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Labor Unions: A Threat or Opportunity for HR?

The popularity of labor unions is approaching highs not seen in about eight decades. Employer angst of a reenergized and empowered worker movement is also rising.

handshake 220233 1280A recent Gallup poll finds that 71% of respondents favor labor unions, which is up from 68% last year and 64% prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC News reports. Support for unions, which hit a high of 75% in the 1950s, has been especially strong in the six month period that ended March 31 during fiscal 2022 when petitions for union elections soared 57% versus the six-months in the prior fiscal year, the National Labor Relations Board noted in April.

The emerging labor movement is seen as a threat by many employers. “There’s an unfortunate history in recent U.S. labor relations of adversarial relationships,” Benjamin I. Sachs, a Harvard University law professor, tells Society For Human Resource Management. “The mode is, ‘Let’s fight tooth and nail to prevent them from getting anything.’ That’s not the best way to do this.”

But Sachs says a labor union-friendly Biden Administration and NLRB that is willing to go after employers that target and try to punish union supporters should prompt employers to adopt a much different approach. “I would hope we’d be entering a phase where enlightened management is not trying to get away with violating the law but is trying to harness the potential of the workforce,” he says.

Pam Egan, director of the labor management program at the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley, says unions are “…really sort of a gift” for employers. That’s because these are motivated workers who want to make their companies better during a tight labor market where employers have struggled to recruit and keep staff. “If workers feel it’s a truly engaged partnership, you’re adding value to the capacity to innovate in your business,” Egan says.

Sachs recommends employers recognize voluntarily efforts among workers to unionize, which can be less stressful than using the NLRB process. There is also the added benefit of not having to deal with NLRB rules if you forgo that process. “From an HR management perspective, the question is, ‘How do you construct an environment where you have a productive relationship with your union?’ ” adds Sachs, formerly an attorney with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

In addition to many managers and HR staff not used to working with unions, "all they’ve heard are the negatives about unions," says Jason Greer, head of labor and employee relations firm Greer Consulting Inc. in St. Louis. Greer suggests companies bring on consultants to help understand what it means to work with unions and for the HR staff to take collective bargaining courses.

John Magisano, learning and training lead at the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation, says HR leaders would help their cause by fostering positive relationships with unions. “Labor peace is better than labor conflict,” he says. “Conflict may not always be obvious, but it’s always going to have a cost.”

Unite Here, a 300,000-member union of hotel and food service workers, has been on a hot streak in its efforts to unionize Silicon Valley cafeteria workers since 2018, The Washington Post reports. Its biggest win has been with Google, where about 90% of food service workers employed by contract companies Compass and Guckenheimer are unionized. Those unionized workers are in 23 Google offices across the U.S.

“We have many contracts with both unionized and nonunion suppliers, and respect their employees’ right to choose whether or not to join a union. The decision of these contractors to join Unite Here is a matter between the workers and their employers,” says Google spokeswoman Courtenay Mencini.

Following the first union drive at Starbucks in Buffalo, N.Y. in December, 232 of the chain’s cafes have voted to unionize, ABC News reports, citing the NLRB late last month. In that span, 47 Starbucks voted not to unionize, the NLRB notes.

In April, a 6,000-employee Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, won in its quest to unionize, the first successful worker-led movement at the e-commerce giant. And, late last month, a three-judge panel of the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court affirmed a May court ruling that rejected a petition to strike out Amendment 1, the Right to Collective Bargaining Measure, from a ballot that will appear November 8 in the state, Ballotpedia reports.

 

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