Running a shortened counter-organizing campaign

(10- and 21-day campaigns)

Every union election is unique. This will be especially true in an ambush election environment. For example, the ambush rule does not set a new target for the election period. This means that even though the rule is clearly intended to shorten election periods you could still have a traditional 42-day election after the new rule is in place. You may get 30-days. Or 21-days. Some even say 10 days (we believe the average will be somewhere around 24-days).

How do you actually prepare your tools for the variety of potential campaign scenarios? This guide walks you through how you might adjust your CitC tookit based on a 21-day campaign period or an even quicker 10-day election period. At the end we suggest calendars you can use as your base playbook. Once the campaign actually hits you can adjust to what you see on the ground.

THE KEY TO WINNING AMBUSH ELECTIONS

If you can detect an organizing campaign early in the process – before a petition is filed – you can extend the length of the campaign! We have four core recommendations to that end (even before we outline how to use the CitC materials in a shortened period):

RECOMMENDATION #1 – EARLY WARNING TRAINING

Train your supervisors how to spot subtle behavioral signs that organizing may be underway. Also instruct them what to do when they see it (or “run to the fire”). We call this Tripwire TrainingTM.It teaches first line leaders (the folks in the best position to spot problems) to detect early warning signs before a full-blown campaign has erupted.

It is great when your supervisors are on the lookout for problems. But it is even better when the problems come to you. If your employees feel comfortable and safe bringing up problems at work you will never face a union campaign. That is the environment Approachable Leadership™ trains your leaders to create. This workshop and learning system helps not only make sure you know about problems at the earliest possible moment, it is the key to employee engagement and discretionary effort at work.

RECOMMENDATION #2 – CAMPAIGN TRAINING

Train your first responder team, and KEEP TRAINING them so they stay sharp and ready to respond at a moment’s notice. You do not want to be ramping up competence after a campaign has started. Make sure they understand every aspect of your CitC tool set, your response team structure and processes, and their responsibilities as a member of the team. Do “dry run” rehearsals – keep them on their toes. (If you need help organizing this, let us know.)

There is one more way to keep your team sharp and get more mileage out of your training effort. There is a growing trend, stemming from the retail and fast-food sectors, of workplace disruption and community action events.These actions attempt to achieve changes in the workplace, whether in conjunction with a union or not. Even if a union is not involved, site managers can run afoul of the NLRA or embarrass your brand if they respond inappropriately. We encourage all clients to train rapid response teams to respond to Workplace Disruption. In many companies your team is more likely to face these situations than actual union organizing. Using them in this way keeps them sharp in dealing with any labor event.

RECOMMENDATION #3 – MESSAGE EARLY AND OFTEN

Bring the full set of Campaign in the Cloud messages to bear earlier in the campaign. Originally, the Card-Signing presentation was the only one we recommended using prior to a petition being filed, as it is a bit softer in tone than the presentations designed to be used post-petition. Scrap this idea! Consider the card-signing presentation as something you can use for new hires and/or occasional reminders about the issues related to unionization when there are no campaigns ongoing. The moment you believe a campaign is in place, don’t hesitate. Move directly into the Post-Petition phases of the campaign AS IF the petition had been filed. In a short campaign cycle, you can never start too early, and it doesn’t hurt if you repeat core messages!

RECOMMENDATION #4– MAKE ASSESSMENT A PART OF YOUR CULTURE

When do you know to start talking about unions? The key is to assess your vulnerability to a campaign. Keep your finger on the pulse of both internal factors (using employee engagement surveys, focus groups, etc.) and external factors (union activity in your neighborhood, developing union strategies, etc.) will help you determine when it is time to open the discussion. If you see some employee problems in your survey results, or believe you may be viewed as a ripe target by a union for any reason, don’t be afraid to strike up the conversation with your employees. As hockey great Wayne Gretzky said, you want to “skate to where the puck is going.”

RUNNING A SHORT CAMPAIGN

Sometimesin spite of your best effort you are caught off guard, and not aware of an organizing drive until just before or when the petition is filed. With that in mind, we offer the following guidelines for using your team and the tools you have to run an effective counter-organizing effort.

MESSAGING

In the old world campaign, you had around 6 weeks to roll out all of the key messaging, only needing to get in front of each employee once per week (in live meetings). The pace allowed you to focus on one core message each week, reinforcing that message in various ways (posters, handouts, etc.). You also had more time to engage in dialogue with employees and supervisors, attempting to get at the heart of the issues that sparked the campaign.

