In graduate school I studied the
history of the American labor movement. I learned how it fought to
save children from forced servitude, and to protect workers from
conditions in the factories that threatened their health and even
their lives. The goals of the original unions were to obtain fair
wages and working conditions for the millions who toiled to produce
the products and infrastructure of the industrial revolution;
working in foundries, mills, and factories where human beings were
initially just considered extensions of the machines that they
operated. The unions fought, were jailed and sometimes died, for
the basic dignity of those hourly workers who had no voice. Upton
Sinclair's muckracking epic The
Jungle, (worth the read, by the way) was the first public
window into the misery and horrible conditions endured by the men,
women and children who were the backbone of the seismic shift from
the age of agriculture to the new industrial society of
America.
As a longtime
advocate of workplace justice, I have no doubt that if I had been
alive and able to work alongside those who pushed for the passage
of the Fair
Labor Standards Act in 1938, that I would have done so with
passion and the certitude that it was the right thing to do. But
that was a long time ago.
In the late 80's, the last
time there was any major initiative to organize the service
industry - especially restaurants - the best advice to any manager
who did not want a union as part of the mix, was to be a good
manager. Quite simply, if you provided good working conditions,
treated everyone with dignity and respect, made sure you had a good
in-house grievance system, and were as transparent and fair as
possible in your compensation practices - you were probably ok. If
a union did want to organize your team, you would at least have the
opportunity to be part of the discussion and the outcome. (I still
remember a meeting with third shift servers, in Michigan, who
thought they wanted a union - what they really wanted was the
manager to buy enough silverware so they didn't have to wash it so
that they could take care of their customers.)
Today the unions are run by
very smart people, with great educations, tech savvy communication
bases, and a very shrewd political network. Which has landed us as
an industry in a rather uncomfortable position. The so-called
Employee Free Choice Act
(EFCA) introduced this week in both the House and Senate, has
made it very possible, that your employees could decide to explore
union membership by signing a card that says they want to do so -
and find out shortly that so have enough of their co-workers (51%)
that there will be no discussions, meetings, or election - just the
announcement that they are now going to be represented by a union.
Leaving you in a very difficult situation that is at best - time
consuming, expensive and a huge distraction. The worst case is
simply worse.
Our employees deserve to be
treated with dignity and respect, to have safe and clean
workplaces, the tools to do their jobs, a way to air grievances,
the opportunity to move from the dishroom to the boardroom, fair,
equitable and transparent compensation, and a chance to learn and
advance in careers that can support them and their families for
years to come. They shouldn't need a union to help negotiate any of
those things. So don't let them think that they do - and don't
ignore the EFCA.
Get engaged:
http://www.restaurant.org/government/Issues/Issue.cfm?Issue=cardcheck
http://www.uschamber.com/default
http://www.unionfacts.com/