Phil Wilson: [00:00:10]

Today’s episode of The Left of Boom Show, we talk about strike preparation, a little off-the-beaten-path topic for labor relations and contract negotiations. I’m joined again today by Gail Wolfe. Gail and I have worked on a number of different strike projects, and there’s a lot of great information in today’s episode from security and securing your location. How are you going to continue operating during a potential strike? What are the things that you can do to be fully prepared in the eventuality that you might have to face a strike? Also, spoiler, the better prepared you are for a strike, the less likely you are to face one.

[00:00:52]

We also talk about key stakeholders in strikes, how to communicate during a strike. So, a number of different really important topics, especially if you’ve never faced a strike. And even if you have, I think you’ll learn some things that maybe you hadn’t thought of before. So, I hope you enjoy today’s episode with Gail Wolfe on strike preparation. Welcome back, Gail Wolfe to the Left of Boom show. Good to see you.

Gail Wolfe: [00:01:18]

Great. Thanks, Phil. Good to see you guys again.

Phil Wilson: [00:01:21]

All right, so today’s episode is on the topic of strikes and more importantly, how do you prepare for a strike so that you hopefully don’t have one. And Gail, we did an episode on being prepared and project managing, bargaining. But at some point, many negotiations get to a point where it’s at least the potential of having a strike. And so, in today’s episode, Gail, we’re going to talk a little bit about how a company prepares for one and hopefully avoids it. So, why don’t we just start with that? Tell me a little bit about how you think about getting a company prepared for dealing with a potential strike.

Gail Wolfe: [00:02:05]

Yeah. I think a couple of questions that the organization will have to ask itself is how do we see ourselves operating through a strike? So, if you take out the workers who would be on strike, what does that look like for our operations? And so, you can make assumptions that everybody goes on strike, everybody goes out. Or are you willing to allow people to cross the picket line and come to work? Are we going to allow that to occur and what do we think the cross rate could potentially be? So, looking at those numbers.

[00:02:43]

But operationally, I like to do worst-case scenarios and better-case scenarios, so then you are at least preparing yourself. If everyone goes out on strike, how are you going to run your operations? Are you going to bring in replacement workers? Is that an option for your organization? Maybe it’s not. Maybe it is. So, industry-wide, I would say, you know, health care, replacement workers, nurses are an easier fill to make than maybe some other roles, say, in a health care organization.

[00:03:18]

Or even manufacturing. So, in manufacturing, are you going to build up inventory and shut down certain operations? How does this play out so you are prepared? So, looking at that talent and what’s that time period. And you don’t sometimes know going in, right? So, we don’t know how long it’s going to last. So, there are a lot of variables that you’re going to have to think through as an organization. And what’s the tolerance for a strike? That’s going to dovetail into your bargaining and where you are with bargaining.

[00:03:52]

And so, for some organizations, they’re firm on. I don’t want to give more than this and if that means they go on strike, then we’re going to be prepared and we’re going to take that time and walk through all the scenarios to make sure that we have the right people in place and players. So, I think strike planning takes a lot of time. There’s a lot of moving parts. It depends on the industry. It depends on your operations. What’s your security look like? Do you have in house? Are you going to have to hire security? And what even does your physical security look like? Is it prepared if you were to encounter a strike?

[00:04:28]

So, there’s definitely a lot of moving parts. And so, you want to start planning that out as early as possible so then you can source some of that. Because if you are going to source talent and go through a replacement agency, what does that look like? Do you need to put that out for bid? Do you have multiple providers on that side that you want to talk to? Decide who might be the supplier for your staff for that strike. So, there are a lot of parts that you need to consider going into this.

Phil Wilson: [00:04:59]

Yeah, my head already hurts. But yes, you’re right. There’s so much to think about. So, why don’t we start maybe at the beginning, which is what’s the point of the strike? Why does a union- what leverage do they gain by the threat of a strike or by going on strike? And then why is it important for an employer to be prepared and hopefully avoid that strike? So, maybe just start there real quick.

Gail Wolfe: [00:05:33]

Okay. So the union, you know, is pulling or saying we’re going to go out on a strike typically to get what they want at the table. So, a lot of times in bargaining, we’re not happy with what the employer is providing in terms of a contract, so this is our only real way to put pressure on the employer that you need us. It’s a you need us, we don’t need you kind of mentality. So, the smoother your strike runs and the less impact you allow a strike to have on your operations, that is counter pressure to the union thinking, okay, we’ve forced you now to agree to our proposals to end the strike.

