HR Management & Compliance

Early Warning Signs of Union Organizing

How do you know if a union is trying to organize your
employees?

Speaking at BLR’s National Employment Law Update in Las Vegas (Oct. 27-29, 2010) attorney Mark Ricciardi, managing partner of the Las Vegas office of Fisher & Phillips, LLP, gave attendees a checklist for identifying the signs of an organizational
campaign:

        
Employees unusually busy and excited

        
Group stops talking or breaks up when supervisor
approaches

        
Employees request information about policies &
benefits

        
Employees’ behavior, attitudes, attendance or work
change

        
A new “spokesperson” emerges

        
Attempts to defy or irritate supervisor

        
Strangers appear outside the premises

        
Literature, buttons, shirts, cards

        
Employees who typically talk to supervisors no longer
do so

        
Increased turnover among high performers

        
Employees will no longer look you in the eyes

        
Employees questioning managerial authority

        
New employee alliances forming

        
Change in nature/frequency of employee complaints

        
Increase in argumentative questions at meetings

        
Increase in unauthorized “group” complaints

        
Employees seem increasingly divided

        
Poor performers begin to show improvement

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