Card Check Intimidation in Indiana
If you want to understand just how card check organizing works, look at what happened to workers at Dana Corporation in Indiana. UAW organizers harrassed and intimidated workers in their homes at night and waited for workers in the parking lot after work, making it very uncomfortable for workers to leave.
Harassment and Identity Theft in Connecticut
When Patricia Pelletier from Connecticut tried to kick the union out of her workplace because nonunion workers were getting better pay and benefits, her identity was stolen and used to order hundreds of magazine subscriptions in her name and illegal drugs were illicitly planted in her desk drawer in the hope of getting her fired. Watch Patricia's story.
Former Union Organizers Speak Out
In this video, former union organizers speak out on the heavy-handed tactics they used to get workers to sign cards. Said one: "It's about manipulating them to do what you need them to do any way possible."
Former union organizer Jennifer Jason testified before Congress on the tactics union bosses use to manipulate card check organizing campaigns. These include "agitating" workers in their homes and pressuring workers to make snap decisions without even hearing from the other side.
From my experience, the number of cards signed appear to have little relationship to the ultimate vote count. During a private election campaign, even though a union still sends organizers out to workers’ homes on frequent canvassing in attempts to gain support, the worker has a better chance to get perspective on the questions at hand. The time allocated for the election to go forward allows the worker a chance to think through his or her own issues without undue influence—thus avoiding an immediate, impulsive decision based on little or no fact. After all, the decision to join a union is often life-changing, and workers should be afforded the time to debate, discuss and research all of the options available to them.
As an organizer working under a “card check” system versus an election system, I knew that “card check” gave me the ability to quickly agitate a set of workers into signing cards. I did not have to prove the union’s case, answer more informed questions from workers or be held accountable for the service record of my union.
Union vs. Union
On April 12, 2008, hundreds of bussed-in SEIU members busted open the doors to a labor conference and brutally attacked members of a rival union, injuring an elderly woman. If this is what they do inside the union "family" imagine what they can do to your workplace.
Union Intimidation in Perspective
A Heritage Foundation study reports that the National Labor Relations Board has adjudicated 113 cases related to "union deception and/or coercion in obtaining authorization card signatures." Furthermore, the report finds a staggering level of union intimidation in workplaces, writing that "Thousands of unfair labor practices cases have been filed against unions since 2000, including 1,417 for coercive statements, 416 for violence and assaults, 546 for harassment, and 1,325 for threatening statements."
