The May 21, 2010 issue of The Journal Record (Oklahoma business journal) featured an interview with Phil Wilson, President of LRI, about the vulnerability of QSR businesses (quick service, or “fast food,” restaurants) to union organizing drives. Wilson believes these businesses could be a looming target for unions, especially the member-bleeding SEIU. “QSR companies are sitting ducks, and they better prepare immediately for a rapidly changing labor environment,” Phil stated. Phil referenced a leaked December 2009 document suggesting the SEIU planned to penetrate the fast-food sector, generally the arena of the United Food & Commercial Workers. The motivation arises from the fact that QSR businesses cannot move their jobs overseas to evade union encroachment.
Wilson warned that large, well-known chains provide highly visible targets for aggressive national public-relations assaults, known in the labor relations world as corporate campaigns. Such campaigns are designed to pressure businesses into signing a neutrality agreement, which prevents management from speaking out during an organizing drive.
