Union Free: 5 Keys To Winning Your Union Election

Union Avoidance 5 Keys To Winning Your Union Election (Plus 2 Things You Think Are Important That Aren’t) Phillip B. Wilson LRI Management Services Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Union Avoidance 5 Keys To Winning Your Union Election (Plus 2 Things You Think Are Important That Aren’t) Phillip B. Wilson LRI Management Services, Inc. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Copyright 2006 LRI Management Services, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to pbwilson@lrims.com, or mailed to Permissions, LRI Management Services, Inc., 7850 South Elm Place, Suite E, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74011.

Table of Contents Union Avoidance: 5 Keys to Winning Your Union Election Table of contents iii The First Key: An Organization Issue 5 The Second Key: Do I Need a Consultant? 8 The Third Key: Define the Roles 13 The Fourth Key: Develop Your Team 17 The Fifth Key: Maximize Your Weapons 20 Sidetrack 1: Union-Specific Experience 25 Sidetrack 2: Win Rates 29 About the Author - Publications 31 iii Union Avoidance

Index iv

The First Key This Isn’t A Union Issue – It’s An Organization Issue If you are reading this book I can probably guess a few things about you. First, you are either in the middle of (or about to be in the middle of) an NLRB union election campaign. Second, you have basically no time. And third, you are not an expert in labor relations – this is probably the first (and hopefully the only) time you will need a book like this. That is why this book is constructed the way it is. This brief book covers 5 keys that I have found work. I’ve learned them in over a decade of winning union elections on behalf of companies across the country. The keys are fundamental – no matter what industry, region or company size, these ideas apply to your situation. I present each key first. I follow each key with a question you should ask any consultant who wishes to work with you during your campaign. Each question is answered, along with a brief comment about answers you can expect from a consultant who you might want to think twice about hiring. So let’s get started. 5 Union Avoidance

Key 1: Understand that this isn’t a union issue – this is an organization issue. Question 1: What is your basic philosophy about winning union elections? This is the most important key. If you get this right a lot of your strategy will fall into place. Whether you use a consultant or not, it is critical to understand that you are not facing a union issue. The union is merely a symptom. Instead you are facing an organization development issue. Your employees seek representation from outside the company for a reason – they didn’t just wake up and decide they wanted to be in a union. Your organization has driven them to that conclusion. Your job is to find out why, and to fix it. Many consultants look at organizing campaigns as a “zero-sum” game between the union and the company. It is all about the numbers. They focus on all the negative things they can say about the union. They teach managers and supervisors new dirt on the union, or artful ways to ask questions to skirt the legal lines in the sand. These consultants spend little effort evaluating managers, digging for root causes or trying to build the capacity of the organization to deal not only with this negative union organizing event, but any other The First Key: This Isn’t A Union Issue 6

negative event in the future. They leave the company in exactly the same place they found it, except hopefully without a union. Sometimes they leave it worse than when they found it. Our response is different - and effective. Our focus is developing your organization's capacity to deal with employee relations issues – whether union-related or not – as they arise. While our clients win their elections, that is not the important metric. Instead, the metric we measure ourselves on is whether these clients are ever petitioned again. Here is how we do there: in my career I have only had 1 client receive a second petition (we won that election too, and you should call me sometime to hear the story – which is too long to include here – but suffice it to day that it was a unique situation). So ask your potential consultant about their philosophy about campaigns. If they spend all their time talking to you about tactics for beating the union and very little time talking about developing your management team I would keep looking. You will spend thousands of dollars on you union election campaign – you have very little choice about that at this point. What you do have a choice about is whether your organization will be improved after that investment. If you choose a consultant wisely it will be. 7 Union Avoidance

