Replying to a message of Bob Klahn to Bob Ackley:

 BA>> 'scuse me.  It is flatly illegal for a company to do that.
 BA>> It is *not* illegal for union organizers to do it.

 BK>  Yeah, AAMOF it is.

Then that particular law hasn't been enforced for decades.

 BK>  However, law enforcement on that has been in republican hands
 BK>  for all but 8 years from 1981 to 2009.

 BK>  ...

 BK>>>  And many vote against the union because the company threatens to
 BK>>> shut down the shop, or fire them. They prove it by firing any 
 BK>>> union organizers they can get away with.

 BA>> Which is none of them.  Most union organizers are not
 BA>> company employees, they are employed by the union.

 BK>  Nope. Most union organizers are inside the company. The unions
 BK>  can't hire enough organizers to do the job, the workers won't
 BK>  listen to them anyway, and the employer won't let union
 BK>  employees in the door without the checkoff cards signed.

Way back in 1996 when Alegent Health was busy ruining the hospital
I worked in, I even went down to the union hall to talk to the SEIU
people there - SEIU was then supposedly attempting to organize health
care workers.  SEIU wasn't interested, but they probably would have won
an election at that hospital hands down.

In the 15 months between the time Alegent was invented and I left about
sixty percent of the hospital staff - across all departments - had already left;
many of those people had thirty or more years of service, one had 44 (in
Central Service - basically the supply department, after 44 years she suddenly
decided she'd be happier someplace else).

Note that Alegent was formed by a merger of Mercy Midlands (3 hospitals) and
the holding company that owned Immanuel Hospital (and 2 others); rather than hire
a new corporate staff, in its infinite wisdom the Alegent board promoted the
Immanuel staff to run the whole operation.  Note that many Bergan Mercy employees
were refugees from Immanuel and one of them noted to me before the merger that
"Nobody retires from Immanuel,"  his point being that they eventually make 
your life miserable enough that you quit - or if you develop some seniority they
find a way to get rid of you.

I also note that a week or two ago Alegent fired 300 employees.  Much was made
of the fact that Alegent was paying for a number of its physicians to attend a
conference - which just happened to be held in Hawaii - at the time.  Note also
that Alegent's multizillion dollar data processing center is still under
construction.

 BA>> Were I an employer I would make my opinions/feelings about
 BA>> unions known, but would otherwise not comment at all on any
 BA>> organizing efforts.  If the union was successful in
 BA>> organizing my company I'd call a meeting of all employees,
 BA>> explain that I thought I'd been treating them well and was
 BA>> disappointed that they felt that I was not and that a union
 BA>> was necessary.

 BK>  Before you do that you should find out why the union is
 BK>  necessary. Workers don't form unions for the fun of it. Nobody
 BK>  is going to pay union dues if there isn't a reason for it.

And nobody should have to pay union dues in order to keep his/her job
if they don't want to.

 BA>> Because the employees feel that I am not
 BA>> treating them well I would have no choice but to close down
 BA>> the business immediately with employees to be paid their
 BA>> full salary/wages through end of the current month.  All

 BK>  Right... sure you would. If you really were treating the workers 
 BK> well you wouldn't have a union.

 BA>> employees would then paid a reasonable and maybe even
 BA>> generous severance.  If anyone has a

 BK>  I really doubt that. If you thought that way you would have
 BK>  already found out why they wanted a union in the first place.

 BA>> problem with the situation they should take it up with
 BA>> their union stewards. No further comment or discussion on
 BA>> the subject would be entertained.

 BK>  And that is the attitude that leads to a union in the first
 BK>  place. The "no further discussion" attitude is a lead in to my
 BK>  way or the highway.

I didn't say anything about employees' problems or whether or not I'd 
refused to talk to them.  Had they brought their concerns/problems to
my attention *before* the election I certainly would have addressed those
concerns/problems.  *After* that election the union is a done deal and
there's no point in any further discussion.

 BK>  And would you really shut down maybe a $100 mill factory because 
 BK> your employees found a reason to vote in a union?

Assuming that I owned the company outright and didn't have stockholders to
worry about, yes.  In a New York second.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+