In the new world of short elections, you have to balance a number of factors, such as:

  • The most effective messages
  • The amount of time you can pull employees off the line and into meetings (factoring in the logistics of shifts and schedules). For larger companies this may be your biggest challenge. You should practice holding meetings scheduled the way you would during a campaign. This can be extremely challenging – we actually have a handful of campaign managers who specialize in making this work effectively in large unit campaigns. Call us if you need help putting such a schedule and practice routine together.
  • Less time to ascertain the core issues

Whether you have 3 weeks or 10 days, we suggest at a minimum you focus on 4 core messages, and in this sequence:

  • Unions as Businesses (using union financial data) [Phase 1 of CitC]
  • Collective Bargaining [Phase 2 of CitC]
  • Union Rules & Regulations (driving by the union Constitution & Bylaws) [Phase 3 of CitC]
  • The importance of each individual’s vote (How the vote process works and how votes are counted) [Phase 5 of CitC]

Strikes are not the strongest argument in a counter-campaign, but some discussion of how strikes can negatively impact employees can be included in 2 of the core presentations above:

  • When talking about Collective Bargaining, it is compelling to discuss how the union can/will use the threat of strike in an attempt to get employees to ratify a poor contract – thus turning the strike into a tool against the employees rather than against the company.
  • When talking about rules and fines, talking about union rules & penalties related to crossing picket lines during a strike is effective.

One last point: don’t be afraid to hold meetings that run longer than normal. 90-minute meetingsaren’t out of line when you only have a few sessions with each group of employees to communicate the core messages.

CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT

Direct communication:

As mentioned, layout your schedules and shifts, and decide how much time you can pull line employees into meetings. If you can work in all six messages within the campaign period (more likely with 3 weeks than 10 days), then by all means do so. If this isn’t feasible, focus on the 4 messages mentioned above. We’ve laid out a sample 10-day and 21-day campaign calendar to use as a starting place (see end of document).

You can add to your direct communication by taking some of the content with you out to the shop floor or in the break room. Using the challenge cards, FAQ documents and handouts can help spread the message, particularly if it’s one of the topics you didn’t hold a meeting on. You can also load up the meeting decks or videos on a tablet or iPad and gather a half dozen folks at a time to share some additional content.

Head counting and the Headcount worksheet:

As much as we would like to think that people make rational decisions, on their own, based on evidence and facts, this isn’t true of any entire workforce. There are always those who are swayed by strong personalities – informal leaders – or the momentum of a vocal group.

It is critical to identify both the informal leaders and the fence-sitters immediately. Use the headcount worksheet in conjunction with interviews with every supervisor to make the assessment. This will help to direct attention to the groups and issues most critical to swaying the swing votes. Make sure that any headcount process is conducted carefully where managers are regularly reminded to never question employees about their union sympathy and to avoid creating the impression of surveillance.

In a short campaign, there may only be time for 2 or 3 attempts at a head count.

SUPERVISOR TRAINING

You CANNOT make legal experts out of supervisors. Don’t try. However, union organizers often attempt to goad supervisors into doing or saying something out of frustration or anger, perhaps eventricking them into saying or doing something that could be considered an unfair labor practice (ULP). You can and should make sure your supervisors can communicate with employees without interfering with employee rights, thus avoiding ULPs. Properly guided supervisors can be a potent weapon in a counter-organizing campaign.

Make sure all supervisors have THEIR questions answered right up front, and understand both the importance of the outcome and their role in the process.

Distribute the FAQ documents as described below. In fact, make sure supervisors are trained on the FAQs consistently and well before a campaign ever starts. In vulnerable locations you should treat this just like you would safety training – perhaps holding “FAQ moments” similar to “safety moments.”

LOGISTICS

It is best if each core message is presented individually. This means each employee will attend 4 meetings over the course of the campaign. Although some of the review slides in each CitC presentation deck (decks 2, 3 and 5) can be left out, as we mentioned above you may still need to plan for longer meetings.

CHECKLISTS

At the very start of the campaign, secure all 5 checklists (including the one for the Strikes Phase). Go through all checklists right at the beginning (ignoring duplicate items). For the Phase 4 checklist (strikes), just follow the couple of items related to finding the material in the Constitution and Bylaws related to penalties related to strikes, to use in the appropriate presentations as mentioned above.

EXTERNAL RESOURCES

In the sidebar menu is a document that can help you research the union – finding recent news stories, data and ULPs that you can use in the campaign. Create a file and determine where to integrate this outside, 3rd party content into your main meetings, as it will add credibility to those messages by adding recent examples and the most current data.

