Week 12
Union Organizing
1.
Voluntary Recognition
1.
Corporate Campaigns: Bread
and Roses
Bargaining to Organize
1.
2.
1.
2.
Card Check
Neutrality Agreements
Labor Law Reform
2.
1.
2.
Dunlop Commission
EFCA
Union Transformation
3.
1.
2.
Change to Win
New Organizing Models
The Organizing Process


Collective Bargaining cannot take place until a
bargaining representative has been certified
To gain certification, unions pursue one of two paths

Path 1: Normally, a union must win an election to be
certified as the exclusive representative of the employees
Face With Union Organization
 Management
tries to undercut support
Broad
array of strategies and tactics
Bread
and Roses number 6…
Start with 65%…but lose half of
elections…
Year
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
1995
# of Elections % Won Union New Membs
5619
74.5
5428
62.8
7543
55.1
7021
49
3423
47.6
77,689
2716
48.2
66,753
The Organizing Process


Collective Bargaining cannot take place until a
bargaining representative has been certified
To gain certification, unions pursue one of two paths

Path 2: An employer may voluntarily recognize a union if the
union can demonstrate that it represents a majority of the
employees

Bread and Roses number 8?
Sometimes Corporate Campaigns
force Voluntary Recognition…


Cost to company finances, reputation, brand outweigh
recognizing the costs of recognizing the union…
Corporate campaigns force voluntary recognition
efforts to bring public, financial, or political pressure to bear
on a company

Crash weddings, picket in front of homes, boycott related companies,
try to use politics to create problems for firm, hold hearings with local
clergy and politicians…

Bread and Roses number 7
Corporate Campaigns Are Tricky Business







So Smithfield has filed a racketeering lawsuit against the union, on the theory that speaking out about labor, environmental and safety issues in order to
pressure the company to unionize amounts to extortion like that used by organized crime.
Smithfield says the union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International, and its officials violated RICO by issuing press releases, contacting
civil rights and environmental groups, organizing protests and calling for boycotts.
But the most striking assertion in the suit, one Smithfield devotes five pages to, is that the union was engaged in racketeering when it urged local
governments in New York, Boston and other cities to pass resolutions condemning the company. After meeting with the union in 2006, a dozen members
of the New York City Council sponsored a resolution calling for the city to stop buying meat from Smithfield’s Tar Heel factory “until the company ends
all forms of abuse, intimidation and violence against its workers,” citing a ruling by a federal appeals court in Washington that Smithfield had engaged
in “intense and widespread coercion” in battling unionization at its Tar Heel plant.
Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito was a sponsor of the resolution, and she said she had been happy to meet with representatives of labor and
business groups to hear their concerns. The practice Smithfield calls racketeering is, Ms. Mark-Viverito said, what others call lobbying. The First
Amendment has a name for it, too: the right to petition the government.
Smithfield’s lawsuit contains other nuggets. It complains, for instance, that the union interfered with its relationship with Paula Deen, “a celebrity chef”
who has a contract to promote Smithfield products on her show on the Food Network. The union has demonstrated at Ms. Deen’s public appearances.
In a recent court filing, Smithfield added another complaint: the union “deprived Smithfield of an incomparable marketing opportunity” by persuading
Oprah Winfrey not to allow Ms. Deen to promote Smithfield hams on Ms. Winfrey’s show.
The suit seeks more than $17 million, an order barring the union from publishing “reports or press releases designed to mislead the public,” another
barring demonstrations “at Paula Deen events,” and a third barring the union “from participating in the drafting, encouraging, sponsorship and/or
passage of public condemnations of plaintiffs by cities, townships or other organizations.”
Smithfield, UFCW Settle RICO Suit,
Agree to Election Using 'Fair Process'



