
HIRE A UNION-BUSTING CONSULTANT
Lawyers and “labor-management” consulting firms get paid to help employers keep workers from exercising their right to form a union. Companies also send managers and supervisors to union-busting seminars and follow consultant-prepared “scripts” for keeping unions at bay.. They often pay thousands of dollars per employee to keep the union out — instead of putting that money into better pay, benefits and working conditions for employees. They bank on the idea that if they defeat a union once, following the script, they won’t have to do it again.
Tell You To Wait
and See
The Wait and See argument is very common when employers hire union busting attorneys. Often when workers try to form a union, management will make some improvement to convince people that we don’t need to join together into a union. And when the union talk dies down, management eventually goes back to their old ways. Without a written legally binding contract, any improvements can be taken away. Management only takes our concerns seriously when we talk about forming a union. If they want to bribe us now to keep out a union, can you imagine what we could win with a union?
Get a few employees to campaign against the union.
In many campaigns, “Vote No” or “No Union” committees spring up. The material they circulate presents the employer’s perspective, even though it generally has a “homemade” appearance so it won’t look like the employer is paying for it (which is against the law). Frequently, members of anti-union committees are recruited from among workers who are friends or relatives of someone in management, are politically opposed to unions, or had a bad experience with some other union. Oftentimes, workers who lead an anti-union effort get rewarded (and sometimes are even promised) with promotions.
Send letters to you and your family.
After ignoring employees’ concerns for years, your employer may take a sudden interest in you. This is designed to mislead or divide the organizing committee and other workers, and to play on your emotions and natural desire to be a good employee. It’s manipulation, plain and simple.
Hold meetings to sweet-talk — or browbeat — you.
You may be required to attend “captive audience” meetings in which managers make empty promises or try to scare you. Management doesn’t tell you they’re worried having a union will mean having to treat workers better; instead, they say they’re worried about “what will happen to you.” If you hear about a captive-audience meeting, do some research, and prepare to ask good questions. See if you get straight answers — and if management continues taking questions. Companies often try to keep union support out of these meetings.
Deny your rights through delays and law-breaking.
Union-busting consultants often advise employers to delay every step of the way, and find loopholes in the law to delay union elections or contract negotiations. Sometimes they cross legal lines. Since employers are trying to do everything they can to reduce union support, potential penalties are viewed as worth the risk. The best way to defeat illegal employer tactics is to expect them and let your employer know these tactics will only make you more determined to get union representation. CWA organizers and lawyers will assist you.
Spring a last-minute surprise on you.
Just before workers are scheduled to vote on the union, union-busting consultants often urge employers to hold a special event or go on the attack because it will be too late for union supporters to respond. These can include a captive-audience meeting with a company executive who flies in from out of town, an unfounded charge about the union, or anything else designed to place doubts in workers’ minds about the union. Expect it, and plan for it.
Pressure supervisors to pressure you.
Employers usually order supervisors to take the lead in campaigns against unions. Supervisors typically hold one-on-one meetings with workers, often because their employers have pressured the first-line supervisors to do all they can to eliminate any talk of unions.



Your employer might warn that with a union, there will be new rules and less flexibility. They might also play on workers’ emotions, making you think just talk about a union has made them realize there are problems and they should treat you better or institute “open-door” policies. They might even say they’ll do things similar to what unions do, like institute grievance procedures.
- common-bluffs-truth:
THE TRUTH:
Employers often over-estimate how much employees like their work environment. After all, you’re trying to change it. With a union, new rules are up to you. When you negotiate a contract, you can agree to as much flexibility in scheduling — or other working conditions — as you want. But when workers fall for employers’ promises and pleas for “another chance,” they end up finding out the hard way that most companies forget their promises soon after workers decide against a union.
Your employer might circulate stories about violent incidents involving unions, even though they have nothing to do with CWA. They might also hire extra security guards around the time of the union election to plant the idea that “there might be trouble.” Sometimes they even encourage someone to take acts of violence against the workplace and workers’ property — vandalism, tire-slashing — and blame it on the union.
- common-bluffs-truth:
THE TRUTH:
CWA exists to solve problems — peacefully. With CWA and a union contract, workers and management can sit down as equals and discuss problems.
Your employer might suggest that soon after you vote for union representation, you’ll be forced out on strike whether you like it or not. They might try and scare you about how you’d survive on-strike, without your income.
- common-bluffs-truth:
THE TRUTH:
Only CWA members can decide whether or not to strike, by majority vote of the workers who would be directly involved, after voting by secret ballot. If your unit should be part of the tiny percentage of cases in which a strike becomes necessary, you would receive strike support payments from the union's multi-million-dollar CWA Defense Fund.
Employers do things like distributing “documents” or news clippings that are supposed to show that the union needs your money to survive. They might also pass out phony checks with union dues “taken out” and bring in a bag of groceries with the label, “What you could buy with one year’s union dues.”
- common-bluffs-truth:
THE TRUTH:
CWA is a financially strong union that exists only to serve its members. (Our financial condition is detailed in reports available for inspection by every member.) Management says these things because every time we add a unit, it puts new and greater pressure on employers to improve pay and working conditions. With things the way they are today, you can't afford not to have a union. The improvements in pay and benefits that come with CWA union membership more than offset the dues members pay—plus, members are treated better. Finally, no one pays dues until they've voted to approve a first contract.
