Think it's easy to form a union? Better think again

Hat Tip: Employment Law Blog and Union Review

This is a great article: Union Review
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But company owner John Dunkin was also handed the union flier that first day. And he didn’t want employees to have a union. Right away, management hit back hard to stop the campaign.
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Union staff weren’t allowed on the property. Only Rogue Valley workers themselves would be able to talk to other workers about joining the union. And managers put a chill on that.
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Managers announced a new work rule: Employees were forbidden to talk about the union. They could speak against the union, and they could speak about other things unrelated to work, but pro-union talk to co-workers was prohibited or limited to lunch breaks. Two employees were given written warnings for breaking the rule.
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Rogue Valley Door managers approached workers individually and asked them if they supported the union, and whether they knew which of their co-workers supported the union. Pro-union workers swallowed their pride and played dumb. Anti-union workers took the chance to get ahead and named names. It became harder for workers to trust each other. It became scarier for pro-union workers to appeal to co-workers to sign union cards.

Known pro-union workers were watched closely while they worked, followed when they left their work areas, even watched on their way to the bathroom to see if they talked with anyone. Managers monitored their conversations with co-workers...

The Employee Free Choice Act would replace the employer-dominated election process with a majority sign-up process that gives unions the initiative. Which workers signed or didn’t sign the cards would still be secret from the employers who have so much power in the lives of workers like Ken Smith. But the union campaign would know which workers had signed cards. In that sense, the “secret ballot” might be lost, but workers’ effective right to unionize would be regained.