Just before a trial was scheduled to begin, Smithfield Foods Inc. and the United
Food and Commercial Workers Oct. 27 agreed to settle the company's Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act suit alleging that the union's “corporate
campaign” in support of an organizing drive amounted to extortion (Smithfield
Foods Inc. v. United Food & Commercial Workers Int'l Union, E.D. Va., No. 3, order
approving settlement 10/27/08).
In a joint statement, the parties announced that they have agreed on “a fair
election process” by which workers at Smithfield's pork processing plant in Tar
Heel, N.C., can choose whether or not to be represented by UFCW. In return,
UFCW agreed “to end its public campaign against Smithfield,” in which the union
has employed a variety of tactics, including product boycotts, to pressure the
company to agree to a card-check recognition process. Smithfield and UFCW also
agreed to establish and jointly fund and administer a “feed the hungry program.”
http://emlawcenter.bna.com/pic2/em.nsf/id/BNAP-7KULHA?OpenDocument
Corporate Campaigns and RICO

SEIU targeting Private Security Firms

Private Security Firms are Hired by Building Owners

Empire State Building Becomes a Target



UFCW Corporate Campaign Against Smithfield



Video of SEIU arrests
SEIU targets Empire State Building…which does not directly employ
the security guards
Examples of two tactics?
Paula Deen and the UFCW
Extortion or Free Speech?
Sometimes Corporate Campaigns
force Voluntary Recognition…



How do you feel about these campaigns? Do they pass
your “smell” test? Move to yes or no corner?
Cost to company finances, reputation, brand outweigh
recognizing the costs of recognizing the union…
Corporate campaigns force voluntary recognition
efforts to bring public, financial, or political pressure to bear
on a company
Another way to get Voluntary
Recognition is Bargaining to Organize

Bargaining to organize


negotiating language in collective bargaining agreement with employers to enhance the
union’s chances in future organizing.
AFSCME publication explains:

Bargaining to organize means going beyond maintaining union jobs, and
reaching agreements to build the union. There are different approaches.
Employers may promise to remain “neutral” and not oppose union
organizing efforts. They may agree to recognize the union based on a card
check rather than insisting on an election (http://www.afscme.org/publications/9719.cfm)

Example: HERE Local 226 and Vegas casinos agreed to contract language
which called for card check recognition for future organizing drives

Ok…so what’s meant by “neutral” and “card check”?
Neutrality Agreements

Neutrality Agreements

Situation where an employer neither supports nor opposes the unions efforts to
organize a workplace

Sometimes gained via “Bargaining to Organize”


Sometimes legislated


Contract specifies that firm will be neutral in future organizing
New hotel built with city money, city council declares management must be
neutral
Sometimes the result of different institutional rules

Daimler-Benz was neutral when UAW organized plants in the South…why?
German law gives unions seats on corporate boards and they demanded this
Voluntary Recognition and Card
Check

Card Check


Neutral third party verifies that union has collected union card
from more than half of workers

No NLRB election, just card collectiong

70% of card check drives are successful…compared to 50% of elections
This is how unions form in parts of Canada


Union Density in Canada is above 30%
4.Why do unions say card check is a good thing? Why
do employers say card check is a bad thing?
Path 2: Voluntary Recognition



Card Check
 Neutral third party verifies that union has collected union card from more than
half of workers
Unions
 “With secret-ballot elections, unionization efforts can drag on for months, often
delayed by litigation. Unions also say that many corporations break the law
during election campaigns by firing, intimidating and spying on union
supporters” (Greenhouse 2007: 1)
Employers


“Business lobbyists say the Employee Free Choice Act is antidemocratic and would
deprive workers of their right to a secret ballot. They say union organizers will bully
workers into signing pro-union cards” (Greenhouse 2007: 2)
More on pros and cons in a moment…what does research find on impact?
Eaton and Kriesky 2009
Reversing the Tide…An uphill
battle…
.
Recent Calculations & Changes
A Game of Numbers:




To stay even: labor must organize approximately 128,000 a year
To grow: unions must organize more than this…and they have not
been able to do this
1995: typical national union devoted 5% of budget to
organizing new members
1996: New AFL-CIO President John Sweeney challenged
them to increase this to 30%


SEIU, HERE and Carpenters did this
Most others did not
New AFL-CIO leadership…Winning More
Year
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
1995
1997
2001
# of Elections % Won Union New Membs
5619
74.5
5428
62.8
7543
55.1
7021
49
3423
47.6
77,689
2716
48.2
66,753
3307
50.4
86,325
2378
53.6
67,796
But Not Enough…


Not enough organizing or victories to keep up with
growth in the economy
Union density still fell

14.9% in 1995

13.5% in 2000

12.5% in 2004

12.1% in 2006
So what’s a labor movement to do?