Here’s management starting to show their cards: They’re mad, and they simply don’t want to deal with a union. (It has nothing to do with their “worrying” a union will be bad for workers.)
- common-bluffs-truth:
THE TRUTH:
It's illegal for them to say they won't agree to a contract. So what you'll probably hear is something more like, "Remember, we don't have to agree to what you want in your union contract." Your employer might also circulate news clips about other groups of workers who voted for a union and didn't immediately get a contract. But they are obligated to negotiate in good faith — and it's in their interest to do so, to keep employees satisfied so that work keeps flowing. And think about this: If they don't have to agree to any union contract... then why are they fighting so hard against a union, anyway?
Management often tries to convince workers that they’ll start getting orders from “union bosses”; that union officials will control job assignments and working conditions, and that workers will lose the ability to talk directly to management.
- common-bluffs-truth:
THE TRUTH:
Union decisions at CWA are made democratically — by members, not "bosses." With representation, you will have a fair system for promotions and job assignments rather than one that's subject to arbitrary management decisions or favoritism. Finally, a CWA steward, who will be one of your coworkers, can help you talk to management if you need or want them to, but it's by no means required.
Unbelievably, some employers go as far as to park empty moving vans near the job site just before the election — to give workers the idea that the company will leave if the union goes through. Companies also frequently hint at taking action against those who support the union.
- common-bluffs-truth:
THE TRUTH:
Shutting down operations to avoid a union is against the law. Plus, it doesn't make sense, as it would lead to financial losses. It's also illegal to punish workers for supporting a union. Employers don't make these threats directly because they know it's unlawful to do so. CWA will defend the rights of any worker who is punished for union activity.

Employers frequently try to play on the emotions of workers who are talking about organizing — either to make them feel bad about it or to scare them out of it.
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TRUE
CORRECT! Employers often tell workers they'll do better for them if given "another chance"; they've been known to talk about the company as a "family" and lament that a union will disrupt the company's "family-like environment — sometimes even tearfully. On the other hand, many times employers will use scare tactics, like parking moving trucks by entrances close to a union vote to make employees think their vote could cost them their job.
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FALSE
WRONG! Employers often tell workers they'll do better for them if given "another chance"; they've been known to talk about the company as a "family" and lament that a union will disrupt the company's "family-like environment — sometimes even tearfully. On the other hand, many times employers will use scare tactics, like parking moving trucks by entrances close to a union vote to make employees think their vote could cost them their job.
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“Union bosses” decide how and when there’s a strike; workers have no say in it.
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TRUE
WRONG! Only by majority vote of union members affected can a CWA strike be authorized.
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FALSE
CORRECT! Only by majority vote of union members affected can a CWA strike be authorized.
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If you become part of a union, you can no longer talk directly to your manager or supervisor.
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TRUE
WRONG! When you're part of a union, you are entitled to have union representation in any meeting with a manager or supervisor that you believe could impact your employment. But you don't have to. There are no union rules about whether or not you can talk to managers or supervisors.
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FALSE
CORRECT! When you're part of a union, you are entitled to have union representation in any meeting with a manager or supervisor that you believe could impact your employment. But you don't have to. There are no union rules about whether or not you can talk to managers or supervisors.
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It is legal to fire employees for union organizing activity.
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TRUE
WRONG! It is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act to fire employees for trying to organize a union.
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FALSE
CORRECT! It is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act to fire employees for trying to organize a union.
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Union workers make more money than non-union workers.
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TRUE
CORRECT! Nationwide, union workers are paid more than non-union workers.
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FALSE
WRONG! Nationwide, union workers are paid more than non-union workers.
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Employers that promise changes to policies and procedures and say they’ll give raises if workers abandon an organizing campaign generally keep their promises.
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TRUE
WRONG! Typically they do not. The make promises to head off the organizing effort, then find a way to claw back those gains, even if slyly -- e.g., by raising employee costs on something unrelated.
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FALSE
CORRECT! Typically they do not. The make promises to head off the organizing effort, then find a way to claw back those gains, even if slyly -- e.g., by raising employee costs on something unrelated.
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Unionization is risky because negotiations often result in workers getting less pay and benefits than they had before.
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TRUE
WRONG! If this were the case, employers would be clamoring for negotiations!
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FALSE
CORRECT! If this were the case, employers would be clamoring for negotiations!
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Union dues are offset by improvements in pay and benefits.
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TRUE
CORRECT! Union members get better healthcare benefits, retirement packages and pay.
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FALSE
WRONG! Union members get better healthcare benefits, retirement packages and pay.
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It was important to have unions back in the early 20th century, when things were really bad, but not anymore.
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TRUE
WRONG! It's true that things were really, really bad in the early 20th century. But there are still many abuses of workers in this country, and we need unions to ensure we don't go back to the way things used to be.
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FALSE
CORRECT! It's true that things were really, really bad in the early 20th century. But there are still many abuses of workers in this country, and we need unions to ensure we don't go back to the way things used to be.
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CWA is a strong union with the resources to support its workers and continue working for good middle-class jobs.
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TRUE
CORRECT! CWA is a strong union with the resources to support its workers and continue working for good middle-class jobs
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FALSE
WRONG! CWA is a strong union with the resources to support its workers and continue working for good middle-class jobs
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