The Second Key Do I Need a Consultant? Key 2: Identify whether you need a consultant in the first place. Question 2: Do I need a consultant? Want to see a consultant squirm? Ask them this question right off the bat: “Do I need a consultant?” Poor consultants will hesitate briefly (from shock) then quickly recover and start into a sales pitch. An honest consultant will tell you up front that they don’t know whether you need them or not – and start helping you evaluate your situation. The fact is that many times the honest answer to this question is, “No.” So you can tell a lot about your consultant by how they answer this one. There is really only one valid reason a company should hire a consultant: to deliver a business result that could not otherwise be delivered by the talent or resources currently available. This means you must evaluate both your current organizational capacity (in terms of talent, available time, etc.) as well as the abilities and skills of the consultant. The Second Key: Do I Need A Consultant? 8

In what situations is a consultant valuable? First, if your company cannot devote at least one experienced, full- time person to your campaign you should consider hiring a consultant to manage your campaign. An outside consultant can focus almost entirely on your organization’s issues and the decision of the voters. The consultant will help you communicate legally and effectively, but won’t be consumed by the legal issues (more on the difference between consultants and attorneys later). This focus helps to keep company managers and supervisors paying attention to persuading voters instead of just avoiding legal problems. A campaign manager will keep managers accountable and ensure that the campaign stays on track. Many times failures at this basic “blocking and tackling” is where elections are lost. Second, your consultant may actually deliver captive audience meetings or meet directly with employees. This type of consultant (called a “persuader”) will be your spokesperson during the campaign. This role is especially useful in campaigns where there is nobody within the organization who has the skills or the time to act as the management spokesperson during company “captive audience meetings.” There are numerous situations where a “persuader” can be useful. Sometimes there are language or cultural barriers (it is common today to have mainly Hispanic employees led by managers who speak very little 9 Union Avoidance

Spanish). Other times emotional issues make local management unable to effectively handle the meetings (where, for example, employees don’t respect or are very angry with local management). In these cases and outside facilitator can be a huge advantage. By the way, here’s a bonus question. If you are considering hiring a “persuader” ask to see a copy of their last LM-20 form. If they don’t know what you’re talking about or won’t let you see it, do not hire them. By the way, you can check their forms online at: http://www.dol- esa.gov/sr_lookup/sr_lookup.htm?ReportType=20 Finally, a consultant is likely to have been through many more campaigns than most labor attorneys. This gives them more opportunities to see what works (and learn what doesn’t). Most people are quite surprised to learn that the most active labor attorneys in America only handle 1 or 2 NLRB election cases a year (our firm has tracked these numbers for more than a decade – the top 100 most active attorneys are recognized each year by our firm based in part on these statistics) The average labor attorney doesn’t even handle an NLRB election once a year (they work primarily on negotiations, grievance handling and these days quite a bit of employment law work completely unrelated to unions). A consultant who handled that few cases would soon be out of the consulting business. So a consultant can be a great reserve of experience that The Second Key: Do I Need A Consultant? 10

your managers can draw on during the campaign. This by the way is why a labor attorney who isn’t confident in his or her knowledge or ability will often tell you not to talk to consultants. This is bad advice. Even if the only reason you are talking to the consultant is to find out if he knows something about the union you are going up against or has some creative ideas for your campaign, you should talk to them. The consultant will understand that you are already represented and an ethical one will still help you however they can without interfering with that relationship. Usually you will get some great ideas to use in your campaign, even if you never do business with the consultant. Sometimes you might even decide that the advice is worth paying for. Either way, you owe it to yourself to at least hear what they have to say. You’re an adult – if you feel like the consultant is unethically trying to cut the legs out from under your attorney tell them so and stop taking their calls. But don’t let a self-conscious attorney prevent you from exploring every possible avenue to win your election. The best attorneys will encourage you to leave no stone unturned. Not every campaign needs a consultant (more contrarian advice from a consultant – what can I say, the truth hurts sometimes). Many of our clients do not use consulting advice from us or any other firm. We 11 Union Avoidance

actively discourage it in some cases. The key is to evaluate your situation carefully. Do you and your management team have the time and expertise to run an election campaign? This is often the key bottleneck since you can’t just stop your business for a month – although it seems like you do sometimes. Are there emotional issues that might be better dealt with by a facilitator from outside the organization? Are there language or cultural barriers that can’t be overcome in such a compressed timeframe? These are the types of situations where a consultant can “force multiply” and provide huge value. The Second Key: Do I Need A Consultant? 12

