The Attitude Of Unfairness

There is a new Legislation being argued in the US Senate these days that would make it easier for unions to form. It’s called the Employee Free Choice Act and it is creating quite a bit of concern throughout Corporate America. And Corporate America should be concerned – but not by the threat of a union. Corporate America should be concerned with the perceptual attitude of its employees that they might even consider the notion of needing a union.

People join unions because they feel that management is treating them unfairly. Examples of patronage, promoting friends, firings without cause and poor management skills leave the employees with an Attitude of mistrust. So what are the options? The biggest option is to join or form a union. The Employee Free Choice Act being discussed in US Senate right now would make it very easy for your workplace to be unionized quickly. And all that is required is simply a feeling, a suspicion or attitude of not being treated well.

If feelings of unfairness are rampant in your organization then you are a prime target for unionization under the proposed US Legislation. But that's not to say that unionizing is bad. In fact, there are still some Neanderthal managers in the workforce today who do short-change their employees, who still belittle and intimidate their workers and who do treat them unfairly. And for those organizations, being kicked in the ass by a union is probably the right thing. If there are managers on your payroll who still operate this way, get rid of them before the legislation goes through.

There doesn’t even need to be anything wrong in your organization - no evidence is required. All there needs to be is a “feeling” of being taken advantage of – an Attitude of “Us versus Them.” There doesn’t need to be evidence of unfairness – just the perception of it. Do you see the difference?

It’s not the union that managers should be afraid of. It’s the belief that a union might be necessary at all – that’s what should scare managers. If your people “feel” that they are being mistreated or taken advantage of then your organization has a Sick-Attitude that you had better address right now. The longer you wait and hope it goes away, the more likely it is to affect employee productivity, corporate relations with customers and, in turn, profitability. When morale is low, so are profits. If profits are low, where are you going to find money for union wages?

If your people are even contemplating organizing, you have an Attitude problem you need to address right now. Your place needs an Attitude Adjustment. If you don’t address it, you will pay … one way or the other.
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