In Union Alliances

Listening to the Rolling Stones last week reminded me of an alliance forged between the California Nurses Association (CNA) and the United Steelworkers (USW). While the USW wouldn’t get what they wanted, the CNA surely got what they needed. Read More ““You Can’t Always Get What You Want””

As I wait for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to come back with a decision on how they are going to change the union election process I have been pondering my former years as a union official and the tactics I would deploy when running campaigns from the national level. I recall when I was an Organizing Director for the United Steelworkers (USW) and accepted a challenge to organize mini-mills. We were losing members in the larger “full service” steel mills (integratedsteel mills) with a vast amount of foreign made steel coming into the country. So called, mini-mills were popping up all over the United States and they were mostly non-union. We also had an enormous amount ofnon-union vendors and/or contractors with permanent stations and workforces at the mills that depended on USW membership support to be able to compete for their jobs. The union was quite angry because for the most part, we had the skilled workforce to consolidate these jobs into our membership.
Read More “Working From The Inside Out”

Smokescreens and Sabotage

Organizing tactics and strategiesaffect every aspect of the union. During my organizing days, everythingmy team and I did were carefully calculated to influence the way futurecampaigns would be run. These days, while teaching management training courses, I mention how we took a “victory by any means necessary” approach. One of the most common questions I receive is “why would a union want to destroy a company when all it is doing is hurting their own members who won’t have a job if the company closes”. Read More “Where There is Smoke There is Fire”

Now that the holiday gift-giving season is past, we would like to take a few minutes to recognize and examine the companies and workers who make it possible: warehousing hubsand distribution centers. Please read on to see how labor views these groups and some of the tactics they employ to drive a wedge between management and workers. Read More “Warehousing Anger”

Looking for new tactics to utilize in an organizers quest to recruit new members is the number one goal of every good organizing department. Read More “Using Empowerment Zones to My Advantage”

Unions have been taking a more aggressive approach at organizing since Craig Becker has been selected to head the NLRB. My contacts from inside the AFL/CIO and Change to Win organizations tell me that they areinstructing their affiliates that they want to cause a “perfect storm” inside the NLRB on a national level and create a severe backlog of ULP’sand EEOC cases to frustrate companies and create a political foundationto try to push forward changes in labor organizing law.
Read More “Unions Are Digging In”

It Happened Before. It’s Happening Now. Will It Happen Again?

We have been over-inundated with news of corrupt union officials betraying their members’ trust and stealing their members’ dues monies. The case involving Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the UAW being the most recognized. It’s no secret that unions have a history of corruption, but it still seems like many people are surprised when they read about these abuses of power. Many people are asking themselves, “Where is the oversite on union finances?” or, “Are all union officials corrupt?” Read More “Understanding Corrupt Union Officials”

The Truth about Union Solidarity

Lately, I have been reading aboutunion “solidarity” in the newspaper and watching several news stories claiming that public unions have come together to aid union protesters in Egypt. Several union leaders have credited themselves with the fall of the Egyptian government. Also, I was reviewing a recent guest “Confessions of a Union Organizer” in one of our own newsletters writtenby Calvin Hullett, a former police officer who was a hero to the Teamsters one day and thrown into the union recycling bin as “collateraldamage” the next which inspired me to write a little about union “solidarity” from an insider’s perspective. Read More “Under the Bus”

Pressure Tactics that Force You to Defeat by Design

I recently wrote about how unionsare becoming more aggressive and using tactics like NLRB approved bannering campaigns and have been paying close attention to union sponsored political recalls, boycotts, and striking for recognition. Themedia is reporting these events like they are revolutionary tactics. Inspite of UAW’s President Bob King proclamation to play nice with foreign automakers, the UAW wants to organize. They will organize unlessthe foreign automakers (targets) try to resist their attempts.In spite of what many think, these types of tactics are commonplace in the union world. When I was an Organizing Director, we had multiple strategies to choose from depending on the industry. There are some industries that are more susceptible to pressure than others (like hospitals, long term care facilities or any place where public perception or public inconvenience can affect the outcome of the business). Read More “The Union Pressure Plan”

The Art of Manipulation

The location could be anywhere with any union. There are rules that even a top-level union official cannot control. After reading previous “Confessions”, and though it may be hard for you to believe, I did find some lines I didn’t want to cross. In some way I believe that what you are about to read was a turning point in my extensive career on the union side, and possibly even one of the most influential reason for my confessions. Read More “The Turning Point”