The Third Key Define the Role of Your Consultant – and Attorney Key 3: Define the role of your consultant – and your attorney. Question 3: What’s the difference between an attorney and a consultant – do I need both? You probably have a labor attorney by now and you will probably rely on him or her for a lot of direction. That is a great place to start (if you don’t have one then you should get one – immediately). But I wouldn’t stop there. Many companies are surprised to hear this advice – especially coming from me (I am an attorney). They think that once they have a labor lawyer hired they can just put everything in his or her hands and they’ll be fine. Normally this is not the case. I started out just practicing law and I am still licensed (but no longer represent clients in legal matters – after all, attorneys refer us a lot of business). Therefore I think I am pretty objective about this subject. You should get your legal advice from an attorney and your campaign advice from your consultant. Lawyers – especially the good ones – look at the world through a different set of eyes (3 years of law school 13 Union Avoidance

does that to a person). And union elections definitely raise a huge number of legal questions that should be dealt with by your lawyer. However, when it comes right down to the ultimate decision of voters in a booth, being a lawyer can be a disadvantage. Lawyers tend to rely on logic and argument to win the day – that, by the way is why they are good lawyers. However, many times it is emotion and feelings that win union elections. In some rare cases you will find an attorney who is great at both roles. But my personal observation is that more lawyers think they are great at both roles than actually are. So what will a consultant do that an attorney doesn’t (sounds like the beginning of a bad joke…)? Their focus will be much different from your attorney – which is a good reason that the role is sometimes split, especially in cases where there are a lot of legal issues. Unfortunately many times a lawyer, who is ethically bound to try to keep his or her client out of legal trouble, will keep people focused on what they can’t do more than what they should be doing. Also, most lawyers don’t do “persuader” work (I don’t). If you need someone to speak on your behalf (see key number 4 below) then you will have to hire somebody other than your attorney. Even if your attorney does “persuader” work I would be very reluctant to have him or her play both roles – it is likely that their “persuader” work could become subject to a legal charge, in which The Third Key: Define the Roles 14

case they may not be able to represent you as your attorney if the case goes to hearing. So when you ask a consultant about the difference between them and a labor attorney you want to hear them talking about how they play a different role from an attorney and how their work complements that of the attorney. If you can find a consultant who has already handled a few campaigns with your attorney that is also a good sign. A consultant who answers by telling you that you don’t need an attorney, or who suggests doing your legal work in addition to the consulting work is probably not very good at either role. One last point here, which I hate to say but I am compelled to do it because I want to be completely authentic with you: some lawyers will give you bad advice about consultants. There are two reasons. The first is that an attorney who lacks self-confidence may see the consultant as a threat and not want the competition. Even worse, some attorneys aren’t interested in winning your election because they stand to make a lot more money if you have a union (on contract negotiations and arbitration cases) than if you don’t. By the way, here is a trick you can use to make sure you are getting the best effort from your attorney or consultant. Tell them that their last billable assignment from you is this election if they lose (although if you 15 Union Avoidance

suspect you’ve hired someone who is throwing your election you should fire them immediately). You will definitely have their full attention during the campaign. I want to stress that people who practice like are an extreme minority of the labor bar – but they are out there. The vast majority of attorneys I know try to win. But occasionally a lawyer will put out less than 100% effort with an eye on a steady stream of contract negotiations and grievance cases. If your attorney tells you not to talk to consultants even though you think it might be a good idea to get another opinion, keep your radar tuned into whether one of these two issues might be in play. You deserve, and should demand, the very best legal advice and a clear commitment from any professional service provider to do everything they ethically can to win your case. The Third Key: Define the Roles 16

