The highly anticipated (and feared) changes to long-standing labor laws appear to finally be upon us. Read on to see why you need to ensure that you have an effective union avoidance strategy in place.
Read More “High-Energy, Quickie Elections Redux”

On April 30th, the National Labor Relations Board will announce the highly anticipated changes to current labor laws in place. For the last 50 years, the National Labor RelationsAct has remained virtually the same. This month will mark a historic day in labor law, and redefine how employers and employees will interactin the scope of Union presence. Read More “High-Energy, Quickie Elections”

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Is the union paying employees to partake in the internal Union Organizing Committee?

Why are they so angry and passionately against our company?

While working with management teams in efforts to educate employees on the realities and dangers of union membership, I am often asked these two questions. My response to them is that if the union needed to pay the organizing committee to organize, they had no chance in winning the election.

One of the major reasons employees seek unions is because they don’t feel they have any ownership or a real say in their workplace.
Read More “Gauging Potential Success:”

In attempt to replenish declining membership, the AFL/CIO, SEIU and other traditional unions have begun partnering with so-called ‘alt-labor’ worker centers to target restaurant workers and other traditionally non-organized employees. Readon to find insight into how the recent fast food strikes are part of the unions’ tactics to work with these groups to attack and destabilize small business franchisees in order to grow membership. Read More “Fast Food Heaven for Labor Unions”

It is no secret that I was once the “enemy”. I spent many hours persuading employees to “believe” that the union was the key solution for all of their problems. Now that I runa company that goes toe-to-toe with very same unions I once collaborated with, I am always asked how employees go from being upset about issues (or concerns) to calling a union organizer for “a voice”. Have you ever wondered how a union organizer gets the workers so emotional that they will do almost anything to defy their company to thepoint of being insubordinate to management? There are a few principles that have to take place before an organizer can get their teeth into your workers minds. Read More “Exploiting Weakness”

Turning Trash into Gold

Management didn’t initially know who I was when I came through the door. This didn’t last long…

I made sure that the management staff became VERY aware of my presence, subtly at first, and without disrupting the workers enthusiasm. The same way that I knew EVERYTHING there was to know about the worker’s; I knew just as much (and probably more) about the management staff. I knew where they lived and what their spouses did fora living. I knew what social clubs they belonged to and which churches they attended. Read More “Emotions – Fear and Intimidation without Shame”

Turning Trash into Gold

Most people try to separate work from family. It’s one of those things that most Americans have trouble doing. We all know that it is important to keep work where it belongs, at work. This, of course, was not the case for me. I actually used people’s families to my advantage in order to succeed in heated union campaigns. I sat in front of worker’s homes in the middle of the night. Iknew what school’s my potential ‘victims’ children attended. But there is one event that will forever be in my mind. Read More “Dumpster Diving”

How Unions Lead Workers Against Their Self-Interest

Understanding the tribal mentality of unions can help your organization stay union-free.

Ricardo Torres – President & CEO

In my past, I have served in many high-level union roles, a small sampling of which includes:
•National Strike Director
•National Organizing Director
•Organizing Strategist
•Lobbyist on behalf of the AFL/CIO
•PAC Coordinator
•Constitution Committee Member
•Global Outreach Coordinator Read More “Driving a Tribal Mentality”

Exploring Captive-Audience Meetings from a Union Organizer’s Perspective

This is a companion piece to our recent InsideEdge newsletter of the same title.That piece examines a recent pro-union, “equal opportunity” gag rule petition that 106 professor and academics submitted to the NLRB that would force employers to pay for the privilege of letting the union communicate with their employees. Read More “Could the NLRA become a Pro-Union Manifesto?”

If the unions truly want to unite to gain membership and power they need a common enemy. The union leadership has known for many years that the future of the union movement lies at with the younger generation. During the IMF protest in the U.S., the AFL/CIO was holding meetings with college students to tap into their energy in order to redirect their efforts to help the labor movement. Read More “Common Enemy”