My workplace is voting on a union in two weeks, and we have an unusual amount of people we haven't talked to. It seems like a tossup at moment. I'm hopeful but not at all confident.
Management has officially been nice once the vote was triggered, but it seems a few of our workplace bullies who have carved out priveledged positions, and who don't show respect to other coworkers, have sided firmly on the anti-union side (I wonder why?) and are running around the store talking shit to everyone (and throwing in some transphobic bullshit while they are at it).
Some of them have showed up at our meetings to start sealioning and wasting people's time. Others are posting long screeds in the breakroom lying their asses off and basically acting on behalf of management.
After the first meeting I explained my experience and poured my heart out thinking they were there in good faith and I would be taken seriously, but of course not. Next meeting same fucking questions and pretending no one answered.
Some of it is continueing to ask for specifics we can't give, because it depends on the negotiating process and workplace surveys. All we can say is "It's up to us to decide that during negotiations". Is there a better answer we can give?
Has anybody else dealt with this shit? Any tips?
Our current plan is to not engage with them as as possible and kick them out of the next meeting if they show up.
You need to start talking to people yesterday and innoculating your neutrals/supporters. Tell your neutrals and supporters exactly what the company and the stool pigeons will say and make sure they understand your response so that when they hear those things they remember what you told them.
Your response a lot of the time will be "that will be decided in contract negotiations" or "that will be a democratc decision made by all of us". Make it clear that the stool pigeons don't want your coworkers to negotiate. They don't want your coworkers to have a choice. They and the company want to dictate the rules to you and your only choice is to obey or quit. Your union wants to have actual negotiations with the company and for everyone to have a say, even the people who aren't pro union. Your coworkers need to know that anti-union propaganda is an attempt to restrict them so that when they hear it they understand it's an attack on them.
I would avoid defamation of anyone but if there are characters that are particularly disliked it's not a terrible idea to point that out to people. Usually organizing focuses on leaders but there are anti-leaders who repel people. If your stool pigeons are anti-leaders you can use that.
Hell yeah, exactly what I was looking for. That's a great way to frame it. Thank you.
I really cannot stress enough the importance of making sure your coworkers understand this stuff as early as possible before they hear the anti-union line. Your opponents have the easy job of spreading doubt and confusion. You have the hard job of empowering people with hope and choice. Even your most loyal supporters can be shaken if questions arise that they don't know the answers to.
Yeah, this was understood to everyone in the OC. There were a few factors that made us trigger the vote prematurely. Our efforts got leaked early which made it more difficult than usual to assess people, since anti's would narc us out immediately, and the management was on a firing spree. In the last three months we've lost 10 people out of a workplace of about 90. Many of which we had gotten to sign cards or were in the OC from the start. The ones who got fired didn't want to fight it, the people who quit were burnt out by the job or felt unsafe working there and couldn't take it anymore, and several more people are ready to quit and are only sticking around so they can vote yes. It was kind of either now or risk losing people through attrition.
That plus Trump doing who the fuck knows what in the near future. It's been an unusual campaign from the start, from what we've been told.
Damn that's really rough. You got this though. Never let the bosses hold you down even if the election doesn't go your way. Solidarity!