United Farm Workers union cancels Cesar Chavez events over abuse allegations | Ricardo Torres
I was saddened and very surprised to read the allegations that Cesar Chaves sexually assaulted multiple women when they were teenagers participating in the labor rights movement.
Labor movement Icon Dolores Huerta who was one of the co-founders of the National Farm Workers Association, now known as the United Farm Workers (UFW) with Chaves, she also alleged that Chavez raped her in 1966, according to reports. She claimed Chavez fathered two of her children, who were raised by others after Huerta hid both pregnancies.
When I was a union official, I had the opportunity several times to sit down and discuss her role in forming the UFW and the obstacles they faced during that time.
Cesars brother, Richard Chavez is credited with building the UFW into a major California agricultural and political organization, when I was a national organizing director I had an alliance with the farm workers and I got to know Richard Chaves very well and even had him headline big regional organizing events when a large Latino population were involved, he talked at length about his older brother and gave me an historic view of the organization and the people involved.
Now some are calling for Huerta’s name to replace Chavez’s on the plethora of government buildings, schools, monuments and streets that bear his name across the country.
With so many unions covering up their corrupt behavior it was refreshing to read that the UFW canceled participation in celebrations of Cesar Chavez amid these “troubling allegations”
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In this post Bob Carroll explains how to conduct proper & legal conversations concerning union activity to employees. (FOE – Facts, Opinion, Experiences) This information is vital to avoid violatin…
In this post Bob Carroll explains how to conduct proper & legal conversations concerning union activity to employees. (FOE – Facts, Opinion, Experiences) This information is vital to avoid violating the National Labor Relations Act and getting served with unfair labor practice charges.
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Getting hit with an RC petition is a stressful time for the management, especially if they are caught by surprise. Many times, the first impulse is to hit the floor and talk with the workers to fin…
Getting hit with an RC petition is a stressful time for the management, especially if they are caught by surprise. Many times, the first impulse is to hit the floor and talk with the workers to find out what the hell is going on or respond out of anger.
When I was a national organizing director I once had an owner of a company send out a memo to all of his employees stating that he knew the names of the internal organizers who were responsible and that he would punish them, many ULP charges later the owner was successful in intimidating his employees into voting the union out. I filed an objection to the results of the election, and the company was eventually hit by a bargaining order.
It’s vital to remain calm in these times, get skilled legal counsel and adhere to the important TIPS Bob Carroll is providing. In the case that I am describing above the company owner didn’t hire legal counsel until he was hit by our first Unfair Labor Practice charge was filed.
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How We Organized a Union at Whole Foods | Ricardo Torres
I came across this article yesterday; it described a typical union organizing campaign but the one statement that caught my attention was the fact that in a 300-employee organizing unit the company was unaware of the union activity until they went public on social media, in the press and filed for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
(“It was important that we had been able to keep our effort secret from the company while collecting cards, because we knew that when we went public, an intense union-busting campaign would descend upon us. And boy, did it ever.”)
As I have stated many times, a breakdown of communication is the biggest cause of future union organizing activity and on occasions can take years to get to the point where an RC petition is filed.
Many unaddressed issues can arise causing workers to feel unappreciated and further erode trust in their management team to the point where employees don’t bring matters of importance to their direct supervisors, preferring to complain to their co-workers, many times out of frustration caused by this inaction of the management team to address their issues or out of fear of retaliation.
Months of organizing activities and the fact that not one worker opened up to a supervisor or anyone on the management team about the organizing campaign tells me everything about the level of communication and trust within the unit. An after the petition communication blitz is helpful but many times it’s just not enough as reflected in the union win rate which was 81.9 percent rate in 2025.
It’s important to always have an open dialogue with your employees, today’s workplace is more diverse then ever and the days of a one management style that fits all is long gone, managing a Multigenerational workforce is much more complicated with Boomers, Gen X, Millennial and Gen z employees working together.
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Communication Breakdowns Lead to Union Activity, Boost Employee Trust with Active Listening | Ricardo Torres posted on the topic
Communication breakdown is the biggest cause of union activity, but many issues happen in-between the breakdown and an RC petition, an erosion of confidence in management’s leadership to support their workforce.
Effective communication is not just going through the motions of having conversations with your employees, effective communication is to truly listen to them, strategic empathy, follow up, it doesn’t mean that you have to agree with everything they say or solve every problem, but they need to feel that they were listened too, treated fairly and respected.
The good news is that there is usually time for course correction if you commit to truly engaging with your workforce!
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#unionfree #unionavoidance #unionawareness | Bob Carroll
Want to stay union free? How are those “Good Vibes” coming along?
#UnionFree
#UnionAvoidance
#UnionAwareness
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US Union Membership Actually Held Steady in 2025 | Ricardo Torres
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of U.S. workers who belong to a union has steadily declined over the last several decades, from about 20% in 1983 to just 10% in 2025, In the private sector, but it’s important to look deeper at the numbers and what industries are targeted to understand how the unions are evolving.