FAQ DOCUMENTS

Distribute the FAQ documents (Phases 1, 2, 3, and 5) directly to the employees. Hand them out at each meeting.Make sure that supervisors have additional copies for those desire them.You can also embody the content into an email if email distribution is applicable in your organization.

Encourage employees to take the FAQ documents home to share/discuss with their families. Bringing families into the decision-making process is generally beneficial, and will bring the focus of emotion to “what’s best for my family” rather than the union’s focus of “what’s wrong with this company.”

Distribute all the FAQ documents (Phases 1–5) to all supervisors at the beginning of the campaign and ask them to review DAILY, so that they can engage in intelligent conversations with employees as appropriate.

POSTERS:

Post Phase 1, 2, 3 posters in as many appropriate locations as possible (except the VOTE poster). It is better to only have one at each posted area, unless the appropriate areas for such posting are limited. In a 10-day campaign, you may need to post them all at once. In a 21-day campaign we suggest posting the posters that match the meeting messages on the day those meetings are launched.

Save the VOTE poster for the last few days prior to the vote, to help emphasize the importance of every single vote. Take down the other posters at this time and remove all posters the night before the election begins.

CHALLENGE CARDS

The most potent Challenge Cards during a short campaign will be those for Phases 2 (Collective Bargaining) and 3 (Rules and Regulations). Have those 2 Challenge Cards printed off with front and back printing, and have ready to distribute for the 2nd and 3rd employee meetings, along with the FAQ documents. Encourage the employees to ask these questions of the campaign organizers, and also to take them home to discuss with their spouses (as discussed with the FAQ documents).

As mentioned earlier, if you only have time for a limited amount of meetings, you can use the FAQ documents, posters, handouts and challenge cards for the sessions you don’t deliver live as handouts as you walk the floor. The caution is not to overwhelm folks with information! Especially if you have 3 weeks, you can wedge an additional message in between employee meetings if scheduled properly. If you only have 10 days, then we suggest you only use materials that pertain to the live meetings. Focus where the most impact is likely to be.

SAMPLE CAMPAIGN CALENDARS

Summary 10-Day Calendar – 3-meeting example

Mon / Tue / Wed / Thurs / Fri
Petition filed (day 3)
Election Stip (union waives 10 days with list)
Excelsior list draft
RRT arrives
Post NLRB election notice Prep/research
Poster CitC 1* / Meeting 1&2
Handout CitC 1&2
CCards CitC 1&2
Headcount (till complete) / One on One Meetings
Excelsior list due
FAQ CitC 1&2 / One on One Meetings
Poster CitC 2 / Meeting CitC 3
Handout CitC 3
CCard CitC 3
Poster CitC 3 & 5
Meeting CitC5
Handout CitC 5
Headcount (till complete)
One on One Meetings
FAQ CitC 3&5 / 25th Hour Period
One on One Meetings / VOTE (day 10)
Victory Party

Summary 21-Day Calendar - 4 meeting example

Mon / Tue / Wed / Thurs / Fri
Petition filed (day 3)
Prep/research
Excelsior list draft
RRT arrives
Post NLRB election notice / Supervisor training 1
Headcount (till complete)
Poster CitC1 / One on One Meetings
Meeting CitC 1
Handout CitC 1
CCard CitC 1 / One on One Meetings
FAQ CitC 1 / SOP Final (due by noon)
One on One Meetings
Poster CitC 2
Supervisor training 2
Hearing/Stip
Meeting CitC 2
Handout CitC 2
CCard CitC 2 / One on One Meetings
Headcount (till complete)
FAQ CitC 2 / One on One Meetings
Supervisor training 3
Poster CitC 3 / Meeting CitC 3
Handout CitC 3
CCard CitC 3 / One on One Meetings
FAQ CitC 3
One on One Meetings
Select and meet with election observers
Supervisor training 4
Poster CitC 5 / Meeting CitC 5
Handout CitC 5
CCard CitC 5 / Headcount (till complete)
One on One Meetings
FAQ CitC 5 / 25th Hour Period
One on One Meetings
Take down postings / VOTE (day 21)
Victory Party

Notes: These calendars assume petition filed on Friday before calendar begins. CitC # refers to Campaign in the Cloud™ and the communication phase number (i.e. CitC 2 is Collective Bargaining content. CCard refers to Challenge Cards, FAQ refers to Frequently Asked Question Handout.

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