Union organizer
[2] A strict enforcement of these laws might result in fines and might serve to hurt the violator's chances in a competitive bidding process.Though some mistake organizing as strictly being a recruitment effort, numerous obstacles emerge which require more than simple enlistment and promotion of the union.[4][5] For this reason, in most countries, laws such as the U.S. National Labor Relations Act, guarantee the rights of workers to seek union membership and forbid management's use of undue influence such as bribes or threats.Opponents of organizing, mainly in management and business, argue that unionization divides employees against their employer and results in increased costs.Critics will often circulate horror stories about plant closures and retaliatory firings to discourage union activity and uptake among the workers.With the goal of thwarting organizing, union-busters typically have a two-pronged approach: firstly, management will cut deals with individual workers to betray the union and secondly, to exploit loopholes in labor law in an effort to derail or sandbag the election process.William W. Delaney's "My Father Was Killed By Pinkerton Men" is a song about the violence that often surrounded early American labor strife.The 1987 production of Matewan is another factually based story of an organizer who visits a small mining town in West Virginia and who is able to unite rival ethnic groups against a common enemy: the company.There is some truth in these stories since companies did, in fact, historically hire armed thugs to break up organizing drives through unethical and oppressive means.The film Bread and Roses (2001) depicts the Service Employees International Union's "Justice for Janitors" campaign to organize cleaners.The status of the characters as minorities paints a picture of them as being outside of, or on the margins of, the American Dream, thus further casting workers and activists as underdogs.In an episode of the popular American sit-com The Office, the characters hold an organizing meeting that ends with a manager threatening to fire everyone involved.The Fred Savage sitcom Working had an episode where the main character organizes his fellow workers into a union and tells management it is because he really cares about the well-being of his coworkers, exhibiting solidarity.The song "Solidarity Forever" by Ralph Chaplin has become the anthem of large parts of the labor movement such as those in North America.
Leonora O'Reillytrade unionWomen's Trade Union LeagueCommonwealth spellingorganizing modelshop stewardFair Work CommissioncourtsNorth AmericacompaniesMay Daycollective bargaining agreementmanagementcartelspicketingemployment lawlabor lawbiddingconstructioncommitteeactivistsNational Labor Relations Actindustrial espionageJohn SweeneyAFL–CIOChange to Win Federationumbrella organizationNorth Americanexpansionistservicing modeltransientjurisdictionalgeographicindustrycompetitionraidingunion-bustinglawyersgoon squadsPinkerton Detective AgencyNorma RaeJewishNew York CityAmerican SouthtextileSally FieldactivistMatewanWest Virginiaethniccompany townscommonersoppressedvillainspolitical10,000 Black Men Named GeorgeA. Philip RandolphPullman PortersBread and RosesService Employees International UnionJustice for Janitorsidealisticimmigrantcivil rightsSpanish-speakingSlavicminoritiesAmerican DreamarchetypeFour BrothersprofitsGrosse Pointe BlankDan AykroydassassinJohn Cusackblack marketvocationDetroitMichiganJimmy HoffaTeamstersF.I.S.TSylvester StalloneJames P. Hoffasit-comThe OfficecomedianPatrice O'NealFred SavageSolidarity ForeverRalph ChaplinBattle of the OverpassCollective bargainingEmployee Free Choice ActLabor historyLabor rightsLabor spiesLabor Unions in the United StatesNLRB election proceduresNewsiesRight to assembleStrike actionUnion violenceUnion violence in the United StatesLuigi AntoniniHarry Van Arsdale, Jr.Leon E. BatesYolanda BejaranoJohn BrophyCesar ChavezPatrick CrowleyJohnny DioAllen DorfmanSamuel GompersJoe HillSidney HillmanJames HoffaMary Harris "Mother" JonesJohn L. LewisCharles O'BrienWalter P. ReutherFannie SellinsFrank SheeranCrystal Lee SuttonR. J. ThomasLucille Thornburgh