Posted on 06/01/2011 10:27:58 PM PDT by Nachum
Now we know why unionists were fighting so hard for a federal “card check” law. Organizers can unionize private and public employees, forcing them to pay hundreds in union dues, before they even know anything about it. That's the situation at the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans, Massachusetts. Last week news broke that the reputable charter school was the second in Massachusetts to be organized by the American Federation of Teachers. (Snip) Several teachers complained that they were never informed about the process and were never asked to vote on the issue.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
I wonder if there is any chance that “freedom of association” can be used as a tack against this?
The union Nazis will not rest until every employee in the United States is forced to turn over a portion of their wages to the union Gestapo.
I’m in a union and I’m against this type of crap...they should sue the living crap out of them...
3rd generation family owned business here. On tuesday, we found out that we now have an employee who has filed with the plumbers union for a union vote in the shop.
We have been non-union for 12 years (most of us were union at one time or another), and have benefited and grown as a merit shop. Our guys work year round, they get overtime, and haven’t been laid off since we went non-union. Our union counterparts sit idle for the winter collecting unemployment.
Anyways, the letter we got informed us that it was illegal to talk to our employees about the upcoming vote. We can’t even have an employee meeting on the matter. We were informed that if we talked to employees individually about the matter (many of whom have been with our family for over 20 years), we can be fined by the NLRB.
We have been informed that it is illegal for us to attempt to sell or transfer ownership of our company while negotiations with the union are ongoing.
We have been informed that it is a federal crime to move the location of our business during this proceeding as well.
The proceeding is expected to last 3-6 months. During this time, we may be summoned by a mediator to turn over any and all documents related to earnings, pay, profits, expenditures and losses (in otherwords anything they want).
We may not dismiss, lay off, or terminate any employees during this time period.
In other words, we have just been informed, that our family business has been set on the spit, and the fire has been set.
I am up now, worried to death, I have a meeting with our attorneys this morning, for some sort of council.
I think this may be it for us. We may just close up shop, head up north and open that bait shop I’ve been wanting to do for the past 10 years. I don’t know.
I will now have 8 guys laid off and without jobs... but hey, they wanted to be union. Now they can be union and unemployed. I feel betrayed, and have a total F.U. attitude at this point towards the guys we have paid and looked after for all these years.
I am sure even posting this is somehow even illegal at this point, and will come back to haunt me over the next few months.
...time to go make another pot of coffee
I worked at a machine shop where it was well know that if it was unionized, it would be liquidated and sold immediately. The employees knew they had a good deal, and union organizers were ‘gone’ before they spoke out a second time.
I can only guess at the horror you are experiencing. I thank my lucky stars that the business I own is in Texas.
Unless you have started a business from scratch you would have no idea of what you are going through. I’ve started from scratch, being the bookkeeper, janitor, technician, manager, and every other position that a single person could do to make the business what it is today.
Then, to lose complete control of it for some union Marxists would be unthinkable to me. Once again, thank God I am in Texas.
I hope and wish you a good outcome on your predicament.
My sincerest sympathies to you.
Hopefully, your other employees will display some common sense when they vote.
Can you someone else speak on your behalf? Its kinda bizarre that the shop owner can’t make his case against unionization.
I don’t know yet.
The guys came in this morning, packed their trucks, got their calls and left. No one has said a word, but I am sure they have been informed.
My wife is livid at this point. She didn’t even come in to the shop this morning.
We have paid for guys cars repairs when they broke down, go-signed for homes, even donated a good sum to one of our guys years ago (he’s no longer with us) when his wife got cancer and needed wigs.
We have gone times without pay checks, cancelled vacations and bit the bullet all in a manner to pay our guys and keep them busy.
I’ve been looking up a ton of stuff, and am curious as to if they can even vote because of the number of employees we have. I am not sure, I have a ton of questions these past couple of days, but finally I’ll get some face time with my attorney today.
I feel so betrayed, I feel like our family has been betrayed. I spent hours last night looking at our security cameras to see who was talking to who, that is how paranoid I am, it is driving me nuts, and I want to strangle someone.
Even if it blows over, even if we win the vote, my relationship with my employees will never be the same. I will not be able to fire who brought the vote (and I think I know who) or I will get sued, and I will always have not only a union vote hanging over our business, but now a feeling of distrust. The family feel of our business is now gone forever I fear.
My wife is just ready to hang it up. I think I could have had an affair and she wouldn’t have been this pissed off. I have never seen her this way in 27 years. She’s been talking about how long they’ve been in business, and now she’s thinking about her dad and grandfather, and all the people she grew up with from the shop (she was a little girl hanging around here, keep in mind).