You have been promoted from university student to:

A) President of the AFL-CIO

B) President of one of the unions that is organizing (SEIU,
Carpenters, UNITE-HERE, UFCW)
Most unions don’t know how to change, or won’t change.
The law does not seem to work for you anymore What, if
anything, do you do to reverse the decline of organized
labor?
So what’s a labor movement to do?




At present, there are two dominant trains of thought:
Focus should be on Internal Changes: Unions need to
look in the mirror, change, and spend more money &
resources on organizing the unorganized
Focus should be on External Changes: Unions need to
focus on political action, in particular labor law reform
to try and lift win rate
This is what the labor movement is currently split
over…should focus be on organizing or politics?
External Solution: Labor Law
Reform



President Clinton appoints Presidential Commission
to investigate labor laws
Commission of the Future of Worker/Management
Relations (1993-95)…for short the Dunlop
Commission
Commission holds hearings across America and then
recommends variety of changes to the law
Some of the Dunlop Commission’s
Recommendations
(4) Prompt elections

Providing for prompt elections after the NLRB determines that sufficient
employees have expressed a desire to be represented by a union. Such
elections should generally be held within two weeks. To accomplish this
objective we propose that challenges to bargaining units and other legal
disputes be resolved after the elections are held.

Improve Union Access to Workers

Beyond the reversal of the Supreme Court's decision in Lechmere so that employees
may have access to union organizers in privately-owned but publicly-used spaces
such as shopping malls, access questions are best left to the NLRB. The Commission
urges the Board to strive to afford employees the most equal and democratic
dialogue possible.
Dunlop Commission Findings

(5) Prompt Response to Ilegal Employer Behavior


Requiring by statute that the NLRB obtain prompt injunctions to remedy
discriminatory actions against employees that occur during an organizing
campaign or negotiations for a first contract.
(6) New System to Insure First Contract…more on this later

Assisting employers and newly certified unions in achieving first contracts
through an upgraded dispute resolution system which provides for
mediation and empowers a tripartite advisory board to use a variety of
options to resolve disputes ranging from self-help (strike or lockout) to
binding arbitration for relatively few disputes.
Dunlop Commission

What important political event occurred in 1994?

Hint:
Dunlop Commission, 1994



What important political event occurred in 1994?
Hint: Newt Gingrich
Republican’s Congressional victories change balance of
power in Washington


Contract for America
Labor law reform taken off of the table
Current Political Push for Labor Law Reform


Many Unions Are Aggressively Working for Passage of the
Employee Free Choice Act
3.Take a look at the power point slides on the Employee Free
Choice Act. In your own words, briefly explain how this bill
would help strengthen the labor movement. Be sure to comment
on at least TWO parts of the bill.
Employee Free Choice Act
Employee Free Choice Act


Many Unions Are Aggressively Working for
Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act
If you were congressmen, would you vote for
the bill? Why or why not? Move to yes or no.
Current Political Push

Brought to a vote March 1, 2007,

Won in the House of Representatives Vote



Note the Pattern in the Republican Party
Procedurally stalled in the Senate
Unions worked hard on the 2008 elections with this bill in
mind

