Most respondents report not having a union in their workplace, or not being eligible for union membership due to the nature of their job (e.g., being in management). Many state that they wish they had unions, and several elaborate on the reasons for the lack of union, including knowing that management is unfriendly to unionizing efforts, staff being too burned out to organize, or management deliberately squashing past unionizing efforts.
A significant minority of respondents shared their experience unionizing their workplace, and all except one shared that management deliberately fought unionizing efforts. This includes firing people for unionizing, intervening in the unionizing process to block progress, threatening to withhold employee benefits, and deliberately stalling unionizing efforts. Most report that the unionizing process took several years, and many original staff involved in unionizing efforts left or were fired from their jobs before the effort was complete.
Several share the benefits of union membership, including job protection, salary increases, and expansion of benefits. Some also share that they belong to a union but it’s weak, and therefore not a good advocate for employees.