My workplace is voting on a union in two weeks, and we have an unusual amount of people we haven't talked to. It seems like a tossup at moment. I'm hopeful but not at all confident.
Management has officially been nice once the vote was triggered, but it seems a few of our workplace bullies who have carved out priveledged positions, and who don't show respect to other coworkers, have sided firmly on the anti-union side (I wonder why?) and are running around the store talking shit to everyone (and throwing in some transphobic bullshit while they are at it).
Some of them have showed up at our meetings to start sealioning and wasting people's time. Others are posting long screeds in the breakroom lying their asses off and basically acting on behalf of management.
After the first meeting I explained my experience and poured my heart out thinking they were there in good faith and I would be taken seriously, but of course not. Next meeting same fucking questions and pretending no one answered.
Some of it is continueing to ask for specifics we can't give, because it depends on the negotiating process and workplace surveys. All we can say is "It's up to us to decide that during negotiations". Is there a better answer we can give?
Has anybody else dealt with this shit? Any tips?
Our current plan is to not engage with them as as possible and kick them out of the next meeting if they show up.
Are the people doing this generally disliked? You can always start a rumor that they're doing this for kickbacks from the boss, convincing people to vote for a union just to spite them.
They are generally well liked enough by people who don't deal with them a lot, but I think their shitty behavior turns people off who work with them on a regular basis. Not sure suggesting kickbacks for work, but everyone knows the one person has management ambitions and has basically been in a management position for months now. We couldn't kick them out of the bargaining unit because their job title is technically not management. If we are successful I would expect them to try and sabatoge negotiations if they see an opportunity.
There is only one time I have seen management get fired, and that was when a large amount of employees quit. If you can get several people to commit to quitting if he gets in the way, it would severely harm their managerial ambitions.