From the director
Terror in the workplace

Over the last several issues of our newsletter, I have written a lot about our many successful organizing drives taking place in Region 9A. I have also talked about the courage and conviction of the people who decided they wanted the union to represent them.

Too many of our members who go to work every day and have the union already in place don’t know the many trials and tribulations that workers go through in trying to organize. The best way to describe the month before the election, in most cases, is employer-sponsored terrorism.

When workers first approach a union organizer, the employer is generally unaware such meetings are taking place. The workers usually describe problems that they face in the workplace, and as other workers get involved, these issues become a common bond for workers who now see the union as an opportunity to have a meaningful voice in the workplace.

As the drive builds momentum, the employer will find out about it, and from that moment forward the employer will do whatever he can to subvert the attempt at unionization by any means possible. If it means breaking the law, then so be it.

In recent organizing drives, we have seen employees threatened on an almost daily basis with loss of jobs and plant closure. We have seen employers unabashedly try to buy the workers’ votes. We have seen employers tell workers that they will refuse to bargain with the union, and workers will end up with less than they have.

They tell workers the union will force strikes, and that workers will be forced to pay exorbitant dues. Sometimes they fire union supporters. This campaign of terror goes on day after day, week after week, both in captive audience meetings and one–on–one meetings with supervisors. These campaigns are usually conducted by outside consultant union busters who are paid tens of thousands of dollars to keep the workers down.

These are the terrible things that happen when workers decide to unionize. The penalty for employers violating the law is minimal. Too often in the past we have won the battle in the courts but lost the war in the workplace. Our politicians grandstand and talk about workers’ rights in every foreign land yet they are strangely silent on workers’ rights in our country.

Our many organizing victories in the last few years are a living testament that today’s workers can take on the bosses and win. Many were badly bruised during the battles that took place, but they never lost focus on the real issues in their workplace. There is no greater feeling when the smoke clears, and the workers are victorious.

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