Labor Relations INK In This Issue: • EFCA Update • AFL-CIO Targets Young Workers • Union Funds ATM for Union Official • SEIU Watch, Only In A Union, and more… Preview what is in this issue: 
Labor Relations Insight from Phil Wilson Promoters and Detractors 
Your ear is still ringing. It’s been several minutes since the last call, but you can’t bear to count how many pink message slips remain in the stack your assistant handed you after lunch. It’s like each caller got to listen to the one before and has an even better complaint about the recent change in the benefits plan. You’ve got a Detractor problem. Promoters and Detractors behave in dramatically different ways. They produce dramatically different results. The simplest way to think about the Promoters and Detractors theory of engagement is to think of employees like customers of the employment opportunity you offer. Your employment benefits are the “product” your company offers employees: wages and benefits, safety and security, personal growth and socialization. Your employee-customers purchase the “product” from the company with their time and talents. Some employee-customers are fiercely loyal and dedicated to the company. They are evangelists for the company and go above and beyond at work. Others are disloyal and disengaged, offering no more value (work product – results) in exchange for “the product” than necessary to remain employed. Promoters are on the positive side of this scale or metric while Detractors are on the negative side. Read the rest of this article here. ********** EFCA Update 
Craig Becker and Mark Pearce have been in office for about a week after receiving their recess appointments during the Easter recess. We commented at the time about what this likely means – if you missed that post, be sure to read it here. Two weeks ago we released our well-received white paper Left of Boom which summarizes our advice – be vigilant, and take truly proactive steps to predict and avoid union activity (hint: training your supervisors to respond to union activity after it has begun is NOT proactive). 
NLRB Member Peter Schaumber, who for the recent past has been the only other member of the board with Chairman Wilma Liebman, lately reiterated that some reforms of the NLRB could mitigate the politicization of the board:
He said U.S. labor laws are in need of reform but suggested changes that are not now being discussed, “from the manner in which Board members are selected to the possible role of work councils to whether consideration should be given to abolishing the Board all together in favor of a Federal labor and employment court with judges appointed for life.”
Senator Arlen Specter expressed similar ideas in a 2007 Harvard Journal of Legislation essay:
Has the Board appropriately balanced a sparing use of rulemaking authority and heavy reliance on adjudication? Would the Board gain legitimacy if Board Members were more insulated from the political appointment process, perhaps through longer terms or a different appointment process? What other institutional reforms would both encourage and empower Members to act more like judges and less like political appointees?
It’s doubtful that these types of root-cause reforms will gain traction during this administration. Folks in Arkansas are not waiting around for the other shoe to drop. A new group has sprung up to fight against EFCA-type legislation:
The Coalition for Arkansas Jobs (CAJ) says its mission is “to protect jobs in Arkansas and stand up for the small businesses and workers in the state who grow the economy and create employment opportunities.” The group has the support of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
CAJ appears to be a counter balance to union pressure in the political sphere. State director for the organization, Robert Coon, describes the group’s objective:
Our mission is to educate voters on where candidates stand on this issue. We will not advocate for the election or defeat of any candidate. This is strictly an issue focused, educational organization. We strongly believe that voters have the right to know where their candidates stand on EFCA, and feel that this information will be an important factor in determining whom voters choose to support.
Discussing the composition of the group, and CAJ’s policy to protect the identity of the members, Coon stated,
We have recruited and mobilized small business owners throughout the state to voice their opposition to this job-killing legislation. We do not disclose our individual members and there is a reason for that. As you are aware, national labor unions are spending $4 million in Arkansas to promote their agenda this election cycle. The last thing small businesses need is Big Labor’s multi-million dollar attack machine turned on them.
Kudos Arkansas! ********** 12 Union Myths Exposed In our fifth installment of The Cato Journal’s January 2010 “Are unions good for America?” issue, we cover the fifth myth. Here is The Homeland Stupidity web site’s synopsis of this myth, and a link to each of the 12 Cato articles. Myth Number Five: Organized labor has worked to promote racial equality. 
