Anti Union Bosses

Building a union is about calling out the huge imbalance of power between workers and bosses in the workplace and setting out to make things more even.

Every union builder knows that if you pretend the employer is neutral to a union being formed by their workforce you will likely lose. Employers are rarely neutral or genuinely interested in partnership with union building.

Having a union at work is considered their business by the employer and they will respond to union building efforts one way or  another – so lets plan for their reaction to our union building work. But remember that when the employer does react it’s often the first sign that your union building work is underway

Employers hostility to union building can be expressed in a number of ways – some more subtle than others. But fundamentally employers have power over their workers lives - from where they live, whether they eat well, where or whether they go on holiday, whether they get another shift and every other part off their lives. They are very aware of this power and will often use it to try to persuade workers not to build a union.

Union builders know that fear of losing your job is the biggest single obstacle to people joining or getting active in a union – so anti union campaigning by employers has real influence and so must be factored into our plans until new rights for workers to access unions and join free from fear are finally introduced.

Ten Common anti union tactics from employers to look out for and protect your campaign from

1. Buying the problem. This might involve anything that might persuade people they don’t need a union - from actually improving pay and conditions in the middle of your union building campaign to introducing flexible working and of course Pizza parties

2. Buying off the union leaders. One of the oldest ones in the book and still a favourite with many employers. This may take many forms including promotion, improving shift allowances, or allowing working from home for campaign leaders. It can undermine your efforts if you have only a small group of leaders and activists

3. Playing the loyalty card. Some employers will argue that the union building campaign is lead by an outside third party with no knowledge of their business or workplace and that the workforce interest lies in remaining “loyal” to the employer. By implication promotion and other long term benefits related to length of service are threatened often on the grounds that “we’re all one big family here”

4. Lying. Sometimes employers and managers will deliberately spread false stories about the union involving corruption, failure to help colleagues and spread fear of demands for strike action or the idea that the union will somehow stop people from working.

5. Anti union propaganda. Exploiting their unique access to the workforce an employer can often counter all arguments put forward by organisers for forming a union. As union building must always be democratic it follows that the employer will likely know the grounds of your union building campaign.  In  workplaces without a union, management often assert that a union will never be recognised and that, in any case, can achieve little in the face of hostile legislation.

6. Economic arguments. Some employers will argue that customers or service users will be hostile or suspicious if you and your colleagues are seen to run the operation. Managers claim that this will lead to a loss of business and ultimately jobs as the organisation becomes inefficient or uncompetitive as a result of your campaign

7. The Direct attack. New union members are sacked, not offered shifts, moved or redeployed on a pre-text. This is often coupled with assertions that members of the workforce have no right to join a union or campaign at work and the same will happen to them. Often it is a calculated gamble by the employer that a union will not be strong enough to secure re-instatement in Employment Tribunal. At worse this has lead to industry “blacklisting” in the construction and other industries

8. Re-structuring the work. In particular to increase the numbers of staff on short term, zero hours or casual contracts which further enhances the employers power over them. Fire and rehire tactics while largely driven by the desire to fund profits from the pockets of the workforce is often also an anti union tactic

9. Divide and rule. This can even include differential pay for members and non members of unions, but more often involves shift allocations, appraisal, performance pay or bonus systems designed to generally encourage competition between people at work. Keep an eye out for a move away from pay and grading transparency where it exists

10. The Employee Forum. Called by a creative array of names including “listening circles”, “staff associations” such bodies aim to give the appearance of consultation to a workforce but exist to persuade people that a union is unnecessary and costly as the employer is “listening”. They are never independent, rarely democratic and promise much but deliver little

The Role of the Human Resources Department

As a general rule employers want as much work to be done with as little cost to them as possible and workers want the best possible wage, the number of hours work they need to live and safe and predictable shift patterns. Human Resources staff set out to obscure this basic conflict and it is often best to see HR as an anti union ideology in the first instance. HR management acts in the interests of the employers and in most cases it is HR staff who drive tactics to oppose union building.

Most medium to large sized employers will have a HR Department or manager – and smaller employers often buy a HR service in. A typical HR Department can have more written polices than it has staff to police them – and can show little interest at all in making sure they are implemented.

Human Resources as a workplace ideology is here to stay however and getting more powerful in shaping employers business plans every year. In a survey conducted for the New Statesman magazine in late 2024 (HR Britain: how human resources captured the nation - New Statesman) it was found that the number of HR staff in the UK has increased by 83% over the last 10 years, while the number of employers with a HR Director on their Board has doubled since 2017. In an interesting development and to reveal a truth about Human Resources; the author argues that statistically this happened at exactly the same time as the number of claims to Employment Tribunals by workers went up at the same rate.

Despite its claims to be impartial and or even “on the side” of workers, Human Resources Management seems to in fact increase workplace conflict  and have the authority to attempt to control and undermine union building and workers conditions

Union builders should adopt a strategy towards Human Resources Management in their workplaces