Obama supported and said it would be a priority…but didn’t pursue it

Handful of Democrats would not support it in senate…nothing has
happened yet.
Some Unions Conclude Politics is not
enough…Internal Change is Key
UFCW 8.3%
Teamsters 9.3%
AFT 7.6%
UAW 5.0%
IBEW
AFSCME 9.8%
4.9%
CWA 4.8%
UNITE HERE 3.4%
SEIU 10.6%
IAM 2.8%
USWA 2.7%
26%
Laborers 2.7%
52 smallest unions
IUOE 2.1%
4th Union Quits A.F.L.-C.I.O. in a Dispute
Over Organizing
September 15, 2005




Deepening the split in organized labor, Unite Here, a union that represents
apparel, hotel, casino and restaurant workers, announced yesterday that it
was quitting the A.F.L.-C.I.O., becoming the fourth union to do so this summer.
Bruce Raynor, president of Unite Here, said his union's board had voted
unanimously to quit because the A.F.L.-C.I.O. had not done enough to spur
union organizing to reverse the decline of the labor movement.
We believe that American workers are facing a historical crisis," Mr. Raynor
said in a telephone news conference from St. Paul, where his union's board
was meeting. "There are 28 million Americans that went to work this
morning who made less than the poverty level."
This summer, three other major unions quit the labor federation: the Service
Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
and the United Food and Commercial Workers. The four departing unions
represented about 4.5 million workers out of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s membership
of 13 million.
In 2005, 6 Key Unions (and one minor
union) Bolted from the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
Change to Win
56 National Unions
10.5 million workers
7 Unions
6 million workers
Outline


1. New Organizing Tactics
2. Changing the Target
 Hot

Shop Organizing
3. New Organizing Strategies
 Industry
 Industry
 Next
 45
with Trigger
Week Readings
minute class
In 2005, 6 Key Unions (and one minor
union) Bolted from the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
Change to Win
56 National Unions
10.5 million workers
7 Unions
6 million workers
So What Was the Beef…

Bruce Raynor, president of Unite Here, said his union's board
had voted unanimously to quit because the A.F.L.-C.I.O. had not
done enough to spur union organizing to reverse the decline of
the labor movement.

Different Organizing Models

Servicing Model


Clawson: Worst Case Scenario Union Organizing
Organizing Model

Clawson: Union Building
Different Union Models

Servicing Model or what Clawson Calls “Worst Case
Scenario Union Organizing”

Traditional model of union representation that focuses on
contract negotiation, contract administration and the provision
of services to union members
(Katz & Kochan, p. 465, 2004)

Organizing as secondary function of union…if even that


Modest resources directed at organizing
Members play limited role in organizing
Servicing Model

Worst Case Scenario Union Organizing

Get a union as quickly and cheaply as possible

Communication with workers



Handed leaflets and occasional meetings
Paid organizers make all the decisions
Professional Staff does things for workers instead of
helping to develop power of workers
In contrast to Servicing Model is the
Organizing Model

Organizing Model or what Clawson labels “Union
Building” model

A model of union representation which focuses on a substantial
share of the union’s activity and resources on organizing
through actively involving union members in the organizing
process and in the internal life of the union.
(Katch and Kochan, p.464, 2004)

Organizing as primary: Substantial share of unions resources
spent on organizing
Clawson Union Building

Organizer as teacher not leader
 Empower,
Teach, Assist
 “The Union is You” …meaning what?
Clawson Union Building

Paid Organizer Creates Organizing Committee

Identify “Worker Leaders” and recruit to campaign

“Worker Leaders” become Organizing Committee Members &
become backbone of drive


Organize their department…Maya vs. Sam
Recruit and Train Rank and File workers already in
existing bargaining units to be organizers
Put them on staff…
 Organize on “Lost time”…temporary leave

Union Building Approach

When organizers are drawn from the workplace,
they have roots in community & familiarity with
workplace
Facilitates Trust
 Allows coalition building & longer term campaigns


Think of the Clergy we saw in the Smithfield/UFCW video
Testing the Models…


So two organizing models…both can and do
work…but which one works better?
You are a sociologist interested in studying this
matter…how might you test to see which strategy
works best?
Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University

“The Role of Union Strategies in NLRB Certification
Elections.”




