The unions are trying a “back door approach” to increase their membership numbers. They have tried and failed to get their controversial HR 800 bill passed by Congress. Now they are petitioning the NLRB to grant them the right to force employers to bargain with unions, even when they don’t represent a majority of the work force. Read More “September 2007”

Working your Way through the Facts and Myths

Several historically pro-union states have recently passed or are actively considering Right to Work legislation. Read on to find out how these changes affect union organizing strategies and may affect you and your company. Read More “Right to Work & Union Organizing”

The Chipolte Mexican Grill Immigrant Labor Force Case

A Response to Tactics or Coincidence by Mark Lema

Mark’s article is very interesting, and in fact touches a sore spot within my heart. Read More “Response to “Tactics or Coincidence””

A Look inside the Inner Workings of a Strike

Unions have destroyed a beloved institution in America. Read on to find our interpretation of the motivation behind the final downfall of Hostess Read More “Remember the “Twinkie””

Last Bastion of the Middle Class

The labor movement has received more attention in the last month than it has since the PATCO strike in 1981. State governors, starting with New Jersey to the dramatic confrontation between state employees and the governor of Wisconsin, are in essence addressing a symptom of much greater importance – the decline of the American middle class. The standard of living in the US has declined in the past 30 years. Americanfamilies are working more hours to maintain a standard of living that once could be supported by a single wage earner. In order to maintain that comfort level of 30 years ago, it has brought about the need for second wage earners followed by the leveraging through home equity mortgages and credit cards to augment stagnant salaries. The disturbing question is how many families could live on a single salary? Read More “Public Unions:”

AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumka’s union initiative to revamp their public image and rebuild theirmembership levels is starting to pay off for the unions who are riding the current wave of activism that are exploding throughout the U.S. (andthe world). Read More “Public Angst – The Perfect Climate for Union Growth”

Introduction

As a former high-ranking union official, I know first hand that union’s have many tactics, which they use in their attempts to organize new members. Salting, as a practice, is a fundamental tactic used by theunions, which haven’t changed much over the years. Union’s do adapt to different situations based on campaign needs. Depending on the circumstances and the “terrain” of the camping, operating a clandestine organizing drive (undercover) will usually be the best way to infiltratethe workforce with little to no resistance from management. After all, this is an extremely effective way to insert a “spy”, agitate issues andpull workers towards the union organizer. The Salt is someone implantedinto an organization to create issues (or exasperate existing issues). Remember, the Salt is not looking for possible solutions to issues. The Salt is seeking to cause chaos and dissention within the workforce. Thisis their true purpose Read More “Overview of Union Salting Tactics”

William Samuel, Government Affairs Director of the AFL-CIO, said heis certain that organized labor’s top priority, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), that would make it much easier for unions to organizebusinesses both large and small, will pass Congress and be signed by President Elect Barack Obama within the first 100 days of the new administration. Samuel also said that the more than $300 million spent by labor unions to educate workers was crucial to the Democrats’ successin key battleground states. Obama was a co-sponsor of last year’s version of the bill and has vowed to sign it when the incoming Congress finally passes it. Read More “Organized Labor’s Top Priority”

For unions, strategizing and moving forward with an attack against atargeted company is an exercise that is very time consuming. A corporate campaign launched by a union, takes copious amounts of time and enormous sums of their member’s money. The goal is complex, the union needs to research every aspect of the target’s operation and its competitors in order to expose whatever weaknesses may exist. The targetis most likely within its core industrial makeup. Setting earmarks, assigning regional responsibilities, financing, manning the project and setting the base targets to be attacked are some of the first things that need to be completed. Unions will attack the public image of its target. The union campaign will usually have the following goals: Read More “November 2007”

Evolution of Protests, Strikes, and Mass Movements into Riots

Protests, labor strikes and mass movements have been cropping up around the globe recently, and regularly devolve into social unrest.

What drives these events and how (and why) do they proliferate? What do they share in common? Do they each derive from individual sparks, or are they somehow intertwined? Can these social phenomena be contained and extinguished, or are they destined to disrupt our daily routines? Read More “Lighting the Fuse”