In court actions, employers fight back against union corporate campaigns
According to CCH HR Management:
Much has been written in recent years about corporate campaigns--unions' favored strategy of securing card-check agreements by launching an all-out blitz against an employer, via negative publicity campaigns, litigation, work stoppages, and other means. The use of corporate campaigns has risen dramatically; indeed, a 2007 survey of healthcare HR professionals found that the use of such campaigns has doubled in healthcare union drives, for example.
However, in two high-profile lawsuits filed in 2007, employers are challenging these methods in court. The newest employer defense to corporate campaigns: the RICO suit. But other strategies have been adopted by employers as well, with mixed success.
Smithfield complaint. On October 17, Smithfield Foods filed a lawsuit against the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), labor federation Change to Win, and several other entities and individuals alleging a "malicious" and "extortionate" pressure campaign by the UFCW. The lawsuit alleges violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as well as extortion violations under North Carolina and Virginia law.
According to the 99-page complaint, the union and its representatives have attempted unsuccessfully to organize the hourly employees at its processing plant in Tar Heel, NC. The lawsuit alleges the union and its representatives abandoned the organizing efforts in favor of a pressure campaign aimed at driving Smithfield out of business unless the company agrees to recognize UFCW as the exclusive bargaining representative at the Tar Heel plant...click to continue.
