Unions: We’re Better Off Without Them

Others are taking a more activist approach. One small business person wrote to his senator urging her to vote against the legislation, or at least amend it so that some sort of election period is preserved. "My argument is that the company should have at least some period to make its case," he says. Like many businesspeople, he worries that a union organizer might bully an employee into signing a card. I can't help but feel that prevention is the better route though. When, not if, a bill passes, I'd rather be a less susceptible target thanks to good employee relations.

Years ago that union drive certainly woke me up. Almost overnight we quickly overhauled our employee relations. We put a pay scale in place so that raises occurred in a timely manner and not just at the whim of a manager. We hired a human resource manager to handle day-to-day employee issues, tackling problems like reimbursements for health care costs. I began to meet regularly with employees, including periodic meals with each of our three shifts. These meetings often last two hours—or more—as employee's list ways they think the company could be improved, often offering ideas to boost productivity or quality.

I must confess, unlike many businesspeople, I do have a soft spot for the spirit of EFCA. While I can't agree with doing away with elections, I do accept that six weeks is far too long. If a company can't make its case in three weeks, then it likely deserves the union it gets. Six weeks gives employers too much time to wear employees down. Forcing workers to sit through meeting after meeting, bashing the union, hinting that the company might move or close if the union wins, probably is the corporate equivalent of the fear many businesspeople carry that union organizers might manhandle our employees into signing cards.

Despite my paranoia, in the end we figured the OSHA visit had nothing to do with a union. However, the process refocused my mind on our plant floor relations. So I hired a labor consultant to do an employee survey which turned up some issues we've begun to address, like putting an emphasis on internal promotion rather than outside hiring. We should do many of the things he turned up. All too often the day-to-day struggle of running a business muddles priorities. Now, with some union likely to target our company once the new labor law passes, I won't get distracted again.

Kelly is a former business journalist and CEO of Emerald Packaging in Union City, Calif.

© 2009