The Perfect Storm
There’s currently a lot of speculation in the media about whether or not the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will become law. If you haven’t heard of this piece of legislation, I suggest you brush up on it.
In a nutshell, the EFCA will allow employees to become unionized if a majority of employees in a work group sign a union authorization card. That’s it…no need for an election.
Many companies fear that the EFCA will increase union activity. While I’m not advocating passage of the EFCA, I’d like to toss out a slightly different viewpoint about union organizing activity. Because I honestly don’t believe that passage of the EFCA will suddenly open the flood gates to union organizing beyond our wildest dreams.
But I would suggest that some of the recent headlines on corporate decision-making will:
- More Firms Quit the 401(k) Match Game
- Using Chapter 11 to Avoid Severance Payouts
- Crisis Forces Companies to Cut Raises, Bonuses and Benefits
Union activity starts because employees are insecure about their working conditions. Employees who don’t have fair and consistent interactions with their supervisor. They don’t know from one minute to the next if benefits are going to be cut. Or even if they will still have a job. When employees are insecure about basic aspects of their jobs, they look for someone to help them gain that security vis-à-vis a third party representative (read: union).
And, I’m not begrudging any of the companies that are making tough decisions during trying economic times. Stuff happens. But what sets the future-non-union companies apart is how decisions are made and how they’re communicated.
There’s certainly a perfect storm brewing in Corporate America right now over the EFCA. What’s your organizational mantra? If you don’t feel that your employees need a union to represent them, then now is the time to take a good hard look at your practices to make sure your actions and words align perfectly.
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