Beginning in the mid-1980s, unions were beginning to decline in power. This was especially evident in the commercial construction arena, where non-union operations were attracting construction talent by paying them a fair wage but by also eliminating the mandate of paying monthly labor union dues.
On the surface, this meant saving thousands of dollars per year for the average worker. Below the surface it meant that construction workers were willingly giving up bargaining power with their employer. If a laborer were injured on a jobsite for instance, a case that would be handled, in part, by a union labor lawyer was no longer an option.
But that was forty years ago, and a lot has changed in all industries, especially in lieu of the pandemic which meant workers found themselves suddenly working from home, alone and seemingly isolated from the collective working environment.
According to a new article by InProgress, over the past couple of years, a spike in workers organizing across the U.S. has coincided with unions reaching new levels of support not realized for decades. It’s said that a growing number of companies and organizations are coming to the conclusion that their employees want union support. In turn, they are choosing not to fight their workers when it comes to sometimes intense union campaign elections.
Companies in several industries have recently been choosing the route of voluntary recognition which means businesses recognize union organization without having to go through the election process to prove the unions have the worker’s backs. Rather than bust a union, companies are now more likely to respect worker’s rights to unionize via voluntary recognition.
Anti-union corporations, such as those often found in the commercial construction arena, are said to violate or manipulate federal labor laws to their advantage since it allows them to enjoy more competitive pricing when it comes time to place a bid on a new project. But workers will only face an uphill battle when it comes to unionizing a non-union company since many of their fellow workers enjoy not having to pay out-of-pocket dues.
That said, union organizers have no choice but to demonstrate that the majority of their fellow employees will be willing to support a union as their legal counsel. This means winning a formal election which can be a lengthy, often emotionally fraught process that gives companies the time they need to undermine a worker’s sentiments.
For instance, anti-union activities reported at Amazon and Starbucks have been reported by mainstream news outlets. But they are only the most widely known recent instances of what is generally considered to be the widespread practice of union busting activities on the part of corporations.
Companies and corporations utilize numerous unlawful actions for the purposes of pressuring their employees into voting against unionization. At the very least, they can delay the election process to their advantage. They can create captive audience meetings in which companies mandate their workers to hear out arguments claiming that by voting for the creation of a union will not only put the business in economic jeopardy, but it will inevitably cost a worker his or her job.
Illegal activity on the part of employers is said to be widespread. Back in 2016 and 2017, numerous corporations in the U.S. were charged with breaking federal law in over 40 percent of union elections. The NLRB which is charged with enforcing federal law is said to be underfunded when compared to its peak funding levels and therefore lawbreaking corporations are facing fewer penalties for their illegal actions.
It’s possible that when the NLRB discovers that a company illegally fired an employee in retaliation for organizing on behalf of a labor union, the agency will all to often find it impossible to collect compensatory damages or collect penalties. It may however, require the reinstatement of the fired employee along with the compensation of back wages and even damages like medical expenses due to lost health insurance.
What this translates into is that organizers will hold back on elections until they are certain they enjoy at least 70 percent support on behalf of fellow workers. What organizers fear most of all is that corporation tactics will intimidate workers into changing their minds regarding an upcoming vote.
In the end, the success rate of the union-busting strategies means that unionization remains at 10.3 percent as of 2021. However, as of 2022 and 2023, more than 71 percent of American workers support labor unions—a number not seen in decades.
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