “union avoidance”—bypassing negotiations with any independent union—or by self-dealing through the dreaded “company union,” a committee of employees dominated by the employer. And as we’ve seen time and again, the employer will invariably elevate the workplace status of any employee who will help achieve its goals.

The real strategy behind the modern union-busting campaign is the demonstration of employer power in the workplace through trusted employee surrogates. This is achieved by plucking two diametrically opposed strings in the hearts of the workers: loyalty and fear.

The paternalistic message is, “We’re the company. We’re good. We pay your salary. You owe us your loyalty. If you vote for the union, the company will fail, and you’ll be out of a job.” Psychologically, the company and its water-haulers are shaping employee opinion to accept and believe that the consequences of being union are so dire, workers are better off without it.

You may have seen versions of this in local contract negotiations where the company representatives hold a meeting in connection with a service and say something like, “If concessions aren’t made, our biggest donor will withdraw all funding and walk away.”

A union-busting campaign aims to maintain a climate of fear and intimidation. Those who support the company union receive preferential treatment, better pay, and benefits. Those who advocate a union that is independent of the employer have to fight to keep their jobs.

Another method of attack used by the union-busting employer is to forward bargaining table demands that would never be acceptable to an existing union under any circumstances. The strategy is to force a strike or seduce wavering workers into abandoning their union in favor of company-dominated unionism where sub-standard conditions can be implemented without a fight.

The union-busting employer doesn’t depend so much on outside consultants. It relies instead on an anti-union antidote administered by employee opinion leaders inside the workplace who do the employer’s dirty work and sell out their colleagues. Without a union to deal with, the employer can freely afford to handsomely reward its supporters using money saved by picking the pockets of its other employees.

Contemporary union busters thrive on fear and divisiveness managed from the inside by employee operatives. You won’t like where they’ll take you. Read More>>

Union Busting Check-List

Union Busting Playbook

Union-busting is any action by management to prevent employees from exercising their right to organize. Union busting attorneys train supervisors on what to say to persuade workers to vote down a union. The “script” doesn’t change much. Whether you are a bus driver, a nurse, a tech, or a call center worker, employers will hire union busters who will train supervisors in this anti-union script, or “playbook.”

In this Union-Busting Playbook, you can find out about common union-busting strategies and even read and hear examples from workers who have been through tough campaigns.

For example here are Eight Things an Employer does to block Unions: (1) Hire a union busting consultant; (2) Tell you to wait and see; (3) Get a few employees to campaign against the Union; (4) Send letters to you and your family; (5) Hold meetings to sweet talk or brow beat you; (6) Deny your rights through delays and law breaking; (7) Spring a last minute surprise on you; (8) pressure supervisors to pressure you. Read More>>

The New Corporate Playbook for Dealing with Unions

When the Great Recession struck with full force in 2008, many companies demanded deep concessions. Workers across North America, including thousands of IBEW members, made numerous sacrifices to help their employers make it through those tough times.

Since then the economy has made a major turnaround — but most of its benefits are going to the top 1 percent of earners. Profits have hit an all-time high. At the same time, wages as a percent of the economy have hit an all-time low.

Even at unionized companies, IBEW negotiators are confronting cash-rich employers who have replaced mutually beneficial collective bargaining with a winner-take-all, adversarial relationship — an approach some union activists are calling "hard bargaining."

"There are companies out there struggling, but even companies that are doing well are bullying everyone like it is still 2008," said IBEW Manufacturing Department Director Randy Middleton. "They don't need the concessions, their survival doesn't depend on givebacks, but they know workers have been afraid and they've sharpened their knives."

Across the nation, profitable companies like Rockwell Collins, Schneider Electric and GE are demanding the closure of pensions, pay freezes and higher health care costs.

Even a company like Southern California Edison, which has maintained a constructive relationship with its workers for decades, recently hired a union-busting lawyer to lead negotiations. The trend is clear: corporations can afford to pay higher wages, they just aren't, and every day companies are paying their workers less. Read More>>

700 Workers On Strike Across Greater Manchester

MAJOR disruptions hit Oldham commuters yesterday as more than 700 bus drivers went on strike across Greater Manchester.  The bus drivers well and truly made their point as their striking action caused around 50 services across Greater Manchester to be cancelled or reduced ­- there was an increase in cars on the roads and reported overcrowding on the Metrolink.

Around six bus services in Oldham were cancelled while others were significantly reduced.

Unite, which represents 700 members working out of the Oldham and Queens Road depots, accused First Manchester of pushing through changes to conditions without negotiation. Unite regional officer Neil Clarke said: "There's about seven or eight issues that have been articulated. They range from non-payment of certain elements of pay, to not honouring holidays, to changes in the way drivers' time is calculated, the way people are treated in general in terms of procedure.