The Fourth Key Hire A Consultant Who Will Develop Your Team Key 4: Only hire a consultant who counters your weak areas – and limit their scope to that. Question 4: What role will my management team play in your strategy? This is another important issue, related to the first question. You want to see that the consultant plans to identify and capitalize on the strengths of your current management team during the campaign. You also want to hear evidence that they will limit the scope of their interaction with the organization to only those areas where the organization has limits. Let’s face it – your goal in hiring a consultant is not to be married to them for the rest of your career. Many consultants want you to do just that – marry them to your organization. Instead you should look for a consultant who will actively look for opportunities to empower your current leadership group to handle as much of the campaign issues as they can. In this way your consultant will leave as small a “footprint” on the organization as possible. When the campaign is over, or shortly after 17 Union Avoidance

that, your management team should be able to operate just fine on their own. If you happen to hire a “persuader,” this will be very difficult to accomplish. That is because the outside consultant will be interacting regularly with employees during the campaign. In most cases it is a good idea to come up with some limited role for the “persuader” to play after the campaign as the local management team tries to re-build relationships with the employees in the unit. This, by the way, is why I only recommend “persuaders” as a last resort. Not because they are ineffective (they are very effective), but because sometimes they can be too effective. When they leave it can be very difficult to keep the momentum built up during the campaign going forward. You need to strike a balance between winning your election and leaving the organization capable of handling issues after the vote. Thus you should look for a consultant who is sensitive to these issues of capability. You ideally should hear your consultant talking about training managers on how to do a better job of communicating, or how to handle employee dispute resolution. A consultant who talks only about what they will do during your campaign is mainly focused on themselves – and will be focused on what work you can give them The Fourth Key: Develop Your Team 18

after the election instead of on how to develop your management group. 19 Union Avoidance

The Fifth Key Maximize Your Primary Weapons Key 5: Maximize use of your two primary weapons: captive audience meetings and data. Question 5: What communication tools do you use during campaigns? You have two main advantages over the union in your campaign: captive audience meetings and publicly available data on the union. To make certain that you win your election you should use both weapons to their full advantage. The number one advantage companies have over unions during election campaigns is access to voters. Simply put, you can compel employees to listen to your campaign messages, while the union can only ask for people to listen to theirs. For this reason it is imperative to conduct numerous captive audience meetings during the course of your campaign. The best research in the field (and this was conducted by a pro-union researcher from Cornell) suggests that management wins union elections proportionally based on the number of captive audience meetings held. It is beyond question that you should hold a minimum of 5 meetings during your campaign. The Fifth Key: Maximize Your Weapons 20

In addition you should consider how you will deliver information during those meetings. This will sound self- serving (it is) but there is no better way to deliver your captive audience meetings than with video – even if you are using a “persuader” consultant to conduct your meetings. There are 4 reasons video is superior to any other method of communicating your campaign message: 1. Video is persuasive. Simply put, employees believe what they see on television much more than if it is delivered during a speech. Unless you use a “persuader” your spokesperson will not be a professional speaker. And even “persuaders” are unable to match the persuasive power of video. You can communicate more information, more effectively on video than any other way. 2. You can’t credibly be the “good cop” and the “bad cop.” In your campaign you must communicate two messages effectively. First, that unions aren’t all they’re cracked up to be and in many cases their interests directly conflict with those of their members. This is playing the “bad cop” in your campaign. Second, you must communicate a positive vision for your company and explain why working directly together is superior to working through a third party. This is the “good cop” message. From a credibility standpoint it is impossible to deliver both 21 Union Avoidance

messages effectively at the same time. This is why political candidates are never on screen saying bad things about an opponent – they save that for political commercials and mailings from the “campaign committee” and not the candidate himself. Think about that as you start rehearsing the speech written by your attorney. 3. It allows you to focus on positive leadership. Because your primary goal during the campaign is to build organizational capacity to handle employee issues in the future, you should spend your time working on those skills instead of trying to learn every possible detail about unions. Those are details you will never need to know again if you do a decent job during the campaign. Instead of investing all the energy needed to deliver this information (in a way that is vastly inferior to video anyway), instead let the videos communicate everything you need to say about unions to free you or your consultant up to discuss the positives of the company. 4. Legally it is the only way to prove what was said in your meetings. Because captive audience meetings are so powerful, it is common for unions to file unfair labor practices about what was said in the meetings. Video is the only tool we have to prove exactly what employees saw and heard during captive audience meetings. It becomes the most reliable and objective proof of what employees were told. The Fifth Key: Maximize Your Weapons 22

