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”

I recently read with interest about the Tavern on the Green restaurant (a New York City landmark) which was forced to cease operations during contract negotiations with the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council union (AFL-CIO). The owner, Dean Poll, owns another restaurant in Central Park called the Boathouse.Poll leases both restaurants from the city and currently is faced with the same union as they are currently trying to organize workers at the Boathouse. Read More “Closed for Business”

As I sat at my desk writing my thoughts about the proposed changes tothe union election process in a letter to the National Labor Relations Board in order to put my objections into public record, I began reflecting on the time I testified to Congress (Kennedy/Miller Committee) with regards to the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800). During my testimony I was asked how the speed of a union election is beneficial to the employee voting for representation. Read More “Aug 2011: No Time Limit How to Organize an Entire Hospital”

In the 1990’s, the United Steelworkers (USW) decided to change history in the way they approached organizing in culturally diverse workforces. One example of how difficult it was to organize these areas was the UAW’s push to organize Mexican Industries, a large auto supplier in the Detroit metropolitan area. In the 90’s, the UAW fought two unsuccessful campaigns in which the employees ultimately chose to maintain their union-free privileges and sent the UAW packing after wasting large amounts of money in their failed organizing attempts. As an International Director of Organizing, Ricardo Torres developed a detailed plan for the USW to accomplish the goal of infiltrating culturally diverse areas. To do this, the USW gambled on a strategy that the UAW failed to use, and organized a large number of culturally diverse workers who felt discontent with the unions. It was a successful new strategy that unions continue to use to this day. Read More “All about “the Numbers” Labor’s Definition of Winning”

While I was working as a union official, it was very rare for any medium-to-large organizing campaign to be won with 100% of the votes. The one and only time my team and I experienced it was due to a serious miscalculation on the company’s part. Read More “A Tale of Tube City – When a Union-Free Company Lets the Union Select Job Candidates”