[00:06:17]

So, I had a situation where we had started planning a strike way back when the union had just been certified, so we were well into a year of planning for a strike when the strike actually occurred. And honestly, I was surprised at how well it went. It was like clockwork. Those replacement workers came in. We didn’t miss a beat. We had things in order. And fortunately, in healthcare, you do get a ten-day notice so you do have time that you can hold it at a time. But all the pre-planning needs to be done. It takes a year, definitely, to plan for a strike.

[00:06:54]

But I think the fact that it went off so well and there was little impact that they’re like, okay, why would the employer now agree to our proposal? Did it financially cost the employer? Yes. Because strikes are not free, right? So, there are some financial implications there. So, I think that’s where the balance starts to come in. But I think the more prepared you are, then you can show to the striking workforce that we can manage this, that gets them back to the table faster and getting a little bit more realistic about, okay, what is it that we really want to get in our proposal?

Phil Wilson: [00:07:33]

Yeah. The dream, right? The dream on their side is that we go out on strike for a couple of days and the employer is like, oh, uncle, we’ll agree to everything that you’ve asked for. And so, the way to avoid that dream scenario from happening is what you just said. If we can run the operation without missing a beat then there is no impact to you being on strike other than you’re not getting paid and it’s costing you money. But we’re going to continue to operate and take care of our customers.  If you’re in that situation.

[00:08:10]

And then the best-case scenario, Gail, which you just mentioned, is to be so prepared in advance that everybody sees it. And if everybody sees it, what happens then is you might have a small group of the bargaining committee and the most committed folks on the union side that they might go ahead and walk out anyway because they feel embarrassed if they didn’t. But the rest of that workforce is going to go, why on earth would I go not get paid for a week when it’s not going to matter, they’re totally prepared.

[00:08:49]

And if no one’s going to go on strike, even if the union calls one, there’s no strike. So, you can take away all of that leverage even without necessarily having to implement your plan, as long as it’s clear you have a plan and are prepared. I think that’s, to me, one of the key points. So, the next question is, you’ve already mentioned high-level core elements of the plan. Talk a little bit about it’s very early on, beginning negotiations. What are the most important things to start getting handled first as you’re thinking about strike planning?

Gail Wolfe: [00:09:39]

Yeah. I think the thing that we tend to not think through in detail and should be thought of is making sure your own security. So whatever it is, take some time potentially to nail down. If you’ve got maybe security cameras in areas that don’t work and you have been oh, it’s been broken, we’ve been meaning to get it fixed. Stuff like that needs to be shored up. Gates and entrance points are secured. If you’re allowing people to bypass security, then you shouldn’t. Shore that up. Make sure people are following the guidelines. Badging.

[00:10:15]

If you’re supposed to badge a certain way into the building, make sure you’re following that protocol. So, really tighten up and make sure that people are following the rules that you have established, you’re just not enforcing them consistently. So, I think definitely making sure that that part is done. Have your IT partners be part of the process planning. And I know that’s a group that people are like, ‘IT?’. And I was like, yes, they’re so critical in this process. And so, IT is going to help you badge people appropriately to have entrance into the building during the strike.

[00:10:48]

Who should be in there? Helping you to color code. Who should be? Who should not be? What are the doors like? How do you access those doors? So security working with it. And then it having a running roster, especially if you’re allowing crossers. So, if you decide as an organization we’re going to allow people to cross and come into work during the strike, you need to have it. Who has access to systems? Because they’re going to cut system access for those people who are striking during that strike period, so they can’t access your network. And those who are working do need access to the network system.

[00:11:21]

So, there are a lot of moving parts with the IT side to make sure that they are in tune. And vendors. So, you probably have potentially in your organization, a vendor population, so make sure that whoever is your point person to communicate with vendors, make sure that that person is on point and included in the process. Here will be your responsibility during the strike and make sure that they’re executing that. So, there are some of those areas where people just don’t they think, well oh, HR is going to be heavily involved.

