Many of the media portrayals of strikes oversimplify work stoppages and ignore the intricacies that can lead to financial and emotional consequences for employees. Sometimes seen only as an act of heroism against oppressive employers, this ignores the potential financial instability and job security risks involved with strikes. Rian Wathen, a former state-wide director of collective bargaining for a national union and the founder and CEO of The Labor Educators, has witnessed the impact of misinformation on employee well-being and employer profitability.
“Unions use several strategies to encourage employees to sign up and join without fully explaining the details of how the union really works,” Rian says. “This is especially true for strikes, which sometimes leave employees confused and frustrated.”
By definition, a strike occurs when employees collectively stop working in an attempt to force their employer to agree to one or more of their demands, such as better wages, working conditions, or benefits. In some cases, the justification given for the strike hides a different agenda. A union may strike in an attempt to achieve a goal for the organization, not necessarily for the employees. While the right to strike is a legally protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act, it can have implications that employees are unaware of. From his experience recruiting employees to unionize, as well as bargaining contracts and organizing strikes, Rian understands how complex these situations can be. This knowledge helps him educate workers about some of the realities of being a union member, which are rarely discussed.
Here are the six most misunderstood truths about strikes that Rian aims to educate employees on:
Union members determine when, why, and for how long employees go on strike:
Most unions use the appearance of democracy by allowing members to vote on whether they will strike. However, the law does not require that vote, and union officers can substitute their judgment in determining whether to strike. Usually, a union’s internal rules (constitutional by law) give the union leadership broad discretion to end or resolve strike situations with or without the member's input.
Employers are not obligated to pay striking employees or continue providing benefits:
If employees choose to participate in a work stoppage/strike, a company is not obligated to compensate them. Usually, people assume that this refers to wages but forget that their employer provides benefits, which are also part of their compensation. The employer is under no obligation to continue to pay employees medical premiums during this time. This results in a striking worker receiving a COBRA letter, which requires them to pay the full insurance premium out of their pockets to maintain their benefits.
Employees on strike are not eligible for unemployment benefits in almost every state, therefore, if they receive any money during the strike, it would have to come from their union's strike fund. A union can set aside a very small portion of dues each month into a designated strike fund, which may be used to pay striking workers a small weekly stipend during the strike. However, not all unions have a strike fund, and potential union members should be asking whether or not a union has an established strike fund and what amount it pays during these activities.
Employers are not obligated to pause business operations and have multiple rights to mitigate financial losses associated with a strike:
A business has every right to continue operations during a strike in whatever manner they choose. They can transfer employees from other locations, assign non-striking management employees to fill roles, and hire replacement workers off the street. With today's technology, most companies can also shift production and shipping to other facilities very easily during a strike.
Employees on strike are not guaranteed they will return to their jobs after a strike:
Under the National Labor Relations Act, an employer has the right to permanently replace striking workers during an economic strike. This means that, at the end of the strike, they keep the replacement workers and do not allow the workers who were on strike to return. In these cases, a striking employee is not fired but permanently replaced.
Permanently replaced means that you are unable to return to work at the end of a strike, but your name goes onto a preferential recall list. The employer is then legally obligated to offer job opportunities to the replaced workers before hiring someone off the street.
Strikes do occur less now, but it may be because their effectiveness has been reduced, not because union members are happy with their contact settlements:
Historically, there was a social contract with the general public to honor strikes and picket lines. If a business was on strike, customers did not patronize it, and crossing the picket line was taboo. Today, most consumers want the cheapest, most widely available product they can find, and a labor dispute does not impact their choices.
Globalization and widespread mergers have resulted in very few stand-alone single-site employers. Most businesses are part of a larger network or chain, which also reduces strike effectiveness. This gives them the ability to - using technology - quickly transfer production, manpower, and shipping.
When strikes were more effective, unions could use them to threaten the employer to get the agreement that they wanted. Those threats today are less compelling. However, the threat of a strike still serves a union for another purpose. If the union negotiates a contract that their members deem inadequate, most unions would give the members a choice: YES, to agree with the contract, or NO, to go on strike. Given that choice, most workers accept the contract even when they are unhappy with it, as they do not have the savings or the financial stability to endure the consequences of a lengthy strike. Therefore, the threat of a strike still helps unions get contracts, but in more cases, it is used to get the workers to accept a substandard contract rather than to coerce an employer to agree.
Employee conduct guidelines and rules still apply when workers are on strike:
During a strike, employees are legally bound by the company’s code of conduct, handbook, and workplace rules. Going on strike does not give workers a free pass for bad behavior. Egregious offenses, such as fighting or destruction of company property while on strike, can result in discipline up to and including termination.
Striking is more than walking off the job, waving signs, and doing chants with your friends. Although those are the short clips we see on the news, the impact of strikes is much more serious for the participants.
As founder and CEO of The Labor Educators, Rian and his team provide proactive, engaging informational sessions to teach employees the realities of union membership, including all potential impacts of a strike. Once informed, most workers choose to have a direct relationship with their employer instead of taking the risk of lengthy labor disputes. If you are concerned with labor union organizing in your workforce, contact Rian and his team, for early education intervention could be your wisest next step.
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