Even in cases where a union alleges that what was said before or after the video was unlawful, often what was said on the video can help disprove the union’s trumped up complaint. If you haven’t already considered video, you owe it to yourself to at least take a look at the video resources available here: http://lrionline.com/Products/PreviewHome.html One other important advantage you have is all the publicly available information available on unions that is available today. There are a lot of websites and blogs out there that can turn up great information you can use during your campaign. Here are four I recommend: 1. The DOL Public Disclosure Room: This is the Department of Labor’s site. Since 2003 the DOL has kept online copies of the financial reports for all unions that it has on file. Here you can look up these reports and print them off on your computer. They often contain a lot of valuable – and surprising – evidence to use against the union’s arguments during a campaign. It is a free service (well, so long as you don’t count your tax dollars): http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/olms/rr lo/lmrda.htm 2. The National Legal Policy Center: I have written on union corruption for this group and they are a top-notch policy group out of 23 Union Avoidance

Washington, D.C. They have a labor accountability project that tracks all the union corruption around the country. It is sorted by union and is very compelling information to use during a campaign. You can find them here: http://www.nlpc.org/olap.asp 3. UnionFacts: This is a relative newcomer on the block, but they are delivering tons of great information (including hilarious newspaper ads and TV commercials that you can view right on the site). This is obviously a very management- oriented site, but its content is completely factual and very well done. A great place to point company-supporters during your campaign: http://www.unionfacts.com/ 4. LRI Online: Last, but certainly not least, is our data site. This one is not free, but we have tracked information on election results, petition activity, unfair labor practice charges, strikes and much more for every union in America since the early 1990’s. Just about every major labor law firm and consulting firm in the country uses our data in campaigns. You can find out more here: http://lrionline.com/ The Fifth Key: Maximize Your Weapons 24

BONUS: 2 “Sidetrack” Questions 2 Questions You’ll Want to Ask – But Shouldn’t Those are the 5 keys to winning your election. But I promised two other “bonus” questions. These are questions you would probably ask your consultant that are likely to steer you completely down the wrong path. Plus I suggest some different questions that will give you much better answers. Here they are: Sidetrack 1: Have you ever run a campaign against [insert your union name] before? This is the most common first question from clients. It is usually the first question from labor attorneys, who should know better. The assumption is that if you have run a campaign against the same union before that you are more likely to win against them in this campaign. It’s not true – in fact, if anything the reverse is probably true. Let me explain. Union campaigns are a paradox: every one of them is the same, and every one of them is different. What I mean is that in every union campaign you will be dealing with the same sorts of issues. There are certain topics about unions you must discuss (like collective bargaining, dues, strikes, etc.). There are other topics about the company you will discuss (our preference for working together, how we can improve communication, 25 Union Avoidance

how the union’s promises are inconsistent with our business environment). The basic outline of most campaigns follows a similar path, independent of whatever union or even what industry you are in. This is how our video program – which does not focus on any particular union – has been able to win well over 90% of the time in thousands of campaigns. No law firm or consulting firm has been involved in even a fraction of the cases we have – and many times the only tool a client uses is a “generic” video program. That, of course, is part of the paradox. The “generic” video program isn’t generic at all. It is full of information about unions that applies to every union, including the one involved in your campaign. Unions can’t effectively argue that they are somehow different or better, because they’re not. They all have to follow the same rules and it is those rules you discuss in campaigns. That is not to say that specifics aren’t useful. Of course they are. There is little more satisfying than being able to roll out a great “smoking gun” document that shoots down a union claim using data on their very own local- specific information. But we have a tendency to place a vast amount of importance on union-specific information without proof that it makes any difference at all. Bonus: 2 “Sidetrack” Questions 26