[00:11:51]

Well, yes, obviously legal will be involved as well because they’ll be relooking and reviewing and looking at risk factors. So, you do want legal involved to analyze replacement workers. Is that permitted? What’s the licensure that you need if there’s a licensing issue? So, there are a lot of legal loopholes that you need legal looking at to make sure that if you’re going to use replacement workers, that you’re doing it effectively and legally. So, I think those are probably some of the issues that I see off the top of my head.

Phil Wilson: [00:12:20]

Yeah. Great. And I would just add, you know, simple stuff like where are our property lines? Some employers are leasing their property so the landlord actually is who enforces things like trespass. But figuring that kind of stuff out. As you mentioned, some employers, the public can come in and out of the location, but in other employers, that’s not the case. But how secure is that? Like you said, are you following the security rules? Another thing you haven’t mentioned but is implied in there is sabotage.

[00:12:56]

So, whenever there is a strike, it’s not uncommon that the folks either as they are leaving or maybe even during the strike, might try to come in to disrupt operations. And that can be anything from just protesting or things like that to disrupt operations up to actually trying to destroy equipment or to prevent the employer from continuing to operate. So, the other reason why security is so critical is to make sure that you avoid sabotage which is a regular component of strikes.

Gail Wolfe: [00:13:40]

In my strikes, I’ve experienced they hit equipment, so equipment was gone that your workers needed. Plugging up toilets. Flooding doors where you now have to move people around and operational equipment. But yes, definitely making sure that security is buttoned up and tied up really tight. It depends on what kind of business you are- if you’re B2B or B2C. If you’re a B2C, you have consumers. You have to think about how a strike plays out for a customer or a patient. So, for patients, I always make sure the call centers, excuse me, are involved in the process of planning and they have the right scripting.

[00:14:26]

Because a lot of times you’ll have people from the community calling in, ‘Is my appointment still good? I heard there’s a strike. Is there a certain door I’m supposed to enter through for access to the building?’ So, definitely think through that aspect of what kind of business you are and who could be impacted by the strike occurring at your facility.

Phil Wilson: [00:14:45]

Yeah. In retail locations, it’s super common to have the same thing, have protesters show up in a parking lot or even come into the store. Make sure that leadership understands how you effectively get them removed. They’ll try to interact with customers, so what are we going to say to our customers? There’s a lot of a lot of these moving parts that if you haven’t been through this before, you probably wouldn’t think of 10% of these. And so, it’s really wise to have somebody who’s got the scars to prove it, to be thinking through.

[00:15:22]

And your individual business is unique. I can go walk through a building and come up with wow, that would be a place that I would potentially try to sabotage something. And most employers, they’re like, well, you’re just paranoid. But it’s like, no, if you have you been through enough of these you can see the places where there would be a choke point that would be like, oh, this would be a good place to try to slow this operation down. So, besides security, what are some of the other key things, especially to be thinking about early because it takes time to prepare?

Gail Wolfe: [00:16:05]

I think the replacement workers is probably the biggest one. And figuring out who are you going to use? Am I going to use a replacement agency? And working with that agency from the very beginning, as much as possible to prepare, because they’re going to ask you questions and you’re going to have to pull data together, supply information, so then they could help prep and provide the right headcount. Especially in health care operations, for example, you have licensure issues, so it’s not like you can just pull an RN from any state and drop them into New York. You have to make sure that you have the right licensure.

[00:16:42]

And then, ICU, you’ve got certain certifications. Are you putting in the right nurses into the right spots to make sure that you’re providing the level of care that you want to provide as an organization and that you’re, in some cases, required to depending on the position? So I think healthcare is probably the one that I’ve worked with that is the most complex because of the regulatory functions of it. Making decisions like, are you going to allow elective surgeries to move forward?

[00:17:09]

And here’s where the groups that are not part of the strike, but are definitely impacted by the strike become really highlighted. Providers who are surgeons who are doing surgery. ‘Okay. I’m not going to have my RN, my usual nurse in bedside while I’m performing this procedure. I don’t know that I’m comfortable executing that procedure without the RN that I’m used to working with.’ A lot of that happens in the course of talking this through and figuring out what are we going to allow to continue to occur and are we going to shift work, especially in healthcare operations that are system-wide?

