There are many important reasons companies oppose union organizing campaigns, including increases in operating cost, they also have an impact on productivity and productivity growth.

Studies have shown negative impacts of unionization on both output per hour and on productivity growth. The Clark Institute found productivity losses between 3.0 and 4.0 percent based on an analysis of company level data for 902 manufacturing businesses over a twenty-year period.

The Hirsch group (2004) found negative total productivity effects of 2.0 to 4.4 percent depending on the union density in the company, the lower end of 2.0 percent productivity loss estimated by the Hirsch group for a company with only 10% union density would reduce profits by 19.8 percent. Even small production losses can have a major impact on a company’s financial performance. In ten years, the unionized company’s profit per labor hour will be 23.6 percent less than the non-union company before accounting for the effects of compensation cost premiums or initial productivity differences.

The cumulative effects of slower productivity growth on top of the initial differences in compensation result after 10 years in the unionized company, significantly lagging the non-union competitor in profit by 37.4 percent.

The Council on Union-Free Environment study of reviewing the actual case analysis of confidential companies determined a higher liability of 30%-40%. Unionization of an employee making $10/hr., the cost would increase $8290/yr.

It also creates an erosion of management flexibility and control, collective bargaining agreements transfer significant decision-making authority away from management, reducing the speed at which a company can adapt to market changes. Disciplinary action, becomes a multi-step process subject to grievance procedures and arbitration, replacing managerial judgment with a formalized, legalistic process.

A company’s ability to implement new technologies or restructure job duties is diminished, requiring mandatory negotiation before changes take effect. This process causes delays that can span months or years, disadvantaging the unionized company.

Given these reasons and more, it doesn’t make sense that many companies don’t put more emphasis on staying union free before union activity ever takes place, the initial goal of a union organizer is to find weaknesses in the management structure and leverage it against the company.

First, management needs to treat workers fairly, and I cannot emphasize enough for management teams to build trust, mutual respect and open communication, to utilize emotional intelligence to win over employee’s trust and engrain them in the solution to the labor crisis/union campaign or high turnover problems, getting to this level of understanding and motivating through emotional intelligence requires the opening of your senses, by talking less and listening more.

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