by James Parks, Sep 24, 2007

Polls show most Americans are unaware of the extent to which some employers will go to stop workers from exercising their freedom to form a union. But a chilling new article, by journalist Art Levine, exposes the dirty details of these often sinister actions.

In the October issue of In These Times, Levine gives us a blow-by-blow account of a seminar he attended in Las Vegas led by two attorneys from Jackson Lewis, one of the major law firms in the field of union-busting. Union-busting—the so-called “union avoidance” industry—is a multibillion-dollar industry involving more than 2,500 lawyers.

In “Unionbusting Confidential,” Levine exposes the techniques these lawyers teach their clients to keep unions out of their workplace. The first suggestion to employers: Act respectful of workers’ concerns to prevent union sympathies from growing. They even suggest writing out—but not adhering to—a mission statement that includes treating workers with dignity.

The lawyers then give seminar participants a litany of tricks to derail the efforts of their workers to do what the law says they have a right to do: join together to form a union and bargain for a better life. The Jackson Lewis lawyers encourage the employers to be proactive, to take a leading role in denying their workers their freedom to form a union.

Here are just a few of the comments of what the lawyers told Levine and the other seminar participants:

• If a supervisor sympathizes with the workers who want to form a union, one of the lawyers jerks his tie upward against his neck to suggest a hanging.
• Tell employees stories about other workers in a union going on strike and losing their jobs to replacements because “It’s lawful. What happens if this statement is a lie? They didn’t have another strike, there were no replacements? It’s still lawful: The labor board doesn’t really care if people are lying.”
• Firing workers for seeking to form a union is illegal under current labor law, so Jackson-Lewis encourages employers to make sure they fire union supporters for other reasons.

Levine also shows that these actions have human consequences. They hurt families and communities. He cites the story of Bill Lawhorn, who was fired the day after he and his fellow workers narrowly lost an election to join a union and bargain for better wages and working conditions. Five years later he is still without a steady job.

Lawhorn, 51, worked 12 years at the Consolidated Biscuit Co. in McComb, Ohio, before he was fired:

“It’s always right there in my mind,” Lawhorn says. “My children thought I got really mean, and I did for that first year.” Back then, everyday, after a fruitless search for a new job, he would drink beer heavily. “I’m definitely a victim of union-busters,” he says. “They’re the ones who told [company officials] what to do.”

Click here to read more and watch videos of Lawhorn telling his story.

It appears many employers are taking similar advice. Consider the findings of Cornell University scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner, who studied hundreds of organizing campaigns:

• Ninety-two percent of private-sector employers, when faced with employees who want to join together in a union, force employees to attend closed-door meetings to hear anti-union propaganda; 80 percent require supervisors to attend training sessions on attacking unions; and 78 percent require that supervisors deliver anti-union messages to workers they oversee.
• Seventy-five percent hire outside consultants to run anti-union campaigns, often based on mass psychology and distorting the law.
• Half of employers threaten to shut down partially or totally if employees join together in a union.
• In 25 percent of organizing campaigns, private-sector employers illegally fire workers because they want to form a union.
• Even after workers successfully form a union, in one-third of the instances, employers do not negotiate a contract.

Working people are determined to put workers’ freedom to join a union on the front burner of the 2008 elections. The union movement is backing the Employee Free Choice Act, which passed the House in March. Although a majority of senators supported the bill as well, supporters were unable to cut off debate and bring the bill to a vote. If passed, the Employee Free Choice Act would allow workers to freely form a union without employer interference.

And that is something that is sorely needed, Lawhorn says. He tells In These Times, he has lost faith in the government officials who should have protected him.

I expected them to do what they’re supposed to do. This is my right, a federal right to form a union. All the company had to do [to avoid complying] was…nothing. It’s un-American.

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