Facts are easy- they’re cut and dried, and no one can argue them, after all, they’re the truth. Unfortunately in a union campaign, facts can become muddied, twisted, in short, less than the truth. It’s also tough to broach difficult topics in a factual presentation. However, things that might seem trivial in a facts-based campaign can be brought up (with as much influence as any statistic or pie chart) in a meeting that’s focused on clearing the air.

The challenge is to keep the emotion from getting out of hand, and keep management from being put “on the spot” with issues that cannot be solved instantaneously.

All union organizing drives are charged with emotion. It’s never the case where everyone agrees as to what needs to be done. So what better way to keep a company union-free than to capitalize on that emotion and get employees talking?

Every company has its own demographics, values, issues, beliefs, and other characteristics that make it unique. Use those differentiating factors to connect with employees on an emotional level.

For more details on a company’s strategy for winning a union campaign has evolved, read the whitepaper, “That was Then, This is Now: The New Rules of Employee Communication.”

As the immigrant population of the United States continues to grow and play a more significant role in the workforce and as organizations expand their operations globally, it is paramount for your communication program to be available in multiple languages to ensure that you are reaching all of your audience and effectively capitalizing on the skills of all employees. Recent studies show that nearly half of all immigrants coming to the United States have little or no knowledge of English, and nearly two-thirds describe their English skills as “fair” or “poor.”

Because of this, there are a number of reasons why your communication strategy should consist of multiple languages if necessary:

- Increasing inclusion and cultural sensitivity throughout the organization
- Communicating more effectively with global employees and partners
- Helping immigrants/non-native English speakers perform their jobs better and contribute more to the organization’s success
- Unions are now attempting to organize immigrant workers

Unions have made a push to organize low-wage, minority and immigrant workers who were they had once overlooked. Because of this, it is imperative that your union avoidance strategy is reaching non-English speaking workers. Because we know unions are. For example, here is a job description for a summer internship with the AFL-CIO: “In some areas, applicants who are fluent in a language other than English will be given preference.”

Over the years, Projections has done projects for clients in the following languages:

- Polish
- Spanish
- French
- Japanese
- Haitian-Creole
- Vietnamese
- German
- Chinese

For more on our custom resources in multiple languages, click here.

That means you need to come full circle and receive proper employee feedback.

As with any training, follow through is vital to making sure an orientation meets the company’s progressing needs. A website could offer a brief, five question survey focused on the Day One orientation.

Ten days later, the new hire can receive a link to a follow up survey that focuses on the depth, breadth, and content of the orientation process. As a part of this measured feedback, the survey should allow ample space for the new hire to provide information on what he or she would have liked to receive during the new employee orientation program.

This is also a key instrument to discover what information was overlooked or what was unneeded. And of course, to make sure the program comes full circle, this feedback must then be incorporated to improve the employee onboarding program.

For details on how you can develop an orientation program that will meet your company’s needs, download our whitepaper, “Onboarding: Employee Orientation Beyond Sink or Swim.”

1. Irregular Communicenza. This is the result of poor communication, and it is characterized by employee rumors and/or confusion. A company can contract irregular communicenza due to poor information flow among executives, managers, and employees, or a failure to deliver consistent, effective messages.

2. Audience Amnesia. This occurs when you create a message without considering the audience. The audience is one of the most significant factors in shaping a message. If you ignore their needs and preferences, the message won’t be received properly.

3. Union-phobia. For some executives, the mere mention of the word “union” is terrifying. However, fear and avoidance of the “u-word” makes your company vulnerable to possible unionization.

4. Pseudo-listening. This occurs when management fails to listen actively to employee needs and concerns. Kenneth R. Johnson, founder of WAGIC, Inc., a provider of product development and logistics services, notes that we often fail to listen because we mentally rehearse our responses, concentrate too much on our own experiences, or focus on being right.

5. Erratic Messaging. This occurs when organizations send employees messages that are not in line with the company’s philosophy; when management sends employees conflicting messages; or when company messages are delivered inconsistently to employees in different geographic regions.

For more details on these communication problems, and how you can avoid them, read the article, “The 5 Highly Contagious Employee Communication Illnesses.”

Unions have fully embraced electronic communication, and made no bones about the fact that they will continue to exploit online social networking channels. These channels allow them to keep their activities secret, and gather a following before the employer is even aware of their presence.

Before going to the media, Apple employee Cory Moll said he used Twitter and Facebook, along with a pro-union website, to communicate with supporters about a union at Apple stores. This is just one example.

Here are four free tools management can use to monitor social networking sites for union activity:

1) Follow unions/ union sympathizers on Twitter.

2) Set up appropriate Google Alerts.

3) Use Google Reader to follow relevant blogs.

4) Keep an eye on union Facebook pages and utilize the Facebook search function.

For a detailed explanation on these four points, and how you can move forward today, read this article from Projections: “Free and Easy Social Media Monitoring Tools.”

And while this doesn’t make headline news when most companies begin this training, it should be noted that supervisor labor relations training needs to be happening at your place of business and you will hear most refer to it as the most vital factor in the success or failure of any union organizing drive.

Here are four tips to follow as you develop your training:

1) Union avoidance training should be ongoing or at least bi-annual for all supervisors

2) Upper management should be involved, though not necessarily in every session

3) Get as sophisticated as possible with this training- the better armed supervisors are, the better they will be able to defense the facility

4) New supervisors should have a more detailed training than the seasoned professionals- they should also have a sponsor that will take them under their wings for a period of time- usually one year

For more on the best union avoidance practices, click here to receive Peter Bergeron’s book Union Proof: Creating Your Successful Union Free Strategy absolutely free. It will give you details on proper supervisor training and other key points needed to help you remain union free.