"There's one main problem and all the other issues emanate from that problem ­- the problem is the approach that the senior management team are adopting towards the management of employee relations and the treatment of staff. One of the Oldham bus drivers on strike, Arnie Gray, said: "Management are taking it upon themselves to break long-standing agreements; pay agreements, attacking the long-serving people that have been here by breaking a pay agreement which the flexible retirees should be getting. I could go on ­- they're breaking agreement after agreement." Read More>>

ATU Local 1764 Gets Wage Increase in New Contract with First Transit

The new 3-year contract between Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764 and First Transit, the private contractor that operates the popular D.C. Circulator buses, gives the drivers eventual pay parity with their Metrobus colleagues and the right to refuse to drive unsafe vehicles.

The wage hike came after ATU publicized the high turnover among Circulator drivers, due to poverty-level wages in the high-cost D.C. area - and after the D.C. auditor reported that up to 95 percent of tested Circulator buses had safety problems. The drivers staged several rallies over the issues of low pay and unsafe buses.

"Poverty wages were leading to high employee turnover, and high turnover was transforming the Circulator from a premium bus service into a District-subsidized training ground for other local transit systems that better provide the economic security transit workers," Brogan explained. "Like all of us, they need to live in this expensive region."

"We need to improve the employee retention," District Department of Transportation Director Leif Dormsjo told the city council earlier this year. "We want to have good, loyal operators who are happy and safe doing what they are doing because that just means our customers are going to get a higher quality of service." Read More>>

300 Paratransit Workers Vote Down FirstTransit Offer

Over 300 Teamsters Local 542 members performing paratransit transit service (including bus drivers, fuel/washers, mechanics, and reservationists) for First Transit in San Diego turned down the company’s last and final contract offer on Tuesday, May 24, 2016.

Drivers, fuel/washers, mechanics and reservationists walked out on strike early at 3:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 25 to demand better wages, time off and health insurance benefits.

“Our members provide an essential transit service to the city of San Diego,” said Jaime Vasquez, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 542. “We will fight to get improved wages and benefits for all of the hardworking bus drivers, washers, mechanics and reservationists that keep the paratransit system running.” Read More>>

150 Workers on Picket Line at FirstGroup's Queen's Rd Depot

Some 150 bus drivers joined the picket line at FirstGroup’s Manchester Queen’s Road depot on Tuesday in a row over changes to conditions and bargaining procedures. The drivers have been in dispute for over a year. 

Bosses have cited “business reasons” for their attacks on agreed terms and conditions. A common theme among workers was taking a stand to stop management walking all over them. FirstGroup has plenty of money. It is a multinational company and recently announced a £5 million investment for 20 buses on the East Lancs guided busway. 

Bosses will have been unpleasantly surprised by the solid support for the strike and the size and enthusiasm of the picket. Although the dispute is about terms and conditions, this strike will have an impact on the pay negotiations due to start in October. Read More>>

Tensions High in Sask Transit Union

In an open letter to members, president Jim Yakubowski said there is “negativity” and “a high level of frustration” among unionized transit workers. In advance of the union’s executive election in mid-December, some members are already campaigning for a change in leadership, accusing current leaders of fear mongering, hiding details of legal spending and not knowing how to bargain. Yakubowski, who plans to run again for president, denies the allegations, saying union members can meet with the executive at any time to air concerns or view financial information and audits.

“One can well imagine — we’re four years without an agreement and we’ve got a lot of varied opinions and a lot of frustration with the way things are going. Not everybody agrees with everybody,” Yakubowski said. Transit union members are being paid 2012 wages because the union has been without an agreement since December 2012. Read More>>

Jobs Cut As FirstGroup Axes Routes

TRANSPORT giant FirstGroup is to drive out of East Lothian, axing services and closing depots in a move which puts almost 90 jobs under threat. In a statement, the firm said the operations had “not been viable for a number of years” despite efforts to reverse the decline and attract more passengers in an “increasingly competitive market”.  The planned cuts will slice about one fifth out of First Scotland East operation. In 2014 the company scrapped services between Queensferry and Edinburgh just days before the launch of a competing service by Stagecoach East Scotland. The decision was said to have been prompted by “high operating costs and increasing competition” Read More>>

Greyhound Does Not Enforce Own Rule On Driver Fatigue

At 1:33 a.m. on October 9, 2013, a Greyhound bus headed to Cleveland from New York slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer on I-80 in Pennsylvania. One woman died and dozens more were hurt. The passengers believe the driver fell asleep behind the wheel, and a CNN investigation reveals Greyhound has not been enforcing one of its own rules meant to keep passengers safe. CNN has found that Greyhound, despite saying safety is a priority, does not enforce its own rule related to driver fatigue. 

Internal Greyhound documents show drivers are supposed to stop about every 150 miles, get out and walk around the bus, check the tires and stretch, to mitigate fatigue. But CNN discovered that the so-called rule, known as rule G-40, is treated as a guideline. It’s not enforced.  

The company’s CEO, David Leach, in a deposition obtained by CNN, makes it clear that it’s up to drivers to determine if they’re tired. Leach also acknowledged that some of the longer routes could have drivers going twice as far as 150 miles without stopping. “So if they don’t feel they need to stop, it’s OK with you, as the CEO, that they drive 333 miles without a break?” the lawyer asks. “It would be fine with me,” Leach responds. Read More>>