The Union Has Filed a Petition: Do this NOW

It’s late on a Friday, and you just got notice that the union has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The first emotional reaction is usually a sense of overwhelm. A union organizing campaign is filled with legalities and plenty of opportunities for missteps that can make the situation more challenging than it needs to be. Having worked with thousands of employers of all sizes, IRI Consultants understands the natural emotional response. But we also know the actions to take to immediately address the situation at hand. We are here to help, so suggest you take the following first four steps to get on the right track immediately. 

1. Consult with Your Labor Attorney

First, stop for a moment and realize that you are not alone in your struggle to remain union-free. Contacting your labor attorney right away is the first step to getting help and making sure you start down the right path towards the union vote. It’s very easy to break the law today by saying, much less doing, something not allowed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and NLRB decisions. 

2. Hire a Labor Relations Consultant

Your labor relations consultant is there every step of the way, beginning with developing a strategy and actions to respond to the petition. Your consultant will senior management and Human Resources and is a partner to leadership. While your labor attorney will keep you on the right side of the law, your labor consultant will coordinate people, resources and tools that will help you maintain your direct connection with employees.

A good labor consultant will develop a campaign calendar to ensure no time is lost during the approximately three-week timeline of a union organizing campaign. A skilled labor relations consultant will advise your leaders, and regularly assess the campaign’s status, recommending adjustments to strategy or actions as necessary.

These activities are crucial to the success of any campaign, and you need both legal counsel and a skilled consultant to pull them together.

3. Invest in the Right Resources and Tools

There is a wealth of resources, like those developed by UnionProof, that can be quickly implemented and used as strategic guides, be adapted to the specific union involved, train leaders, and support communication with employees. They include:

• Union campaign employee engagement materials – A variety of materials are available, including wallet cards, digital signage, employee information sheets, posters, letters, email, social media swipe files, and training videos like the new NLRB mail-in voting process, to name a few.

• A campaign website – many organizations create a campaign-ready website that remains inactive until a union campaign starts. If your company doesn’t have this resource in place, it’s time to create a campaign site to communicate with employees as quickly as possible. The website should be custom created to meet your company’s needs. It should include information about the company, specifics on the union and campaign information that is updated daily or more frequently as needed. Partnering with a firm that can help make this happen is crucial, as most companies do not have the in-house bandwidth to make it happen quickly.

• Establishing a two-way communication channel – Some companies add an anonymous “submit a question” feature and a Frequently-Asked-Questions webpage to their union campaign website. The important point is that it must enable anonymous employees submissions to avoid charges of intimidation.

• Other resources – You should identify and utilize other effective employee communication resources. Each business has a communication system that works best with their employees. It could be an employee app, a podcast, emails, social media, texts, or an enterprise communication system. A labor relations consultant will provide a strategy for a coordinated communication process to keep your leaders and your employees informed as events unfold. Communication transparency is a critical strategy for staying union-free. 

• Leadership training resources – Ideally, you regularly train managers and supervisors on union avoidance best practices and keep them informed about identifying union activity. In those cases, a union petition is likely not a surprise. Even if you have not provided the training tools in the past to keep your first line of defense informed, you can quickly train your leaders on typical tactics of the union involved and the appropriate responses and behaviors that will help the company avoid charges of Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs). You need to move rapidly, though, if a petition has already been filed. The fastest training route is purchasing pre-prepared training materials for addressing organizing. 

A labor relations consultant can help you decide which communication forms are most effective for your particular workforce and workplace culture. 

4. Assemble a Readiness Response Team 

Once again, most companies have a readiness response team in place pre-petition, but it’s not too late to get started even if a union has filed a petition. If you don’t have a response team in place, then you likely need some type of response team that can serve as ambassadors throughout the company. These skilled internal leaders can respond appropriately to a union organizing campaign in progress. Your response team members partner with your labor relations consultant to stay on top of the union campaign and employee sentiment.

“Do I have to spend a small fortune to stay union-free?”

While this is a valid question, the real question should be, “what is the cost of unionization?”  The impact of is high. Studies have found that a newly organized company can expect administrative, labor and operational costs to increase by more than 25 percent of their payroll. Add to that the personnel needed to handle increased reporting, grievances, and contract negotiations. Your managers must also be trained to address union issues and fairly administrate the contrat.

After A Union Files a Petition To Represent Employees

It’s vital to take action immediately when a union files a petition to represent your employees. It’s an employer’s responsibility to educate team members on the realities of unions and the impact unionization could have on the community, the company, on their families and on them, personally. Unions today are more active than ever, gaining widespread support across industries and groups of employees who never unionized in the past. Once voted in, unions will negotiate a 3-5 year contract, locking your organization in to additional expenses for that period. 

Today’s union organizing has a very different look than in years past, and enlisting the professionals who understand the evolution of campaign strategy and how to address the current climate is crucial to maintaining a direct connection to employees.

Options to fit every circumstance

You have different options to consider as to your investment in educating employees during this time:

• Buy pre-developed products in response to organizing activities like a union-free dark website; union-specific videos showing real-world tactics of the particular union; explanatory videos on topics like the TIPS Rule and FOE Rule and responding to a union petition; union avoidance best practices; understanding union tactics around activities like card signing; and so much more.

• Enlist professionals like IRI’s Digital Solutions Group develop all customized solutions like a campaign website and leader and employee training programs based on company needs. However, remember that once a union petition is filed, your company must begin responding immediately. It takes more time to develop customized campaign solutions than buying pre-developed products. 

• Buy pre-developed products and add customized information, as necessary.

• Invest in ongoing consulting services that offer products and services, like ongoing advisement; on-demand eLearning leadership training programs; regular videos and information updates on union activities around the country and NLRB decisions; training on union behaviors; assistance with employee communications about unions; harassment prevention training; and a host of other products and services designed to prevent unionization or efficiently respond to union organizing.

• Do your own union opposition research, or enlist a team like the IRI Research Institute to research your company and potential vulnerabilities. It takes time and knowledge to sort through the massive amount of information available on unions, so there is a cost to doing your research. There is a cost whether you do it yourself or contract with the IRI Research Institute, and it’s important to compare the cost of paying someone to research paying an external union expert who has much of the research already done on dozens of unions.

Better Late than Never? Not So Fast!

There is no doubt that staying union-free, even after a petition is filed, is much easier when a company has pre-built resources, like a preventive union organizing website, in place, and a leadership group that is effective at employee engagement. 

When unions are aggressively recruiting your employees, even the most well-prepared employer can still have to deal with a union election at some point. Today’s organizing tactics can remain underground longer than ever before, which may leave your company scrambling to catch up.

It’s easier to respond quickly and efficiently to a union election when the support system and structure are already in place. Being late to the organizing effort can easily lead to unionization because you don’t have enough time to fully train your managers and supervisors and fully educate your employees.. Instead, your leadership time will likely be spent responding to ULPs, dealing with irate employees, trying to keep productivity level, preparing communication resources, and trying to figure out how to not panic. 

But if you are late to the organizing event, look to a skilled labor relations consultant as soon as possible. You need to gain access to the right tools immediately and develop an effective strategy.  

Don’t Be Caught by Surprise

IRI Consultants can provide everything your business needs to respond if a union has filed a petition. Just as importantly, we can provide the workforce training and communication tools you need to never reach a petition filing point.