Anyways, I have to get some stuff done, and then get ready to head over to lawyers.
And to answer your question: Apparently, I CAN’T make a case against unionization, from what I’ve been reading. But, I’ll know more in a few hours.
Back in the days when radio was the hot, high-tech industry, Atwater Kent was the dominant manufacturer. He got wind of union efforts to take over his workforce. He told his workers if they unionized he'd shut the factory down and walk away. They did; he did.
“I think this may be it for us. We may just close up shop, head up north and open that bait shop I’ve been wanting to do for the past 10 years. I don’t know.”
I do sympathize with you. And sometimes going ‘Galt’ is really the answer. Especially if the business you run no longer gives you any pleasure and has turned to drudgery and misery, then it really is time to move on.
On the other hand you could always offer to sell your business to your newly unionized employees. Tell them they can be like GM or Chrysler. Then walk away with a smile.
Well, as an employee, I know who signs my paycheck and I know how many more (unpaid) hours managers and owners work than I do, and I know who has to take their problems home, while I leave ‘em at the office.
And I’m grateful to them and to you. Best wishes in your battle. I think they’re about to learn the hard way that they need you - but you can replace them...
wow. this is a terrible story. I’m waiting on pins and needles to hear it play out. will you bookmark this page (as I am ) and keep us updated? I realize you have more important things to do, but I will be watching, reading and praying.
“We have paid for guys cars repairs when they broke down, go-signed for homes, even donated a good sum to one of our guys years ago (he’s no longer with us) when his wife got cancer and needed wigs.
We have gone times without pay checks, cancelled vacations and bit the bullet all in a manner to pay our guys and keep them busy.”
Been there...done that!
Over many years to treating my employees as family, I’ve come to realize that they are actually a piece of leased equipment. They don’t give a “rat’s ass” about you or what you have done for them. They are only there for a pay check...nothing else.
You can even make up your own
Register the company at a post office box
Let them negotiate with the labor leasing company - they can't picket the Post Office
form a second labor leasing company and hire your employees by virtue of merit through them
they can't keep chasing your paperwork and your good employees will understand right away
I have ample intimate experience - it works every time
.
Sounds like Nazi Germany to me. Whodda thunk we’d live long enough to see America become a fascist dictatorship. I’m still amazed at how fast the communist “Democrats” were able to pull it off.
Thanks for the kind words.
I got in early again, and wrote a very long reply, then erased it all, and started again.
Long story short, I spent several hours with my attorney and another attorney he brought in who deals with organized labor. I walked away with just as many questions as were answered.
Went to dinner last night with my wife and one of our managers and we got more info. We then headed home and talked till past midnight, then decided to sleep more on it.
The card check vote will be next Monday, they only need 30% to proceed with a union vote. They will get it.
We are now torn between our brains saying shut the business down, it makes no sense, every year is more and more of a struggle here in Illinois, with many months we lose money, but our hearts say keep it open, because it is a 55 year old business, with long ties to my wifes family, and we do care about our employees, we are not ogres who want to see them out of work.
As it stands, we are 80% sure we will close the doors. We have other interests, and it is too much like pulling teeth month after month. Plus, we have looming higher taxes (as an S Corp if this tax the rich goes through, we are gonna get zonked), Illinois taxes are higher, we pay about 23-25% more in blue-cross blue shield as it is now for healthcare, unionizing will further increase our costs, of which we are barely getting by right now (yes, sounds funny right, a company in business since 1957 with 10 people on payroll, who does about 4 million in business a year, is barely getting by). Our property taxes are nearly double from 5 years ago (but our property is worth less), our fees almost double every 2-3 years.
My father in law made a good living from this business, he built up other properties with his profits, and invested well, now the last 2 years we find ourselves selling off some of those assets to stay in the black.
Playing devils advocate with myself and wife, and going back and forth, but I think I know what our decision is going to be. It is just going to be an emotional one, but in the end, I think we’ve been throwing good money after bad these past couple of years, and this just amplifies that situation.
Wow. As a former masonry sub I am stunned. One reason (there were many) I stayed away from union hacks was because they “ran” your company if you signed and now they have the ability to do what your letter states.
I say a prayer for you however we are too far gone. The police state has the power it needs after the banksters opened the credit spigot and built up little swat armies and ABC commandos.
And you cant even talk to your employees.
wow. this is really eye-opening. I had no idea. what a nightmare libs/unions have caused. the property tax issue also sounds like a nightmare. The “good employees” should have kicked the other ones asses. I’m sure at the end of the day all they see is more money for themselves. bastards.
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