Fact: Unions have used racial discrimination as a tool to enrich themselves, and continue to do so today. In 2008, Richard Trumka, who is now the president of the AFL-CIO, said, “We know, better than anyone else, how racism is used to divide working people.” He should, because the unions have been doing it for their entire existence, and still are, as Paul Moreno, history professor at Hillsdale College, illustrates. It isn’t — and probably never was — the employers oppressing the black, or the Chinese, or the Hispanic people. Most employers, as it turns out, really are color blind, as Martin Luther King, Jr., noted in 1957: “With the growth of industry the folkways of white supremacy will necessarily pass away. Moreover, southerners are learning to be good businessmen, and as such realize that bigotry is costly and bad for business.” As racism goes, unions made the KKK look like amateurs. Big Labor lobbied for, and got, special laws to make them completely immune for whatever they did — all the way up to outright murder. In United States v. Enmons, in 1973, the Supreme Court held that unions were immune from prosecution under the Hobbs Act if their violent acts were in furtherance of a “valid union objective.” Download the PDF here. Check out the Cato Journal and access all 12 PDFs here. **********
NEW! Our latest white paper:
Left of Boom: Best Practices for Proactive Companies in a Changing Labor Environment Some of the most powerful business tactics and strategies are discovered in the crucible of the war. Discover the new lessons for American businesses learned from the experiences of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. • Why most of your “proactive” measures aren’t proactive at all and how to tell the difference between real and “fake” preventive measures; • The 5 key tactics military strategists used when they realized they were losing against insurgent IED attacks – and how you can apply them in your business today; • 6 different “left of boom” activities you can use now that will give your company big leverage in its positive employee relations strategy.; Download your free copy of “Left of Boom” by clicking the link below: Click here to download your copy. ********** AFL-CIO Targets Young Workers 
Big Labor recognizes that most older working adults are not interested in unions. To survive, unions have been spending huge resources to attempt to change the legislative and/or regulatory environment to make union organizing easier. However, it appears that Big Labor has not put all of their eggs in the law-making basket. Younger workers are entering the workforce in droves at a horrible time economically, and the likelihood that they will become disenchanted with their opportunities is valid. The AFL-CIO sees this as a potential gold mine for future union prospects, and is attempting to spin the conversation in a way that paints unions as the only hope for these high-energy workers. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler is leading a major AFL-CIO young worker initiative designed to enable unions to appeal to young, unorganized workers. Several regional forums will lead to a first-ever AFL-CIO Youth Summit this June. ********** SEIU Watch 
The SEIU vs. NUHW court battle is raging on at the moment, and until it has ended, we won’t spend much time covering the blow-by-blow of the contest. It was telling that within the first week of the trial, the SEIU was forced to admit that many of the tactics it was accusing its former local members of, were actually not illegal! To save face, the SEIU dropped many of their accusations, and lowered the damage amount they were seeking from $25 million to around $5 million. Carl Finnamore, who has been attending the court sessions, had this to say after witnessing the opening sessions: It is said that clarity emerges the victor when an idea is challenged and submitted to critical examination. We shall see that theory tested after the next two weeks of trial when the jury renders its verdict, due around April 9. But certainly we can say with confidence that the court of public opinion has already voted against SEIU’s heavy-handed tactics against UHW, formerly one of the country’s most democratic and militant unions. 
We can also say with confidence that the issues being argued by plaintiffs’ high-priced attorneys would have been better served if SEIU president Andy Stern had allowed an organized democratic discussion and debate among the 65,000 long-term healthcare workers of UHW. Instead, all the discussion has been compressed into one small courtroom, where 26 dedicated union activists await their fate. While struggling in the courtroom, the SEIU continues to struggle in the work place as well. At TLC Health Network in Irving, NY, the union withdrew a petition for union election, once again not allowing the nurses to deliver the nail in the coffin. According to a TLC statement, “After months of delays and aggressive campaign tactics, SEIU has once again denied TLC nurses the right to cast their ballots; putting union interests above the nurses right to vote.” In a bizarre twist of tactics, rather than potentially lose around 600 members at USC University Hospital to the NUHW, the SEIU is pushing to make the hospital a union-free facility! According to union pundit Randy Shaw, “SEIU is assisting a stridently anti-union employer to ensure that when the election does occur, a majority of workers choose ‘no union’ over ‘NUHW.’” In the corporate arena, it is not so clear whether SEIU is winning or losing. Despite an outstanding loan of over $94 million, Stern and company is ratcheting up its corporate campaign machine against the proverbial hand that feeds it, Bank of America. Some have suggested that Stern will use these tactics to renegotiate the terms of the loan, or even have some of the debt waived. It remains to be seen what the outcome of this dicey move will be. Only on the political front is it apparent that the SEIU is “winning.” According to Stern, he was told directly by President Obama that healthcare “reform” would not have passed without SEIU efforts. [flashvideo provider=youtube file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZvHeeJOy1o&playnext_from=TL&videos=iV80V3xBhBo /] Stern appears to be attempting to convert this ingratiation into a government takeover of American’s private 401(k) retirement plans. Teaming up with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, SEIU’s plan, called “the Retirement USA Initiative,” is in essence a European-style government pension plan. ********** LRI’s Latest Interview with an Organizer Video 
Mary Holden worked in the grocery industry in the upper Midwest, first as an employee and UFCW shop steward, and later as a human resources manager. Mary has seen the union’s hidden agenda from both sides of the bargaining table. For a compelling, fresh story of the real union agenda, check out our latest organizer interview here (viewing requires a username and password – to request one call 800-888-9115 or fill out the password request form). ********** Only In A Union Members of the United Auto Workers had to resort to filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Management Standards asking the agency to investigate charges of nepotism by the union’s top officials.