If you draw up your very own consultant from scratch, you would probably come up with someone who used to work for the same union local that is now trying to get in at your company. Makes a lot of sense – they would know all the players, probably have a lot of “inside scoop” on the union and would have instant credibility when talking about how that union does things. But this is probably a bad choice. I have seen situations like this (in more than one campaign) where the union uses this same “inside scoop” tactic against the consultant. In many cases they will make up stories about what happened in prior campaigns or when the consultant worked for the union. Things that can’t be proven or disproved but that stain the consultant’s credibility and place him or her front and center in your campaign. You would prefer, if possible, for your consultant to be anonymous – the last thing you want is for your consultant to become a campaign issue. If that is a bad question, what is a better alternative? Instead of focusing on your consultant’s inside knowledge of a particular union, ask them about strategies they use to identify union-specific examples of the general claims made in campaigns. Also ask them about what they do to avoid becoming an issue in a campaign. These are much more important questions than whether they have ever had a campaign against a particular union or, yes, even in a particular industry. I 27 Union Avoidance

have run campaigns in just about every type of company, and other than logistics there aren’t that many differences. Bonus: 2 “Sidetrack” Questions 28

Sidetrack 2: What’s your win rate? This is another question companies love to ask that is essentially useless. That is because it is impossible to verify. It’s like relying only on the references that someone puts on their resume when doing background checks. Honestly, who is going to tell you about that one co-worker who always thought you were a jerk? Consultants and attorneys have a tendency to forget election losses or to rationalize reasons why they aren’t responsible for a loss. Heck, most of the time they are probably right. But the bottom line is there is no way to verify their claims. If win rates are important about the only way to verify it is to use our databases – which track every election case in the last 15 years – and compare those statistics to the list of elections the consultant or attorney says they’ve run. But of course that assumes that you get a complete list. If not, you are just verifying the consultant’s wins. I don’t tell you this because my win rate doesn’t compare favorably to other consultants. I personally have only had one election loss in a certification election and only 3 others in decertification cases. Each of those has their own story and I could probably justify not counting them toward my record. My point is that there is no way you can check on whether what I am saying is true or not. 29 Union Avoidance

A more important question is whether the consultant has ever had a client face a second petition after they handled a first election for that same client. A poor consultant will even brag about these cases – they think it shows how they can win even the “loser” cases. If they are proud of these second election cases (assuming they ran the first one) they don’t get the organization development part of this business at all. They are a tool, not a consultant. The answer to this question tells you more about how the consultant leaves the organization after a campaign (although I will admit that in some circumstances a union is going to file petitions year after year no matter how good a job the company does). You should also ask for client references so you can speak to actual clients about the consultant’s work (again, a biased sample, but at least you get to talk with someone). Conclusion I hope you have found this eBook of value. If you have any questions about your upcoming election or need help locating a professional consultant for your union organizing campaign please do not hesitate to contact me. You can reach me via email at pbwilson@lrims.com or at 888-435-0002 ext. 202. Good luck with your election. Bonus: 2 “Sidetrack” Questions 30

About LRI Management Services, Inc. LRI Management Services is a full service labor relations consulting firm dedicated to the operational freedom, workplace tranquility and profitability of our clients. It is a division of Labor Relations Institute, founded in 1978. About Phillip B. Wilson Phillip B. Wilson, Esq. is the founder and Principal of LRI Management Services. He is a nationally recognized labor and employee relations authority. Prior to joining LRI, Mr. Wilson represented companies nationwide with the Chicago law firm Wessels & Pautsch, P.C. Mr. Wilson assisted clients in all areas of labor and employment law including union representation matters, collective bargaining negotiations, arbitrations and decertifications. Mr. Wilson was also Director of Human Resources for a $65 million annual revenue gaming corporation employing over 1,200 people. Mr. Wilson received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Wilson completed his undergraduate degree magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Augustana College. Mr. Wilson is the author of numerous books for both unionized and non-union employers. He has also written numerous articles and book chapters relating to a broad range of workplace issues. Mr. Wilson has been invited to testify before Congress numerous times on union financial reporting and labor law reform. Mr. Wilson is admitted to the Illinois Bar and 31 Union Avoidance

