New World Unions May Present New Threats to Unprepared Companies

Columbus C.E.O.

In this Littler attorney-authored article, Jim Ferber explains the new and aggressive force of labor unions after the AFL-CIO split, and the new tactics which include top-down corporate campaigns that trigger company investigations and formulate negative PR. Historically labor unions have attempted to appealed workers in single locations and units, and once a union collected sufficient evidence that employees wanted representation, a petition would be filed through the NLRB for a secret ballot. When several major unions broke away from the AFL-CIO to form the Change to Win Coalition, the newunions started the alternative approaches to union organizing, such as: forming pseudo-grassroots organizations to issue negative reports about the employer; staging protests; paying for billboards and newspaper ads alleging wrongdoing; holding temporary strikes; and pressuring community, political and religious leaders to lean on the target employer. Ferber explains who the renegade unions will target, what a typical corporate campaign looks like, and he also advises companies on how they can proactively counter union threats and avoid vulnerability.