[00:17:50]

Or you might have a, you know, even like a manufacturing process that is multi-system where you could offset work to another location. So that needs to be thought through. So, I think those definitely. So, thinking in advance. And I think vendor and deliveries. Think about where you get supplies delivered, where vendors are coming to bring materials to you that you need to operate, and are there alternative places that they could be delivered to if needed, or what’s the security around that? And is that vendor somebody who’s going to continue to be able to supply throughout a strike?

[00:18:26]

Because they might have employees who are sympathetic to the strike workers and be, ‘Oh, okay, well, we’re not going to deliver to that location during the strike.’

Phil Wilson: [00:18:37]

They might even have a labor contract that says that they don’t have to cross a picket line. And then, you need to figure out a way to get them to drop something that’s not crossing a picket line.

Gail Wolfe: [00:18:50]

Yeah. So, I like to have legal actually looking through. So, I’ll always ask for a vendor list. Who are all the vendors that are critical that will be at that site? And they can be very long, unfortunately. But your legal team should be looking at those contracts, understanding and helping, advising who might be a hurdle here or an obstacle. And can you back stock? So, as you get closer and you think that there could be a strike, can you backstock some products and make sure that those supplies are there and ready, and that you wouldn’t have to rely on that vendor potentially?

Phil Wilson: [00:19:23]

And have it stored somewhere or create a place where you’ve talked to the vendor and you’re like, will you deliver to this location if there is a strike at this other location, and get an agreement on that. Who’s a secondary vendor that you could have? There’s a lot of those. One thing you didn’t mention, but mostly what you’ve been talking about is temporary replacement, so that’s where you are going to hire workers to come in on a temporary basis during the strike, knowing that when the strike’s over, they’ll leave.

[00:19:54]

Employers also have a right in certain situations, and we won’t get into all. You want to check with your lawyer and so on about like which of these you could do. But you can also permanently replace. And so, permanent replacement means you’re hiring somebody to do that job, and they can keep that job as long as they want, not just during the term of the strike, but they would continue to be able to do that job for as long as they want you. If they leave that job, you have to offer the newly opened role at whatever time it becomes open to someone who was on strike before you can fill it from someone outside.

[00:20:33]

But hat is a right that employers have. And so, you want to decide way early on, if we were to suffer through a strike, would we temporarily replace or permanently replace? If the answer is permanently replace, then you basically have to have a whole recruiting operation that stood up in time to be able to hire these replacement workers or have a plan, any way to bring those workers in whenever you’re starting. If you’re not going to permanently replace, then these agencies that you’re talking about become an effective way to do that.

[00:21:09]

And you could do a blend of both. You could stand up and start recruiting permanent replacements at the same time that you’re using temporary replacements from an agency until you get people hired in.

Gail Wolfe: [00:21:23]

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that what I find is the thing that really makes the employer go one way or the other is the role itself. So, what is the skill set that you’re looking for? How readily available is it? Is it something that you can easily recruit for and hire quickly for? Or is there a process? What I find is that the recruiting process takes longer than we think it should. And it starts to drag out. So, that’s why I think most employers go with the temporary just as a matter of course, just because practicality it works better.

[00:22:04]

Or they figure out a way how to operate without the workers. Like, okay, do we bring in some of the managers to do some of the jobs, to fill in? You’re going to shut down operations, maybe you’re going to do a bifurcated, like, we’re going to shut down this, we’re going to shift these people over here. So, it really depends on- That’s why it takes so long. You have to analyze it for your situation and the hurdles that are in front of you versus like- There’s not a cookie cutter plan that works for everyone, unfortunately.

Phil Wilson: [00:22:33]

I’ve had a number of strikes and one totally stands out, but a number of strikes where management goes in, does the work for a while, and then figures out, ‘Oh wow, we can do this way more efficiently than we’re doing it.’ And now, all of a sudden, one of the impacts of the strike for the folks that come back is we don’t need as many people because we’re going to adjust this operation. I had one where they discovered a secret break room that had been built. It was a big manufacturing operation. So, that was a bad day when everybody lost the place where they would go hide.

[00:23:10]

There was a TV in there. There was a bed. It was it was nuts. So anyway, everyone showed back up and the wall that had been put up was gone. That was all gone. So, anyway, be careful what you wish for when you go out on strike. Your job might be a lot different when you get back. So, what are some of the other key things around strike planning, strike preparation, especially for someone who hasn’t been through it before, this is your first contract negotiation? What are some other big things they should be aware of?

