Labor Prevention Services
As the number of non-English-speaking Hispanics increases in blue-collar sectors such as manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, construction, hospitality, and restaurants, their sheer volume has made them a golden opportunity for unions.
In ways never seen before, this gold mine niche is being actively pursued by unions as they fight for their existence. With strategic campaigns focused on the specific workplace issues and aspirations of Latino employees and using their own language, unions will attempt to entice Spanish-speaking employees into their ranks using culture-specific tactics that have been designed to quickly make them feel that a union is the only solution to their workplace troubles and the only path to attaining their American dream.
Whether you want to take proactive steps towards protecting your organization from potential union intervention… or whether you’ve just survived a union organizing attempt and want to repair things after a brutal union assault… we can help. We provide our clients with a clear road map that can SHIELDHR™ their organizations, helping to build a multicultural and multilingual, proactive, positive employee relations strategy that will render a labor union irrelevant and unnecessary from your Hispanic/Latino employees’ perspective.
WE WANT TO BE PROACTIVE AND SHIELDHR OUR ORGANIZATION FROM POTENTIAL UNION INTERVENTION
SHIELDING your organization from potential third-party intervention does not happen overnight. It requires constant gauging of your vulnerabilities as an organization and a robust process to mitigate the threats that are jeopardizing your current union-free status.
LAAHR’s SHIELDHR™ Program is a long-term, ongoing HR strategy designed to help employers prevent third-party interference through effective HR practices and the fostering of a culture of positive employee relations.
This program establishes a formal process that will enable you to quickly identify threats, gauging employee susceptibility, using data analysis, developing action plans that are effectively executed, and implementing the periodic evaluation of the effectiveness and satisfaction of those initiatives.
This strategy always results in high employee engagement, diminishing any potential support for a union and making the union option unappealing and irrelevant. The union’s typical efforts and strategies to organize your employees suddenly become fruitless and ineffective.
To learn more about our SHIELDHR™ Program contact us immediately.
WE’RE HAVING CONFIRMED ACTIVE UNION ACTIVITY AT OUR COMPANY
Well, at this stage, the “cat is out of the bag” and you WILL NEED help! and you need to bring your best game to the challenge.
The right to unionize is a federally protected activity, and the union will make sure your employees know that. At this point, the union probably feels strong and has the necessary support and signed union authorization cards to make their next move.
Whether their next move is to demand from you voluntary recognition or to petition the NLRB for a secret ballot election, you, as the employer, will be legally restricted in many ways. You can still fight back, and you should, but understanding what your rights are and which are the “do’s and don’ts” of a union organizing drive can be confusing, and in most cases, it is a legal minefield.
Just like any early signs of unionization must be handled quickly, you have to act even more swiftly now. Start by empowering your supervisors with knowledge and facts so they can help you educate your workforce. LAAHR can assist you in the whole education process, and work with your management team so they are able to respond and know how to legally deal with the tricky tactics used during the campaign.
Keep in mind that the union will portray management as “the enemy” and that employees will not be receptive to management’s message, so you will most likely need professional assistance to help you legally educate your employees, navigate this process, and prevent a union from misleading your employees.
A UNION HAS FILED A PETITION FOR AN ELECTION AT OUR COMPANY
By now the “gloves are off” and there is no time to waste. A well-designed strategy must be developed and implemented immediately. Call your lawyer and get help. The chances are very slight that you could win this on your own and avoid legal charges.
Your employees must hear your strong union-free position and be encouraged to listen. They should weigh all the facts before making a decision. Regardless of what the union has promised them, the fact is that you -and only you- can fix the issues. But your employees don’t know that yet; someone has to show them the other side of the coin – your side. Like any political campaign, the union will fight aggressively. For the union, your employees represent future “revenues”, and they will not give up easily.
We can assist you in educating your workforce about the Law, about typical union tactics, the election process, the reality and risks of collective bargaining, the reality of working under a union, and what it means to be a union shop. The facts speak for themselves and an informed employee will make the decision that will be in the best interests of themselves, their families, and their future as part of your organization.
Don’t waste time! You only have few weeks to turn this around. You have a duty to protect your assets and your employees from the union’s empty promises. By giving them the knowledge you will protect their interests and legally help them to make an informed decision.
Don’t mess it up, you may never get another opportunity.
WE’RE HEARING SOME UNION NOISE AMONG OUR EMPLOYEES
Union noise is typically initiated by a group of employees as a result of a high level of discontent and poor ability from management to respond and fix the workplace issues that are upsetting their employees.
At this stage, your employees have probably already reached out to a union for help. The union is capitalizing on your shortcomings and using your own employees to spread the words they long to hear: “only we can help you”, and to showcase the “benefits” of unionization.
The union wants to move as quietly as possible and get employees to quickly sign union authorization cards using all the tricks in their book to execute their assault. They know that most employers will fight any union organizing attempt, so keeping management in the dark as long as possible is critical.
It’s not too late for you to react and stop the misleading information from spreading and to still protect your employees and your organization. Like any good salesperson, the organizers will attempt to sell a product, one that in many cases the employees don’t need or that has actually expired many years ago.
You have to arm your employees with the facts; they need to know about the risks of unionization. This enables them to question what they hear and to counter the union selling pitch, and ultimately realize that the union is not the solution to their concerns and that only you have the power to resolve these challenges.
Let us help you communicate your position and philosophy about unionization and uncover the triggering concerns your employees are facing. We’ll establish a safe-haven setting where they can vent and share their frustrations with a neutral party. We will then quickly gauge the severity of your union organizing situation and recommend actions so that you can regain your employees’ trust and legally respond to the feedback shared by your employees.
WE’VE WON THE ELECTION AND WE DON’T EVER WANT TO GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN!
When a union loses an election you enter an “insulation period” of 12 months. In the event of the union withdrawing an election petition, you get 6 months. You will basically have an opportunity to address and repair the issues that drove your employees to seek third-party intervention and SHIELDHR™ your organization from future attempts. However, this “ban” does not necessarily mean that a union could not start strategizing their next attack and bear in mind that this time around the union will have much more information and knowledge about your employees and organization, making it that much easier to gain employee support.
As you near the end of the insulation period, all the union has to do is approach your employees and ask them whether “they are better off today than 12 months ago”. If the answer of the majority is no, then you had better “brace for impact” because it’s very probable that you will be going through a union organizing drive again.
When it comes to union organizing campaigns, I always use this analogy. “Surviving a union campaign is like surviving a heart attack. If you are serious about avoiding another one, you must change your way of life.“
Change is not easy in any organization. Sometimes you cannot do it alone. Modifying years of poor habits requires a strong will and a structured process that allows you to recognize the vulnerabilities and the symptoms of a potential problem as early as possible before it becomes a major threat.
From assessing your vulnerabilities to strategizing a plan to delivering a solution, and measuring the success of your PEER initiatives, the process requires ownership, dedicated subject matter resources, and expert project management. And that is where we come into play.
We have the expertise, resources, and tools necessary to help you with a systematic inoculation plan. Our SHIELDHR™ program is a strategic process that culminates with a long-lasting organizational transformation whose sub-product is engaged employees that remain uninterested in unionization.
SHIELDHR™ will assess your vulnerabilities, recommend actions, and help you establish, communicate, and execute your plan. And we will partner with you every single step of the way.
Let’s SHIELDHR™ your organization by creating a PEER culture within your organization and show your employees that they don’t need to pay a union to speak for them.