I attended a very scary (but well done) presentation this week on the Employee Free Choice Act. For companies that are non-union - and want to stay that way - you better get up to speed on this! The Employers Assoc. of West MI hosted the meeting with Barnes & Thornburg Law Firm presenting. Currently, once a union sets it sites on your company and achieves a 30% success with signed authorization cards, you have a chance as a company to educate your employees on why things might just be better now (without a union).  After the election, the Employee Free Choice Act is going to change. For example, if Obama is elected, this Act will look very different. Some of the changes that are being considered: once just over 50% of your employees sign union authorization cards, you are union. Period. Another potential change: no more secret ballots. It may move to all cards. Which means people can know how you voted.

It should not matter if you are union or non-union. You need to be communicating with employees, fostering positive relationships, developing your human capital, etc.

My Main Points:

• Reasons employees want a union: poor communication by employer, inconsistent discipline, poor management
• Leadership - do ALL of your leaders know how to keep employees informed, motivated and involved? DEVELOP THEM!
• The right thing to do: get rid of dead weight! Assess your leaders and your employees. Do you have staff that you have not dealt with as far as their poor performance, poor attitude is concerned? Deal with it! Why are you sending the message that certain employees can get away with poor performance?!
• Do you know how your employees and leaders REALLY feel about your company? Find out. Now.