Questions Every Company Should Be Asking Related to Wasted Resources: Harassment Claim & Union Vulnerability
July 28, 2010SIX QUICK QUESTIONS:
Do you ever think about how much company cash is wasted defending harassment allegations?
Does it ever occur to you how much wasted time and resources are put in during the lawsuit process by company employees including executives?
Do you realize the reputation damage to your brand by just having a lawsuit brought against the company, win or lose?
Have you ever totaled up the expense of conducting a campaign to fight back a union even should you prevail?
Have you ever tried to quantify the effect customer concern over the possibility of supply interruption due to a union presence would have on sales and revenue?
Can the wasted funds, expended company resources and future lost business of losing a union election even be measured?
Can anything really be done to actually proactively prevent workplace harassment and union card campaigns?
The answer may be seen in the example of one company with 15 steel processing plants and 1,500 employees, of which 1,200 are on industrial plant floors. One would expect this type of organization to be involved with several harassment lawsuits per year. With a typical settlement likely to conservatively be in excess of $100,000 and the typical defense attorney fees to be an even higher amount, the unnecessary expense is substantial.
However, since 1999, this organization has experienced no employment-related lawsuits.
Throw into the mix a diverse workforce (various religions, races, and national origins), and add women working on the plant floor, the record becomes even more impressive. Even more incredible is the fact that these plants are not limited to traditionally non-litigious locations, but this company’s largest plants are in Detroit, Cleveland, northern Indiana and Ohio. Total Savings of Millions of Dollars.
This organization also had two of its plants vote in a union in 1995. From 1998 to 1999, unions also obtained enough cards for an election to be held in two additional plants.
In 1999, this organization won the election in one plant, the union withdrew before the election in the other, and the employees decertified one of the 1995 elected unions. This was all done at great expense, not only in dollars, but also in employee time, productivity, and morale. Since 1999, this organization has been subjected to no union card campaigns.
ProactivePreventionCulture.com
This effective Proactive Prevention Culture Program™ will improve your organization’s bottom line by (a) creating a more pleasant and productive work environment, (b) preventing your best employees from being subjected to harassment, forced into a union or injured and (c) significantly reducing, if not, eliminating wasted expenses such as defense attorney fees, lawsuit settlement costs, union campaign consultant charges, labor attorney fees for collective bargaining negotiation and defense of arbitrations, and workers compensation insurance premium increases.
How better to demonstrate that you truly care about, respect and appreciate your people than to establish a program of Proactive Prevention.
To find out how your organization may be able to benefit from this program, contact JohnBaumannEsq@yahoo.com