UAW targets nonunion automakers, but needs more than good vibes to pull it off | Opinion

Having won 25% wage increases, the restoration of cost-of-living adjustments, elimination of tiers, transition of temps to full-time status and increased 401k contributions after the novel bargaining strategy of its 40-day Stand Up Strike, the United Auto Workers has set its sights on organizing the nonunion auto companies. 

On Nov. 29, the UAW announced the 13 nonunion companies it had targeted, which employ roughly 170,000 hourly workers across plants located in nearly 20 states. The Big 3 combined employ fewer than 150,000.   

But even as the UAW is exploiting the favorable publicity from its wins against the Detroit 3, the union has a long way to go to translate positive vibes into nonunion auto workers signing up for representation by the International at Detroit's Solidarity House.

Nonunion companies have consistently resisted union-organizing efforts, and there is no indication that they have lessened this resolve. Up to this point, they have proved impenetrable.  

Why should anyone expect the UAW to succeed where it has failed in previous attempts? They shouldn't — unless the union can swiftly adopt and deploy a new, grassroots strategy to win over nonunion workers, and keep management interference from thwarting the union's goals.

A bullseye on the UAW

Ironically, by publicizing its organizing ambitions, the UAW has put a bullseye on itself. 

The union has given antiunion forces inside and outside of the 13 companies advance notice to mobilize, advertise and litigate. These formidable opponents of Solidarity House will resurrect images of corrupt UAW presidents on their way to prison, and blame the UAW for contributing to the decline in the Detroit 3’s market position, thanks to a long history of strikes and inefficient work rules. 

Realizing the UAW would come knocking at their plant gates after the widely proclaimed "record contracts," several of the targeted companies (Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, Subaru, Volkswagen and now Tesla) raised their hourly employees’ wages to preempt the union. 

Within days after the UAW launched its organizing drive, the union filed unfair labor practice charges against Honda, Hyundai and Volkswagen for interfering with their employees’ right to seek union recognition under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), setting the stage for demanding employer recognition if it is unable to show that the majority of nonunion workers want representation.

Another new strategy for the UAW

Many of these nonunion companies have plants in right-to-work states and local settings inhospitable to labor.     

When the union launched its campaign at Tesla, Elon Musk openly made the case against the UAW, declaring: "I disagree with the idea of unions. ... I just don't like anything which creates a lords and peasants sort of thing. I think the unions naturally try to create negativity in a company." 

The key to turning past failure at nonunion plants into future success lies in applying an integrated strategy within and between the targeted companies, relying on three sets of grassroots actors coordinated on the hub, spoke and rim of a wheel. 

Creators stand on the hub, representing those who fuel the fire at the grassroots with the message that resonates at work sites. They answer the question: Why should a worker at a Toyota or Tesla take the risk to form a union? 

Networkers occupy the spoke that carry the basic message to the work sites where communicators, situated on the rim, spread the word in the vernacular of the rank-and-file who will decide whether to unionize.   

These three sets of actors invert the typical flow of information from the top-down to bottom-up. Rank-and-file generate the raw data on grievances about the workplace (like unfair treatment, inadequate pay, back-breaking schedules and production speeds, harassment, intimidation, suppression of voice) which the communicators and networkers take back to the creators who form the key messages about how to address these concerns.   

The hub-spoke-rim manifests at each plant, and across companies, to share information that will give the UAW tailor-made messages to deliver to each plant, relying on rapid transmission and analysis of information, and including mechanisms for countering misinformation and disinformation. 

Locally and internationally based organizers coalesce these actors, and channel the requisite information needed to carry out the nuts and bolts of securing authorization cards, like filing petitions with the National Labor Relations Board, conducting election campaigns for recognition and litigating unfair labor practices, when necessary. 

Staying on message

The clear aim in everyone’s mind is a collective bargaining agreement that reflects the wishes of rank-and-file.   

The International needs to fund this effort, which should rely as greatly as possible on grassroots volunteers. Or consider that a consortium of national labor organizations in manufacturing, like the UAW, the International Association of Machinists and the United Steelworkers, could crowdfund continually expanding efforts among parts suppliers and other manufacturers to widen impact.   

Effective execution of this strategy depends on speed and agility in communicating a resonating message that merits repeating.  

Marick F. Masters is a professor of business at the Mike Ilitch School of Business Wayne State University. The thoughts expressed in this column are his and not attributable to the university or any other party. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.