How Unions Harass Businesses to Unionize
Bob owns a small business that provides heating and air conditioning service and installation. He employs approximately 10 staff and workers and is located in Anywhere, USA. Bob has been in business for over 20 years, strong relationships with his employees, and enjoys a good reputation in the community. Bob has always focused on running the business, taking care of his family and being a good neighbor and respected member of the community.
Unfortunately, Bob has been so focused on these areas, that he has ignored changes occurring nationally — changes that could destroy the business he has built out of his own sweat and blood and eliminate his employees’ jobs. Bob has seen in the media many proposed changes in laws and regulations, especially in the labor arena, but he is so absorbed in his business and family that he failed to connect the dots and see the writing on the wall. He is much like an ostrich which buries its head in the sand when the deadly predator is about to pounce and devour the ostrich for dinner.
So Bob, the ostrich, is minding his own business and doesn’t realize that President Obama, through his radical agency appointees and executive orders has effectively created “Card Check,” albeit through big labor’s “corporate campaigns” process and the infamous Neutrality Agreement. All of a sudden, Bob receives a call from the local big labor boss (whom we will call Brutus) who wants to meet with Bob. Bob tells him that is not necessary since his people are all very happy and he treats them well. Brutus tells Bob that he misunderstands — that this has nothing to do with his employees and the meeting is important to the future of Bob’s business. Bob tells him he is not interested and hangs up. Over the next couple of weeks Bob continues to receive calls and e-mails from Brutus. Brutus insists on a meeting and tells Bob that it will be “bad for his business” if he doesn’t agree to meet with Brutus. Bob finally agrees to a meeting, and Brutus promptly states he wants him to sign a Neutrality Agreement, and that if he doesn’t agree to do so the union will attack his company. Bob, attempting to be fair, tells Brutus “let’s have an election” and both of us will live with the results. Brutus, knowing he cannot win an election, declines and insists that Bob sign the Neutrality Agreement, but Bob refuses. Brutus then looks at Bob and says “We enjoy conversation but embrace confrontation. We will be attacking your employees, your customers, and you.” Bob leaves the meeting not understanding the consequences of Brutus’s words and the impending campaign against his company.
The next thing Bob knows he is being contacted by the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, informing him that there have been multiple claims filed against his business. Additionally, his employees and customers are being harassed, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately. Articles begin appearing in the local media about the alleged violations and Bob’s “mistreatment” of his employees. Splinter groups like the clergy’s Interfaith Workers Justice and Jobs for Justice are writing letters and conducting tribunals against his company.
Bob begins to lose business. Not knowing what to do, he hires an attorney. The attorney tries to fight the government charges but faces a losing battle in light of recent gifts to big labor. The legal bills continue to mount, and now there is the potential of heavy fines for every claim upheld against his company. Bob is living a nightmare, when all of a sudden an angel in the form of Brutus appears. Brutus once again sticks the Neutrality Agreement in front of Bob’s nose. He tells Bob that if he signs the Agreement everything will go away. The union will withdraw their charges and the fines will disappear. Bob, facing the loss of his business and financial collapse, eagerly signs the Agreement which forfeits his employee’s right to a secret ballot election and implements “card check.” Bob also has to provide the union with a list of all of his employees and their home address. Within a week Brutus returns to Bob and declares that a majority of Bob’s employees have signed union cards and he now wants to negotiate a contract. Such is the fictional story of Bob, the small business man. However, the chilling facts vividly come to life in the true story The Devil at My Doorstep.
What relevance does this have for the rest of the country and our future? Very simple. These atrocities are being committed every day across the country against companies of all sizes, and the number and intensity will increase with the backing of Obama and his supporters whose goal is to take control of this country, implement socialism and take away freedom of choice. Americans are facing a future bondage of forced unionism and government control for not only themselves but their children and grandchildren.
Today’s unions are no more than Gasping Dinosaurs who can only survive through the backing of government regulations designed to force private company employees into unionism or government-induced growth of public employee unions. In fact they are so desperate they will organize any company, from small businesses like Bob’s all the way up to major corporations. The bottom line for big labor is survival. They intend to accomplish this through money, power and politics, not the will of the people Big labor’s survival is integral to ultimate government control, as they are the indoctrinated foot soldiers of the Administration.
Such is the scenario that all companies face if big labor continues to receive a multitude of gifts from the Obama Administration in the form of rules and regulation changes. See blogs EFCA Through the Backdoor and Americans: Beware of Rogue NLRB As if these continuous attacks on American freedoms were not enough, this past week more gifts were bestowed upon big labor without so much as a whisper from the national media:
1.) The NLRB informed four states whose electorate had voted to approve amendments that protect the “Secret Ballot Election” during organizing campaigns that the amendments violated federal law and the NLRB would file legal charges against the states to enjoin them from enforcing the laws. See NLRB News Release and State Amendments and Preemption.
2.) The NLRB ruled that Catholic Institutions were not exempt from regulations because their purpose is secular and not religious Government Regulators May Not Recognize Catholic Universities as Religious.
3.) Harry Reid submitted a proposal to eliminate filibusters and pass all laws on a simple majority of 51 votes so he can pass “card check,” the Police and Firefighters Monopoly Bill, and others. (An online petition to oppose this action is located at this link: Please Send Your Senators a Free Action Fax IMMEDIATELY and Urge them to Oppose Harry Reid’s Latest Scheme).
4.) Unions want the NLRB to allow them to operate freely in employers’ buildings and offices because it is unfair that the Girl Scouts have such privileges and the unions don’t. (See Will the Union-Controlled NLRB Kick the Girl Scouts Out on the Streets? and Union Bosses Scheme to be Girl Scouts’ Next “Tagalong” ).
This article deals with government regulation and interference with business and labor, but the same game is being played out with health care, energy, communications, gun laws and the financial markets, as detailed in When Will Congress and the Main Stream Media Wake Up? If you’re not afraid of where this country is headed under the Obama Administration after reading this article, you must truly be an ostrich. Any level headed person with an ounce of common sense would have to ask Who Is Running the Country? and is Obama a Puppet or Puppeteer? It is time for Americans to get their proverbial heads out of the sand and put an end to the historical numbers of changes being perpetrated behind the scenes before we become the second Weimar Republic. Read The Obama Conspiracy against Small Business.
About the author: David A. Bego is the President and CEO of EMS, an industry leader in the field of environmental workplace maintenance, employing nearly 5000 workers in thirty-three states. Bego is the author of “The Devil at My Doorstep,” based on his experiences fighting back against one of the most powerful unions in existence today.