Gail Wolfe: [00:23:53]

Community. What is the view of the community of your operations, your organization, your government officials? Making sure that they are kept in the loop and educated on what’s going on at the table, and what led to the strike. You really want to make sure that those stakeholders are thought of. Each community is different and the view that the community has of your organization varies depending on your track record, your history in the community.

[00:24:26]

For some I’ve worked with, they have this great track record in the community, and it’s a large enough community, there’s enough diversity that people are scratching their head, ‘Why are these people out on strike?]

Versus a really small community, more singular employer, maybe doesn’t have a great track record with the community, then you get that momentum of we’re standing in support of the employees going on strike. I had one strike up north where the union came down. It was UAW. But they came down and it was unrelated industries, but they came down and honked their horns and circled the hospital non-stop, non-stop.

[00:25:10]

And that understanding that and thinking through they do have support from others and how does that play out in the dynamic. So, I think it really becomes important to think about what are the opportunities that you have with your organization, how you’re viewed, what’s the communication that you’ve been sending out, and what people think is going on at the table. So, that’s where I think communication becomes so critical. You want to make sure those government officials are aware of what your position is, and why that is your position, and make sure that they’re as informed as possible.

[00:25:45]

They may not agree 100% and not be on your side, but like they are, read in on the situation. When the union goes and starts to tell their side, it’s just natural they have more information. It’s not going to match up exactly with your side of the story, their side of the story, then that leader, the government official says, ‘Okay, hold on. There’s some wiggle room here.’ So, I think those are some parts that I don’t think people really think through.

[00:26:15]

Communication is critical during a strike, making sure that people are informed. People who are coming to work and who are not part of the strike, you got to make sure that those folks know, ‘Hey, it’s safe to come to work. We’ve ensured your security by doing X, Y, and Z. Here are the doors that we need you to go through and utilize during the strike. And I think you have to recognize that some of those people may want to go, ‘I want to not come to work because I’m showing support for my fellow employee in this bargaining unit.’ How is the employer going to respond to that?

[00:26:52]

So, you need to think through all those things with your HR and legal folks to make sure that you’re giving your leaders and those other departments good guidance on how to handle that. You might have a lot of sick call-offs in other departments to show their support for those workers on strike. So yes, thinking through all those parts well in advance and having a plan is important.

Phil Wilson: [00:27:15]

And your communication plan influences whether there is going to be sympathy by co-workers, or sympathy in the community. The more you’re doing to explain to everybody, like, ‘Look, we’ve put really great offers on the table. Our package is super competitive. There’s no reason for us to be on strike. We should be back at the bargaining table. We’re ready, willing, and able to reach an agreement here.’ the more that that is the story, the less likely they’re going to get support from all these different groups that you’re talking about.

[00:27:58]

You’ve said it, but communication is absolutely, absolutely critical. And also, communicating to supervisors and managers and making sure that they understand we have a plan, we’re under control, all of those things. Now, you mentioned legal. Let’s talk a little bit about how legal interplays with a strike. There are certain things that can happen that will make a strike unprotected where there are legal avenues that the company can take to try to stop a strike from happening. So, maybe just walk through a little bit how legal interfaces with this.

Gail Wolfe: [00:28:40]

So, typically I have legal involvement from the very beginning of stages of the beginning. So, as we’re running through putting the plan together, having them analyze it from a legal perspective to say, okay, that’s more risky than this is or this approach. So, making sure that they’re always involved from step one, I think, is important. Because replacing workers and agency, just making sure- And there’s going to be a contract, right? So, they’re going to have to review the agency contract to make sure that we’re good with the verbiage on the contract and how we’re going to pay the vendor.

[00:29:17]

So, I think definitely making sure that legal is involved in that entire process. And also looking at, okay, what is appropriate and what is not appropriate. So, for example, you mentioned the property lines earlier. So, how far up can the employees go? What are those property lines- Legal looking at them. And in healthcare, there are some rulings from the NLRB that you have to make sure that you’re complying with because people need to go ingress and egress into the hospital.

[00:29:48]

So, is there disruption where you can take you know, some action against the strikers depending on where they are and how they’re blocking the entrance into a hospital, potentially? And I think the other thing is, if there is a disruption, how are we going to handle it and who gets called and notified? So, legal will help you identify, okay, this happens you know. And recording. Are you going to record or take evidence of what happened with the strikers and how they acted during the strike? Is there an incident? How do you want that incident handled?