Industrial and Labor Relations Review January 1997
Studied 261 union elections from 1986 and 1987
Surveyed unions involved about tactics and other
matters
Tested for correlation between tactics and outcome
of election
Bronfenbrenner


Hypothesis 1: Organizing Campaigns with rank and file
intensive strategies are more successful than those without
such strategies
Yes. Unions win between 12% and 26% more when they
use rank & file intensive strategies

Representative Committees (62% vs. 36%)

Rank and file doing house calls (52% vs. 40%)


Maya vs. Sam
Solidarity Days of Action (53% vs. 41%)
Kate Bronfenbrenner, The Role of Union Strategies in
NLRB Certification Elections


“Unions are more likely to win certification elections
when they run campaigns using a rank and file
intensive organizing strategy, including a reliance on
person to person contact; an emphasis on union
democracy and representative participation…and
an emphasis on dignity, justice and fairness rather
than solely bread and butter issues.” (p.209)
Less than 33% of the campaigns used these tactics
Kate Bronfenbrenner, The Role of Union Strategies in
NLRB Certification Elections


“Perhaps the most important finding in this study is
that union tactic variables as a group explain a
greater part of the variance in election outcome than
any other elements of the certification election model.
That is, not only do union tactics matter, but as a
group they matter more than employer tactics,
bargaining unit demographics, organizer
background, or organizing climate (p. 205)
Translation?
Kate Bronfenbrenner, The Role of Union Strategies in
NLRB Certification Elections


“Perhaps the most important finding in this study is
that union tactic variables as a group explain a
greater part of the variance in election outcome
than any other elements of the certification election
model. That is, not ony do union tactics matter, but as
a group they matter more than employer tactics,
bargaining unit demographics, organizer
background, or organizing climate (p. 205)
Translation: How unions organize matters a great
deal…

Message to Union Leaders: “Change Your Tactics!”
Strategy and Tactics Matter



So research shows that the kind of tactics used matter.
What about the strategy? Which workplaces should
unions be trying to organize?
Hot Shop Organizing???
“Hot Shop” Organizing

Hot Shop Organizing
 Union
waits for workers to call them, meets with a group
of workers, and if they are angry enough launches an
organizing campaign
(Bruskin Labor Notes July 2002)
 Billboards
 Many
 Many
“Need a Union? Call 1-800-Local 99
organizing drives start this way
are very critical of relying on this as the primary
method of organizing…why?
Problems with “Hot Shop” Organizing

Shop might be in industry unrelated to unions primary industry



I have met Dental Hygienists who were in the Steelworkers Union
Unions may lose focus; Solidarity may be thin
No overarching strategy designed to increase union’s ability to
deliver better wages, hours and working conditions

Ability to win better wages, hours and working conditions is limited if union
density in industry is negligible

Steelworkers represent 10 hygienists in one office in Milwaukee, but no
other offices are unionized…they risk putting union dentist at competitive
disadvantage
Stephen Lerner and Others

5. Lerner argues that unions need to stop organizing
workplace by workplace, and begin organizing
entire industries at once in order to “takes wages
out of competition.” Try to explain how organizing
an entire industry at once “takes wages out of
competition,” being sure to discuss how this changes
employer behavior toward unions.
Stephen Lerner and Others


Organized labor needs to adopt a more strategic approach
to organizing
Organizing targets should be chosen based on sound research,
not on random phone calls



Research departments collect data and analyze potential targets
Targets should not be individual shops…organizing needs to
target entire industries, regions and/or markets
Let’s explore…
Multi-Employer Organizing

Target multiple employers based on industry, region or
market


Perhaps some combination of the three
United Autoworkes (UAW and Casinos)
 Industry=Gaming
Industry
 Region/Market=Atlantic City
 Target= All of the casinos in AC
Multi-Employer Organizing

