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EMPLOYER INTERFERENCE BY THE NUMBERS

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Employer Interference by the Numbers (Private-Sector Employers)
 1. Employers that illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns: 25%
 2. Chance that an active union supporter will be illegally fired for union activity during an organizing campaign: 1 in 5
 3. Employers that hire consultants or union-busters to help them fight union organizing drives: 75%
 4. Employers that force employees to attend one-on-one meetings with their own supervisors against the union: 78%
 5. Employers that force employees to attend mandatory closed-door meetings against the union: 92%
 6. Employers that threaten to call U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during organizing drives that include undocumented employees: 52%
 7. Companies that threaten to close the plant if the union wins the election: 51%
 8. Companies that actually close their plants after a successful union election: 1%
 9. Workers in FY 2005 who received back pay in cases alleging employer violations of workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act: 31,358
 10. Percentage of unions newly formed by workers pursuant to NLRB process whose employers do not agree to a first contract: 34%
 11. Portion of public that says strong laws protecting workers’ freedom to form unions—without employer interference—are important: 77%
 12. Portion of public who disapprove of employer anti-union campaigns when workers try to form unions: 67%
 If employers allowed a fair process for deciding, millions more workers would have collective bargaining and a voice on the job today.
 13. Nonunion workers who say they want to have a union in their workplace: 60 million
 14. Number and percentage of U.S. workers that belong to unions: 15.4 million
or 12%

Sources:

1 and 3-8: Kate Bronfenbrenner, Uneasy Terrain: The Impact of Capital Mobility on Workers, Wages and Union Organizing, September 6, 2000. A more recent study of Chicago area NLRB representation elections by University of Illinois-Chicago professors Chirag Mehta and Nik Theodore reported similar findings. Mehta and Theodore found that workers were fired illegally during 30 percent of organizing campaigns, employers force workers to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with supervisors during 91 percent of NLRB representation election campaigns, and employers hire consultants or union-busters to help them fight 82 percent of union organizing drives. See Mehta and Theodore, “Undermining the Right to Organize: Employer Behavior During Union Representation Campaigns,” report for American Rights at Work, December 2005.

2. John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer, "Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns," Center for Economic Policy Research report, January 2007, http://www.cepr.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=775&Itemid=8

9. National Labor Relations Board annual report, fiscal year 2005, Table 4.

10. Kate Bronfenbrenner, "Uneasy Terrain: The Impact of Capital Mobility on Workers, Wages and Union Organizing, Part II: First Contract Supplement," 2001. According to more recent data reported by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an even higher proportion of unions newly certified pursuant to the NLRB representation process are denied first contracts by employers: 45 percent (Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service annual report, 2004).

11-12: Peter D. Hart Research Associates, survey for the AFL-CIO, December 2006.

13. AFL-CIO calculation based on Peter D. Hart Research Associates survey, December 2006.

14. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Updated January 2007

 


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