[00:30:26]

So, legal should be reviewing that to say if this then this, if this, then this. So, making sure that you almost have a diagram, so then your security has no questions on how they’re going to handle disruption at the strike line. And I think it really becomes prudent when you have a lot of people who are customers or patients coming in, so it’s that B2C type of situation versus a B2B. Because in B2B you typically have less people from the outside coming in. But if you’re a B2C, you’re going to have a lot more, you know, issues with that, that you’re going to have to monitor and make sure that legal is a part of.

Phil Wilson: [00:31:04]

Yeah, great callouts. And then going back to that whole permanent, temporary replacement question. In an unfair labor practice strike, you cannot permanently replace, so you’re going to need legal advice around have they filed unfair labor practices. Those unfair labor practices, do we feel like they’re valid reasons to convert a strike to an unfair labor practice strike? That’s a critical decision. If you mess that up, that is a really, really costly screw-up. So, you have to get that right.

Gail Wolfe: [00:31:45]

Not to interject, but I think this is a really important point for employers to monitor and pay attention to and curtail as much as you can. But they will try to create an unfair labor practice strike out of one that is really not an unfair labor practice strike, right? So, that’s where, to your point, having legal involved. One client in particular, we were bargaining in good faith, and then the employees started to say there’s all these safety issues. So, they were holding these vigils and there’s these safety issues. And so, they created this narrative of, well, that’s why we’re on strike is because it’s an unfair labor practice with the safety issues you’re ignoring.

[00:32:27]

And so, as much as you can, you really do want to pay attention to that. Because you’re right that you can’t permanently replace in a ULP type of strike. So, now you’ve got these situations where you’re going to have to use temporary workers.

Phil Wilson: [00:32:40]

And it also depends on your industry, right? So, in healthcare, you’ve already mentioned, but you have to give a ten-day notice of a strike. And if you don’t provide ten days’ notice, that strike is unprotected, which means that you could theoretically terminate anybody who does participate in that strike and it would not be an unfair labor practice. So, there’s a lot of legal components to it.

[00:33:02]

The bottom line to this is we’re not a law firm and not giving legal advice. But you have to have your lawyer giving you legal advice all the way through this process because it is a tricky area of law. So, what other main components of strike preparation- Are there any other components that we haven’t covered yet?

Gail Wolfe: [00:33:29]

I think just making sure that operationally, you’ve really involved the right people from day one, because there’s a lot of downstream implications when you start to shift work, change work, how we’re going to operate. Having replacement workers is a huge lift because those people have to be oriented to your facility. They have to understand the interworking, potentially, of how you know where things are in the building, but also who they’re working with, their

counterparts. So, there’s a lot of, I think, just how you orient them quickly and just the logistics of where are they staying, how are they being fed, housing. We ran into housing issues in one situation. We realized it was the same weekend as some event that was going on in town, and now we had no hotel space for all these people.

[00:34:21]

We had the workers, but we didn’t have a place for them to stay. And so, how do you get them then bussed from the hotel to the location? So, replacement workers, that is a super, super big lift. And I think that’s where you just need to make sure that you are thinking through with the agent. And a lot of these agencies will help you do that depending on the industry and what you’re working with. But that is a huge lift that takes a lot of time so you want to make sure that that is done well.

Phil Wilson: [00:34:50]

Yeah. That’s a that’s a really good one. A lot of people will think about this needs to be a big secret. Our preparation needs to be secret. I would like you to walk through a little bit, what reasons might there be to not keep the plan- I’m not saying that everybody needs to know everything about the plan, but what are some reasons that you might want to have some of your preparations evident?

Gail Wolfe: [00:35:31]

I think it puts pressure on the union that you are prepared, that you are not sitting on your hands and waiting and being unprepared. So, they like to catch you off guard. It’s like when they drop a petition at Christmastime. They want to catch you off guard as an employer and not prepared. So, the more prepared you are and can show and indicate, the less likely I think they are to go, okay, we are now going to stand on the street, not be paid, and it put no pressure on the employer because they were completely prepared for our walking out.