The labor movement has transformed dramatically since its origins in the 19th century, adapting to industrialization, technological change, and shifting political landscapes and as the labor movement continues to evolve, unions face new challenges. The changing dynamics of the workforce, including the rise of gig and freelance work.
Technology has transformed nearly every aspect of modern life, and labor relations are no exception. The infusion of technology into the workplace has had profound implications for labor unions, some have a negative impact for unions, for example automation has led to a decline of the workforce in their core membership base but technology has also provided unions with new tools for organizing and mobilizing members. Social media platforms, for instance, have enabled unions to reach a broader audience and engage with workers in real-time. Campaigns can be designed to go viral, rallying support for labor causes and increasing visibility for union activities. Additionally, online platforms allow unions to conduct virtual meetings, making it easier for members to participate regardless of their location, which makes organizing more cost efficient without the need for renting out as many meeting spaces or bringing in organizers to house call voters.
The labor movement has always been divided on organizing strategies, many in the labor movement are calling for Taking on Big Targets saying that union density can’t grow without it, the proportion of union elections has increased in customer-facing industries such as social services, digital media, retail and wholesale, and business, professional, and personal services.
The biggest private sector union wins in recent years have been in graduate student units in private universities such as Columbia, MIT, and Cornell.
Unions such as IFPTE and OPEIU have set up new nonprofit divisions, focused on organizing advocacy organizations and grant-funded institutions such as museums. Small independent unions, such as the Campaign Workers Guild and United Campaign Workers, have targeted political campaign staff.
Unions are trying to engage a multigenerational workforce that differ in how they approach work/life balance, career growth, loyalty, authority, and other issues that affect successful union organizing activity.
Understanding union tactics and what drives workers to reach out to unions along with having a consistent, positive and inclusive employee outreach policy is vital to maintaining a productive union free environment at your facility.
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In a historic vote, Tennessee Volkswagen workers get their first union contract
Two years ago, the successful union drive at this plant was expected to spark victories throughout the South. But now, as members vote to make their contract official, momentum has fizzled.
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Writers Guild West’s Own Staff Calls a Strike Against the Union | Ricardo Torres
Unions call any employer “union Busters” if they don’t agree with any union demands in contract negotiations or any attempt to organize. I have seen many times where union staff fought hard with their own union which sometimes leads to strikes and walkouts so I guess it’s fair to call them union busters!
For example the National Education Association Staff Organization (NEASO) was locked out of their jobs without pay by NEA management after an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike over compensation and working conditions, UAW Staff United Strike in 2024, AFL-CIO Staff Union Contract Dispute in 2023, UNITE split from HERE, morphing into Workers United (WU) and affiliating with the Service Employees (SEIU) which left their staff filing ULPs against the unions, debate over the union’s internal culture has broken open around the question of pink sheeting which is the practice of collecting and using personal information about staffers and workers in organizing drives.
In the years I worked in the labor movement, it proved to be a every person fight for themselves environment, many of those years holding a management position where the staff and employees were viewed as dispensable. Union hostilities are not just limited to internal union struggles, they are prevalent at the highest levels of the international labor movement and many times lower tier union employees, and even rank and file members get injured, I have witnessed it firsthand many times.
In 2008 the Healthcare organizing war got so heated between the California Nurses Association and SEIU union that at a Labor Notes convention in Detroit it led to violence. As the banquet began 200-300 chanting SEIU members and staffers rushed through the side door of the hotel, nearest the banquet hall. The doors had apparently been opened from inside by SEIU staff attending the conference. Most were wearing their SEIU purple T-shirts and many carried signs denouncing the California Nurses Association. Then CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro had originally been scheduled to address the banquet; this fight lasted for more than forty minutes with several hospitalized and one person suffering from a heart attack.
Union solidary in many ways is a lie, they will support each other as long as it is convenient and not a moment longer, In fact, Article XX of the AFL-CIO Constitution existed for the purpose of managing and resolving Inter-Union Disputes, Labor, as embodied by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), is perceived by many as a monolithic force but, in reality, is composed of a coalition of sometimes competing interests. Not surprisingly, and often raucously, the unions within the AFL-CIO compete for members in both representation and work assignment disputes which the article was designed to resolve.
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The UAW organized two southern auto plants but its progress has slowed | Ricardo Torres
There’s trouble in paradise! this has always been the problem for union contract negotiations, the union organizers have one job and that is to grow membership by any means necessary and that includes lying.
Successful organizing campaigns are an emotional high for the union supporters, union organizers need workers to take ownership of the campaign, but many times the organizers promise everything under the sun to win the campaign, the organizers job is done after the ballots are counted and the negotiators need to try and fulfill those promises at the table.
When I taught advanced organizing strategies at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies / National Labor College, we encouraged the designated lead negotiators to engage with the workers organizing committee members prior to the election to educate them how the negotiating process works.
The truth is that unions don’t want to educate their potential members, they want organizing workers to think that all they need to do is to vote the union in and the contract process goes on autopilot, that’s why they spend tens of millions of dollars lobbing politicians to prevent management from educating workers on the realities about unions when there is union organizing activity.
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