SEIU Justice for Janitors Campaign

Industry = Cleaning Services

Region/Market=Houston, Texas

Target = 5 Largest Cleaning Contractors
Multi-Employer Organizing Goal

To take wages out of competition…

Master Agreement
A
collective bargaining agreement covering a number
of companies and one or more unions or covering
several plants of a single employer.
 The
master agreement is often supplemented by local
agreements covering conditions that vary among the
individual plants or companies.
(Doherty 1989)
Multi-Employer Organizing w/ a new Twist

SEIU Justice for Janitors Campaign

Industry = Cleaning Services

Region/Market=Northern New Jersey

Target = All Cleaning Contractors…More than 40

SEIU uses innovative strategy…which I have
researched…

6. In his opening paragraph, Eimer suggests that
SEIU has developed a strategy that “seeks to
organize whole labor markets at once using a
trigger mechanism which is sensitive to the
competitive pressures employers face when
confronted with the costs of unionization(Eimer
2008: 1). After reading the article, please explain
what that statement means. Be sure to discuss what
is meant by competitive pressures and trigger
mechanisms.
SEIU in North Jersey

Step 1: Begin to Contact Workers at jobsites across North
Jersey


Step 2: Worker Committees formed at various workplaces


Defined as region north of Rt. 195
Small actions held to demonstrate interest in unionization
Step 3: SEIU contacts the employers in North Jersey and invites
them to a meeting

“We called the union companies. We called all the non-union companies
and said we’re bargaining an agreement for the industry. Come and
[talk with us]. Tell us what you think the market can bear. Have a voice.
Find out who we are and what we’re about” (Eimer 2007)
SEIU in North Jersey

Step 4: Meeting held to discuss wages, hours and
working conditions


Employers, union reps and rank and file workers
Step 5: The Trigger…this is the key innovation

Contractors who agreed to recognize the union were told that
they would not have to raise wages or increase benefits until a
majority of its competitors also went union, ensuring that no
contractor was put at a competitive disadvantage” (Lerner 2007: 19)
SEIU in North Jersey

Step 6: Since North Jersey is not one homogonous
real estate market, it was broken down into three sub
markets called zones


Office space in Jersey City can be rented for more money
than office space in Edison…so Jersey City could pay higher
rates
Each Zone would be triggered separately

7. Eimer argues that trigger mechanisms reduce
employer opposition to unions. How? What evidence
does he provide to support this assertion?
SEIU in North Jersey

Employer Reaction

21 of 22 firms in attendance agree to the trigger

The New York Times reported:


The CEO of Tri-Maintenance Contractors, one of the larger firms in zone
1, “praised the agreement and its trigger mechanism,” telling the New
York Times, “Once you have a majority signed on, everyone is on the
same playing field, and everyone can work together. Once you get this
going, everyone else will come into this program” (Greenhouse 2001).
The Company that refused to sign become the target of an
SEIU corporate campaign and ultimately agreed to the
contract
Trigger reduces Employer Opposition


Brofenbrenner found that 75 percent of employers engaged
in “active anti-union tactics, including some combinations of
discharge for union activity; captive audience meetings;
supervisor one-on-ones; wage increases; promises of
improvements in wages, benefits or working conditions; antiunion committees; and letters”
Subsequent research has consistently found that such tactics
are effective and help contribute to the defeat of union
organizing drives
(Brofenbrenner 1994; Brofenbrenner 1997; Brofenbrenner and Juravich 1998; Brofenbrenner and Hickey 2004).

In North Jersey, the incidence of such tactics was dramatically
reduced
With Little or No Opposition, Unions Grow


Union membership climbed from around 1,000 to
over 6,000, lifting union density in the industry to
around 75 percent
Within three years wages throughout the region were
raised from the minimum wage $5.15 to a minimum of
$9.75, and full time workers received health care for
the first time
SEIU & Security
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SEIU Security Campaign
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Industry = Private Security
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Region/Market = City by city
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New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis
Target = Security Firms in a given market…
Let’s go to the video-tape Stand for Security
Legitimate homeland security issue?
Next…
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O.k.…a union has formed, now what…Collective
Bargaining