[00:36:08]

It happened with one of my clients recently. They had a very well, they let the cat out of the bag in a very proper way that people knew they were planning, the managers were going to step in. They had it planned out. They even practiced they did some role-playing to make sure, like, hey, does this work? And the employees are not willing to go out on strike because, hey, these guys are prepared. So definitely, I think the more that you can, you know, do that in advance, the better off you’re going to be because the union then is not going to think, okay, that’s going to put the right pressure on them to cave to our proposals that we want.

Phil Wilson: [00:36:46]

Yeah. I think it’s if you don’t show that you’re prepared, how do they know? And even if it’s a strike and you were prepared for it, it’s way better to avoid it. And you also are going to get different behavior at the bargaining table if everybody knows a strike isn’t really a viable weapon anymore. The kinds of offers that you’re willing to hold out on are going to be different if you are prepared. And they need to know you’re prepared. It can’t just all be a secret.

Gail Wolfe: [00:37:23]

One thing that we did, talk about I think, going back to the beginning of strike planning is figuring out early on where will incident command be. So, you need a physical space that you’re going to operate out of that will be what you would consider incident command, and making sure that the people that you identify to be on that incident command team, that everybody is aware that they’re on that incident command team, that here’s the expectations during that time period.

[00:37:54]

These are not your normal working hours when you’re in a strike. And in many cases, you are getting a cot and you’re living there for a while. So, you have to understand as a leadership individual that incident command and where’s that operating. And then what does the communication look like? So, what are you, to your point earlier, just like attorney-client privilege, making sure that you have privilege around everything. So, you start these text strings. What’s the protocol?

[00:38:25]

So, really identifying your process and protocol for how communications are going to occur during a strike. Who’s going to be available? So, if you want to give people a break, who’s going to be on call? Who’s that primary point of contact? Because if an incident does happen at the site during a strike, and a lot of times this happens on third shift at night, that’s when the incident occurs, who’s going to call? Who’s the bat phone? So, you got to make sure all thought through well in advance before you get into a strike situation.

Phil Wilson: [00:38:56]

Yeah. And this relates to something you said earlier, but the other thing to keep in mind as you’re planning and anticipating when is this going to happen- well, they’re going to want to pick the time that’s going to be the most painful to the employer and probably to your customers, and the time that you’re going to be the least able to implement your strike plan. So, you should be thinking about when would be the time that they would target.

[00:39:32]

In the hospitality industry, you might look at when the big events that might happen, just like the example that you gave. But if you are a hotel, for example, or a resort or whatever, you’re going to pick the weekends that are the biggest, most popular weekends as a place to do your strike because that’s going to give you the most leverage. So, you want to be putting yourself in their shoes, like if I was going to cause the most amount of pain, how would I do it? That’s a good place to start your planning.

Gail Wolfe: [00:40:04]

Agree. Yeah. And I think the other one, once you get into the actual strike and it’s occurring, you need readouts after every day, especially if you have crossers. So, what we would do is we would track the number of crossers that we had for the day, what our labor looked like for the day, what did our production look like for the day, were there any issues or hiccups that we incurred, just to make sure that each day we had a briefing done. And we did it every shift too.

[00:40:35]

So every shift, there would be a debrief to make sure we had all the information and data of what happened during the course of the day. And then we did a full readout for, in this case, it was the board. So, we made sure the board was aware, like, hey, here’s exactly where we stand with the strike. So, I just think making sure that that’s part of your process when you get into the actual strike.

[00:40:55]

Yeah. I would also just point everybody who’s listening to the episode that we did on preparation, just bargaining preparation. Obviously, all those same stakeholders that are involved in that are going to be involved in if there’s a strike, but you want to think through as part of your strike plan, how does that fit into just the whole project management of the bargaining. And so, you definitely want to check that episode out. What other key takeaways for someone who’s dealing with this, especially someone who’s dealing with it for the first time? Any other tips or callouts?

Gail Wolfe: [00:41:39]

Yeah. I think communication is, you know, very, very important during the strike to make sure that your employees feel they’re in a good place who are not part of the strike. So, communications, making sure that that team is on board helping you to craft communication, answer questions, getting leadership, talking points if they need them during the course of the strike. The more that you can normalize the process during the strike, the better off you’re going to be because that’s going to calm the waters of how much striking occurs.

