For years we have bemoaned the fact that only a small percentage of clients call us when we can do the most good for them, which is BEFORE they have a challenging employee relations issue. Unfortunately, most call us after the house is on fire, and are then only interested in fire extinguishers. Once we’ve helped put out the fire (defeated a union organizing drive), only then do they usually become more responsive to determining what caused the fire in the first place, taking actions to correct those causes, and measuring their effectiveness in making those corrections permanent.
As Kirsanow points out, Big Labor has almost as much to gain from giving up the idea of no secret ballot in exchange for a shortened election campaign period (especially if they hang onto the arbitration provisions of the law).
Unions have typically been talking to the employees of a targeted company long before their activity is ever discovered, or a petition is filed. It is already a tough road for management to tell it’s side of the story AND to reveal the truth and credibility of union claims within the typical 40 or so days of an election campaign. If this period is shortened substantially – say to 14 days (or even less) – this becomes an even more imposing hurdle.
Once again – another strong reason (in addition to hanging on to mandatory arbitration – see last post) that unions would easily throw in the towel on the 50% + 1 provision of the current Employee Free Choice Act in exchange for something less such as shortened election periods.
If this happens, the good news (for us) is that we may get to do our favorite type of work – helping companies become better places to work, enabling them to hold onto their best talent and attract good new talent, and creating ways for them to measure their growth in these areas. The bad news for many companies is that there won’t be enough of us (or our competitors) to go around before unions get a chance to ravage American businesses.
This is why I say again – those who are willing to sit on the sidelines and wait to see what happens to EFCA are taking a purely defensive posture, and are likely to be ripe targets. Those who choose to be proactive and take steps now to bolster their employee relations efforts, especially when a tough economic climate heightens tensions, will reap a payoff in spades!
