Don't hire former union. That was message sent out this past fall after news of the upcoming Rantoul plant closings. I of course will not disclose my sources on this, but there were companies who would not even interview laid off workers because they were former union.
As the Chamber of Commerce was sponsoring job fairs for these employees, those employees never would have had a chance at some places. I thought this was bold and admit this union busting effort was fighting dirty. I'm sure this is some form of discrimination. After thinking about this for some time, it makes sense to use this as tactic in the long-term fight against collective extortion. I believe firmly in doing the right thing, but how long can that logic last while the other side is fighting dirty.
Let's look at some union tactics:
1. Hurt businesses that do not use union labor and picket them to force them to pay higher wage rates.
2. Lobby for laws that make it illegal to hire replacement workers when a worker goes on strike.
3. Lobby for laws that make it illegal to sue service providers who do not honor contracts because their employees will not cross picket lines.
3. Leverage the lop-sided laws and mandate the wage that must be paid to workers.
4. Once the premium wage has been "collectively bargained", sabotage any effort for streamlining because it might costs jobs.
5. Once the premium wage has been "collectively bargained", sabotage any effort to promote accountability because it might costs jobs and raise expectations.
6. Setup the system to eliminate competition and limit the number of choices, driving prices up.
7. Once competition is eliminated, stick it to em. (Ask someone in the city manager's office what the fire union was asking for)
What if the tables were turned:
1. Harassing business to extort money out of them could be illegal and recognized as harassment.
2. The term bargaining might become legitimate because the employer could decline an offer and look for offers elsewhere.
3. As a result of a true collectively bargaining process, employers paid market price that was passed on the taxpayers and consumers. For better or worse, it would be a fair price.
4. "Bad Management" was not forced to deal with unproductive systems such as grievances and could fire bad employees.
5. More productivity and accountability would increase the probably the employer will do well and can pay wages for the long-term.
6. An individual can voluntarily choose to be paying member of the union and voluntary choose to negotiate their own compensation.
Now...we know it isn't likely that table will be turned anytime soon. The unions don't play fair so what are employers fight back by busting union activity.
Now imagine you are interviewing someone that came from a union. Do you want that culture in your workplace or in your business? Be careful, you cannot choose not to employ them based on union status.
What if you wanted to start hiring a non-union contractor onto a non-union worksite. Nope, they'd try and put you out of business.
Unions have taken "voluntary" out of the equation. Businesses work to keep "voluntary" as part of the equation. Since the playing field is not level, everyone can start analyzing any remaining voluntary choices and fight to protect their choice. Apparently, some employers are being very proactive. There are few remaining voluntary choices for consumers anymore and lawmakers take full advantage of it by taxing those involuntary choices to death. Tom Bruno's question asking us what services we can do without pretty much sums it up.
If consumers thought the Gross Receipts Tax was shady and manipulative.... Take a closer look at the current state of "collective bargaining" and you might appreciate the artificial nature of the game. In this game, the consumer and taxpayer pay because service rates, taxes, and govt fees must keep pace by injecting more and more money.
After analyzing the state of our government financing and realizing the ability to manage costs is being taken away from the taxpayer at every opportunity, I think it's time that we all get a little more proactive. In the meantime, we can only hope that policy makers will not allow the situation to get further out-of-control.