“Your department is being asked to investigate because we (the members) are not allowed to address these issues during union membership meetings,” the complaint said. “A sergeant-at-arms will attempt to usher you out of the meeting or yell for you to sit down. We need someone to look into these findings so the hard working members who work on the line each day will know that our interest is being protected.”
UAW VP Cal Rapson
…there are approximately 76 hourly employees special assigned to the UAW-GM CHR from General Motors plants across the country, mostly from Michigan. Some are from closed plants. These individuals are simply selected based upon who they owe favors. They are protected when plant layoffs occur while their fellow union brothers and sisters with more seniority are laid off.
********** Union Funds ATM For Union Official Curtis Iwatsubo, financial secretary-treasurer of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers (GMP) Local 52 in Santa Clara, CA, used a debit card to withdraw $47,000 from union funds, according to a federal indictment. Iwatsubo is also accused of making false entries into the check account registers of the union, and perjuring himself to DOL investigators to cover his tracks. ********** Supervisors Are The Linchpin 
One of our key maxims regarding union avoidance goes something like this: An employees doesn’t choose a union to protect him from the company, he chooses a union to protect him from a supervisor. Front line supervisors can make or break a company in many ways, including opening the door to the type of unrest that leads to a union organizing drive. Attorneys at Fisher & Phillips recently posted a great article on this issue, focusing on the role of front line managers as part of the management team. Seen in this light, it is imperative to 1) hire properly, 2) train effectively, and 3) assess constantly the dynamics between the workforce and their direct supervisors. Business guru Tom Peters reiterated the point in this brief video: [flashvideo provider=youtube file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ue3XwGMAw /] Peters provides a litany of operational practices for hiring, training, and evaluating first-line managers in what he calls The First-Line Managers20. Read, implement, and reap the benefits! If you need help beefing up the training component (teaching supervisors how to NOT be jerks), check out our Online Active Interval Training, one of the most powerful and cost effective training solutions available. ********** Forced Dues Policies Under Legal Assault The National Right To Work Legal Foundation has been busy defending members of the SEIU and UFCW from illegal forced-dues schemes imposed by the unions. In West Virginia, SEIU District 1199 enforces an “annual objection” policy, despite legal precedent established in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Communication Workers of America v. Beck (1988), in which the Court held that union officials can not lawfully compel nonmembers to pay the part of union dues spent for non-bargaining activities like political activism, lobbying, and member-only events. Six employees, with the help of the NRTW Legal Foundation, filed a federal complaint against the local. Patrick Semmens, Director of Legal Information at National Right to Work, said of the action,
“The SEIU District 1199 union officials’ illegal behavior shows they’re just after forced union dues revenue. This blatant disregard for the rights of the workers SEIU bosses claim to represent shows why West Virginia needs to pass a state Right to Work law making union dues payment completely voluntary.”
In the Right-To-Work state of Arizona, the National Labor Relations Board regional office in Phoenix has issued a statewide complaint alleging that local UFCW union bosses and Fry’s Food Stores are illegally blocking independent-minded workers from stopping union dues payments. When UFCW Local 99 threatened to strike last November, many disgruntled members resigned from the union and revoked their automatic dues deductions, during a time when the union did not have a contract in place, as allowed by law. ********** Sticky Fingers! Current charges or sentences of embezzling union officials: Toni Lancaster- UBC: $68,000 Charles Owens- UBC: $65,000 Michele Pedersen- AFSCME: $8,500 Curtis Iwatsubo- GMP: $47,000 Barbara Patton- APWU: $2,015 Steven James McDeid- NALC: $51,639 Richard Schwab- UTU: $46,472 Michelle Lyn Adler- UGSOA: $1,900 Pamela Williams- SEIU: $6,080 ********** Labor Relations INK is published semi-monthly and is edited by Labor Relations Institute, Inc. Feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone you think might enjoy it. New subscribers can sign up by visiting: https://lrionline.com/free-stuff/newsletter-signup/ If you use content from this newsletter please attribute it to Labor Relations Institute and include our website address: www.LRIonline.com Contributing editors for this issue: Phillip Wilson, Greg Kittinger, Shaun Fanning You are receiving this email because you subscribed to receive our labor relations newsletters and updates. You can manage your email preferences by clicking the link at the bottom of any of our email communications. NOTE: if you are using Internet Explorer v. 6, read the text version, as the html will not load properly in IE6. We recommend upgrading to IE7.