[00:42:15]

I think the other thing that you don’t think about is things that, depending on, like safety, what’s going on. Because things happen during strikes that can be safety issues. Bringing gas grills too close to a building. I’ve seen all kinds of stuff happen. And so, just making sure that you’ve got security available and ready. And maintenance- rounding regularly HVAC systems, anything mechanical. Those folks should be rounding every shift multiple times during the shift to make sure no sabotaging is occurring.

[00:42:54]

So, I know those sound like, to your point earlier about being a little paranoid, but that stuff happens and that can crash your system and crash your operations, so you really want to make sure that those things are being reviewed, walked through and reported. Where do you report that to? What’s the structure and who you’re reporting to that information? Those are probably some of the bigger items.

[00:43:19]

Like I said, each industry you’re going to have some nuances that you’re going to have to factor into how you navigate. But I think also we talked earlier about the communication with the community. I think making sure that you have that well prepped and thinking through what could happen if you don’t have those people prepped in on your side.

Phil Wilson: [00:43:39]

Yeah. You also mentioned in the project management episode, IT. That’s another place these days that’s a prime target for sabotage, so I think that’s a good one to in mind. This is the last area I want to get into, and then we’ll conclude. There are some employers that are not going to operate during a strike- if enough people go out, you just know. These days, it’s not uncommon. There are a lot of times where union leadership doesn’t really want to have a strike, but they’re not going to avoid one because the rest of the bargaining unit wants to go on strike.

[00:44:23]

And so, there are some of these situations that happen where you are going to have a strike. It’s not avoidable. You’re not going to continue to operate during the strike. What are some tips for a company that’s in that situation? That now becomes a big communication issue and trying to get the union back to the table and get the employees to understand, we need to get back to the table to try to settle this. Do you have any tips for an employer? Looking at their plan, their plan is if we have a strike, we’re kind of stuck.

Gail Wolfe: [00:44:59]

Yeah, That’s probably the worst situation to be in is if you really don’t have the ability to bring in replacement workers or offset that situation- is to continue to have dialogue with the Union about getting back to the table. If you do have- because you could be negatively impacting those folks also who are not part of the union, right? So, we have those players that we have to factor into the equation as well. So, I think that’s where the employer really needs to look at that fifty-thousand-foot view and holistically go, okay, what is the best thing and how can we communicate that we’re willing to get back to the table, and that this is not helping anyone?

[00:45:39]

Because at the end of the day, a strike is not good for anyone. It’s really not good for the employees. The employees are losing out. They’re losing financially every day that they’re standing out on the picket line and they’re not being paid. In some cases, they’re going to lose their healthcare coverage. In many cases, that’s more important to the employee than the actual paycheck, depending on their health situation and if they have a family member who’s on health coverage.

[00:46:02]

Cobra is very costly, and so that’s where I think that messaging to employees, like this is not helping you as individuals. We want to get back to the table. We want to get back to getting an agreement that works for both parties. So, I think those are some of the- And if you’re and if you’re looking at a possible first-time contract or even if you have maybe an existing union that is becoming much more aggressive, I think financially stockpiling as much as you can cash on hand.

[00:46:34]

What do you need? What does your financials look like? What can you do to prepare yourself if you’re going to, in fact, shut down completely? That’s where having enough time to play out the scenarios with your financial and business folks and ops folks, that’s beneficial to your side so then you can say, how can we come out of this on the other side, if we endure a strike and we’re going to completely shut down operations?

Phil Wilson: [00:46:59]

Yeah. I think great point. And like you don’t necessarily have to replace people. You can build up, you know, inventory that could be sold during a period where there’s a shutdown that is already ready to deliver. There are other ways to prepare for a work stoppage besides just trying to replace the people, so I think that’s another component of that. Well, Gail, nobody really likes to think about a strike, and strikes are awful. It’s a very stressful time.

[00:47:38]

But I think that you’ve illustrated if you prepare well, you just work that plan, often you avoid the strike or the strike doesn’t last very long because it’s clear you’re prepared. And so, I think this has been really, really helpful to our listeners. So, thank you again for joining us. I appreciate it.

Gail Wolfe: [00:48:04]

Great. Thanks, Phil. Have a great day.

Phil Wilson: [00:48:06]

Okay. You too.

[END OF TRANSCRIPT].