is a member of the American Bar Association, the Society of Human Resource Management, the Industrial Relations Research Association and a number of other professional organizations. Other Publications by Phillip B. Wilson  The Next 52 Weeks: One Year to Transform Your Company Into an Employee Relations Leader, Broken Arrow, OK: Labor Relations Institute (2002).  Managing the Union Shop, Broken Arrow, OK: Labor Relations Institute (2003).  How to Investigate Grievances, Broken Arrow, OK: Labor Relations Institute (2003).  Model Contract Clauses, Broken Arrow, OK: Labor Relations Institute (2004).  Model Reprimands for the Union Shop, Broken Arrow, OK: Labor Relations Institute (2004).  We Won Our Election, Now What? Broken Arrow, OK: Labor Relations Institute (2002).  The Case For Reform of Union Reporting Law, Washington, D.C.: Labor Policy Association (2002).  Union Corruption and the Law: Toward a Unified Framework for Reform, Falls Church, VA: National Legal and Policy Center (2006).  Current Section 13(b) Exemptions From the Overtime Requirements of the Act in The Fair Labor Standards Act in The Fair Labor Standards Act (Chapter Contributor, Ellen C. Kearns, ed., Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of National Affairs) (1999). About LRIMS – About the Author 32

What To Do Next LRI Management Services offers a “30 Minute Employee Relations Tune-Up” which we conduct over the telephone with you and your top staff members. Here is what we accomplish together in this fast-paced, no-nonsense session: • Difficult employees: One or two bad ones can tank your company. But a borderline problem can be quickly and easily corrected – so long as you know what critical misstep not to take. Phillip Wilson walks you through our three-step process (which takes literally about six minutes) and shows you exactly how to carry this out in no more than 1-2 weeks. This will immediately enhance your effectiveness as an executive and can literally transform your employee relations environment. • Union vulnerability: Lying awake at night worried about whether a union organizer is making headway with your employees? We’ve helped hundreds of clients clear this hurdle with three specific strategies. Plus we’ll give you a script for hitting this problem head-on – without having to fear potential legal landmines. • Communicating a positive vision: You’re all too familiar with how easily employees can 33 Union Avoidance

ignore all the good things your company provides while constantly focusing on the negative. We’ll show you three strategies you can implement immediately to help you quickly and easily get credit for the hard work you do to create a good work environment. The 30 Minute Employee Relations Tune-Up is conducted by the principal of our company, Phillip Wilson, who has worked with hundreds of companies in the U.S. and Canada to transform their workplace This consultation is not a thinly disguised sales presentation; it will consist of the best intelligence Mr. Wilson can supply in a thirty minute time span. There is no charge for this call, but the call must be strictly limited to 30 minutes. Your call will normally occur about 2 weeks of your request for an appointment (if you have an extremely urgent matter Mr. Wilson will sometimes be able to fit in consults sooner than this if your team is flexible with its schedule). To secure a time for this consultation, please call Lisa Erwin at 800-888-9115 or email lisa.erwin@lrionline.com and she will advise you regarding available time slots. She will also provide you with a pre-consult questionnaire that will prepare both you and us to get maximum value in the shortest amount of time. About LRIMS – About the Author 34

The Next 52 Weeks One Year to Transform Your Company Into an Employee Relations Leader The step-by-step, easy to implement plan proven to transform the most negative employee relations environments, written by nationally recognized employee relations expert Phillip B. Wilson. Only $39.99. Order your copy by going to http://www.lrims.com/employee- relations-books.html or call (800) 888- 9115 for your very own copy of this great tool for improving employee relations at your company. 35 Union Avoidance

Union Free: 5 Keys To Winning Your Union Election

by Labor Relations Institute on Apr 07, 2010

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Union Free: 5 Keys To Winning Your Union Election — Document Transcript