As far as basic training goes, start your supervisors with two acronyms you will hear a great deal of: TIPS and FOE.

TIPS are four things that supervisors can not say or do:

Threaten
Interrogate
Promise
Spy

FOE represents three items your supervisors can use:

Facts
Opinions
Examples

To help you get started with a supervisor training strategy, Projections offers the T.I.P.S. DVD for free to all new Insider members. If you are not a member yet, sign up here and your complimentary DVD will be on its way to you shortly.

Here is what you and your supervisors will learn with this DVD:

- The 5 warning signs of union activity
- What they can & can’t say during a campaign
- How to express an opinion
- How to get information without asking
- Why rewarding company supporters can backfire
- The best way to remind employees of the good things they have
- How to legally assess the strength of the union supporters

Shuler doesn’t sugarcoat things when she says, “We haven’t done a good job attracting younger workers and getting them involved.” However, this is an area where unions have been working to increase their membership, and for good reason.

Unions see an opportunity here: only 8.2 percent of workers aged 16-34 belong to unions (versus 11.9 percent of all workers). In fact, shortly before assuming the group’s top job in 2009, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said pointedly, “We are reaching out to young workers.”

But, despite organized labor’s laser-focus on winning the minds of those young workers most susceptible to their message, there are positive steps that employers can take to stay ahead of union organizers and keep their organization union free:

1) Don’t be Afraid to Jump in and Monitor Social Media: Social media is different than a website. It’s an interactive conversation, and everything that unions make available online in the interest of recruiting new members (and the responses they receive) is available to employers if they are willing to look.

2) Focus on Issues that are Important to Younger Workers: There is no one-size-fits-all list of worker concerns, and that is especially true when a workforce consists of different generations.

3) Let Obstacles Becomes Allies: Employers today have the ability to communicate with employees like never before. With so many options to reach workers, particularly younger workers, there are no excuses for not communicating.

For more information on how unions are targeting younger workers, and what you can do to remain union-free, download our free whitepaper, “Organizing America’s Youngest Workers: The latest information on unions’ strategic approach to gaining new dues paying members.”

Tim Greaves, an attorney with Ogletree, Deakins who has nearly 40 years experience handling labor and employment law issues, provided information on how to legally develop and enforce your non-solicitation/ non-distribution policy as you remain union free in a free webinar that he led for Projections.

In the webinar, you will learn about:

- The need for a non-solicitation rule and points to follow

- How to ‘cure’ the legal problems with so many rules

- Key information on non-employee access

- Examples on lawful and unlawful rules in a hospital and retail specific environment

- When you can prohibit employees from wearing pro-union buttons, sticker, etc.

- Whether you can remove pro-union materials from a company bulletin board

Greaves uses his experience and knowledge to offer advice, backed up with NLRB findings, on how you can draft a legal non-solicitation policy.

This webinar is available for free in the Insider Network. If you are a member, login here and click on the ‘Resources’ table on the home page. If you aren’t a member, register here. And when you do that, we’ll send you a free DVD or book just for signing up.

This means:

- Communicate early, often and aggressively as practical on all matters affect the business, human resources matters or community related items

- Never let the rumor mill be a substitute for communications

- Never assume anyone knows anything

- Ensure the management team takes pride in the communications efforts of the facility

- Along with communications comes the difficult task of insuring the same team has honed their listening skills

- Promote various communication meeting venues (e.g., breakfast meetings with facility managers, skip-level meetings, cook outs, recognition award meetings, safety meetings, service award meeting, employee-spouse benefits briefings, retirement counseling, open house for employees and families, etc.)

- As much as possible, involve the employees’ families

To learn more tips on how to successfully combat a union organizing drive, click here to receive Peter Bergeron’s book Union Proof: Creating Your Successful Union Free Strategy absolutely free.

And for regular insight from Bergeron, check him out on Twitter as he helps you remain union free in 140 characters or less!

- In Quebec, about 150 Wal-Mart employees at a store in Gatineua chose to decertify from the UFCW about three years after voting to join the union and a year after a collective bargaining agreement was imposed on the parties by an arbitrator. This means that a store in Weyburn, Saskatewan is the last remaining unionized Wal-Mart in North America.

- In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, employees at RJ Reynolds voted against a union petition filed jointly by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. There were more than 1,300 employees eligible to vote.

- Here is a look at the struggles that the UAW has/ will have in trying to organize workers at auto plants in the South, particularly the new VW plant in Chattanooga which may be at the top of their list.

- A petition has been filed by the Transport Workers Union hoping to organize about 650 flight attendants at Virgin America.

- In California, a rare union petition has been filed against retail giant Home Depot. The union listed on the petition is “Home Depot Associates Union #1.”

- Professional employees at the Office of Management and Budget voted against joining the the American Federation of Government Employees by a margin of 101-59. Staff in the smaller “nonprofessional” category, however, did vote to organize in a 11-1 vote.

To help you keep up with the latest labor news, including the latest union organizing drives and elections, join more than 1,600 other HR and Labor professionals and sign up for Join The Conversation, Projections’ free weekly news subscription.

Experience has shown that this is the exact opposite of what happens in the real world. Any company afraid to talk about the subject becomes the unions’ easiest target. The very fact that today less than 7% of private sector workers are unionized means your employees have very little first-hand knowledge of organized labor.

You, as the employer should be the one providing the information- otherwise, the union will do it for you, and the truth may not come to light in the way you want it to. Remember, there is nothing wrong or illegal about explaining why your company wants to maintain its union-free status.

Want to hear about more myths as you develop your union avoidance strategy, read our new article, “The Worst-Ever Union Avoidance Strategies.”