Unionization and Small Business
Inc.:
Few entrepreneurs, of course, are going to follow Sidhu and encourage their employees to unionize, but like it or not, more and more are going to be dealing with collective bargaining. True, union membership as a whole continues to decline. But groups active in professional and service industries are booming, their ranks swelled by workers who fear increased health insurance costs and the outsourcing of jobs to Asia. IT staffers, graphic designers, and engineers — this is the new face of labor. And guess where many of them work? The average workplace organized last year had just 53 workers.“More attention is being paid to smaller workplaces,” says Bob Bruno, a labor and industrial relations professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who adds that “organized labor has a higher success rate in small businesses.” There are several reasons for this. Labor activists have discovered that unlike large corporations, small businesses often lack the resources and the know-how to fight unionization. Plus, their employees are are often more receptive to organization because union reps can make a personal, individual appeal for their support.
Dan Sherman on September 14th, 2004 11:37 am
I would plant a pile of TNT and demolish my entire business, lock stock and barrell before I would allow my employees to unionize.
In today’s highly competitive markets, unionization is a racket to line the pockets of union leaders and does nothing for the worker that can’t be done naturally in the job market when left alone.
Heirarchy of evil:
1) Satan
2) North Korean leadership
3) Iranian leadership
4) Syrian leadership
5) Union leadership (anywhere, not just in the US)
My 2 cents.
Chuck on September 16th, 2004 8:44 am
I was in a mom and pop business that transitioned to a “corporation”.
During the growth phase, employees became very disgruntled and started to unionize.
The union promised that they could be making 30% more plus better benefits.
There’s just one problem.
That was a complete lie.
The company opened the books to the employees, fired one particularly disliked supervisor, and made other changes to respond to the workers needs without a union.
I was struck by the lying about how the union was going to suck money out of thin air for them.
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