What to know about anti-union tactics
We believe a strong union is in our best interests and is good for journalism, but Gannett has already tried to convince us otherwise. Without a real argument for why the Atlantic DOT’s digital producers should not unite, the company has to spin stories of unionizing bringing “rigid work rules” and a “third party” to the workplace.
We’ve heard this all before. Companies always trot out the same tired tactics when trying to stop their employees from exercising their right to form a union. It’s called the Union-Busting Playbook.
Let’s break it down.
Misinformation
Asking for another chance
Emotional appeal
The Union-Busting Playbook relies on half-truths and misinformation. To scare off support, companies try to paint unions as shadowy groups of outsiders who are only in it for themselves. The arguments are cut-and-paste: “The union will make decisions for you.” “The union will impose rigid work rules making it impossible for managers to help out when you’re swamped.” “The union will cause divisions in the workplace.”
None of that is true.
In truth, the Union is us, a diverse group of producers with a broad range of experience and backgrounds. Our membership includes veterans and recent hires. It was built by Atlantic DOT producers, for Atlantic DOT producers, to represent Atlantic DOT producers.
Notice a lot of attention from your supervisors lately? Us, too.
Since we’ve started organizing, the company has tried to buy our silence by lavishing more attention on us, offering to jump in to help on our shifts and coming up with “off seat” schedules to lighten our workload.
To that, we have two responses:
Too little, too late.
If this is what organizing has caused already, imagine what victories await.
Managers will often try to personalize the union drive, acting as though workers’ desire to organize is a personal attack on a specific manager or group of managers. They will try to divert attention from the real issues at hand to focus people on the emotional nature of their personal relationships.
They do this by following the script:
● Managers telling workers they’re “hurt” that the workers are organizing
● Implying that a popular manager would be fired if the union was voted in
● Managers sending personalized hand-written notes to each worker
● Managers getting a few workers to campaign against the union
WE WON’T BE FOOLED by these tired attempts to distract us because we’re committed to making real, lasting changes that will benefit us, our profession and the communities we serve.