Coworker Discussion- “I agree we need a union but there’s no way I can afford missing a paycheck to strike.”

I completely understand, a strike would be a massive financial burden for the vast majority of us. And while unions do have “strike funds” that pay a partial wage to workers while they’re on a picket line it definitely doesn’t replace a paycheck.  The good news is that we don’t have to strike to unionize.  Our right to unionize is codified in federal law, the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) made it illegal for companies to prohibit unionization (in most cases).  The image many people have in their heads of massive worker protests trying to force their employers to recognize their union all predates this Act.  The NLRA established the National Labor Relations Board to help ensure non-violent, fair, and regulated processes for workers to unionize.  A major part of this process is the Union Authorization Card collection that creates a legal obligation for employers to hold a vote, in person or by mail, when 30% or more of employees have submitted cards (the employer doesn’t see the names on the cards). If more than 50% of employees have submitted cards the company could voluntarily recognize our union (but in reality they won't give us voluntary recognition). If the result of the mandated vote shows more than 50% of the votes are in favor of a union they legally can’t stop us from unionizing- we don’t have to strike to unionize.    No part of the unionizing process has to result in a strike. 

I’m sure at this part you’re thinking “but wait a minute– I know that strikes still happen.  Boeing had a union strike just a few months ago.”  Yes, strikes can still result from stalled collective bargaining agreements (the process where the company meets with union representatives to determine wages, benefits, schedules, etc), but strikes are incredibly rare.  That's the reason they make the news- they are novel, infrequent events that are news worthy.  98% of USW collective bargaining agreements are settled without a strike.

And here’s the thing to remember-  as painful as it would be for you to go without a paycheck, imagine how devastating it would be for our employer to have its production processes shutdown even for a day.  You guys know our processes, it is absolutely dependent on uninterrupted 24/7/365 operations.  In the words of a former coworker-  “we ain’t no damn Burger King, there’s no shutting off the grills at night.”  You have all been involved in plant turn-arounds and ESDs, you see the pressure that local management is under to turn a 72 hour shutdown into a 62 hour shutdown.  Every hour counts.  A strike, even a day-long strike, would be unbelievably catastrophic to our employer’s bottom line, and quite frankly our state’s revenue as well.   How many times has WOA had to strike since unionizing?

If that wasn't enough to convince you, remember this- you won't pay any dues until our first collective bargaining contract has been established and ratified by you. I'll say that again, until we're accepted a contract by majority vote, we don't pay dues.

In conclusion- I know the mental image of strikers is synonymous with labor unions to the point that it’s even the picture used on Wikipedia, but there is a simple reason for this:  There is no great ‘photogenic’ moment of workers quietly and happily doing their jobs for fair pay-  that’s boring, it makes shitty pictures and isn’t news worthy.  

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/national-labor-relations-act#:~:text=In%20a%20Congress%20sympathetic%20to,unfair%20labor%20practices%20by%20employers.