All Aboard Generation Y

I read a short article on CNN.com that was a good read if you just want to piss yourself off. Generation Y or really "Generation Me" apparently wants a high salary and plenty of vacation time right out of college. I hope somebody hires them because so far after graduating from college all I see is young adults living out of my neighbors' and relatives' basements, on permanent vacation and spending all their money...wait - perhaps that is my own reality infringing on this blog...

The "Generation Y" group is anyone under the age of 29. According to a new survey, this group of employees expects their employers to provide more benefits and other perks than their existing employees have: better pay, flexible work schedule, company provided BlackBerrys or iPhones. The survey, by Careerbuilder.com and Harris Interactive, found that 87% of hiring managers and HR professionals say Gen Y exhibits a "sense of entitlement" that older generations don't.

Well, they must be referring to me--the older generation...Last week when the temperatures in the early morning were in the thirties, my son, wearing only a Green Day hoodie, asked me for a ride to the bus stop (about 150 yards up the street) because, and I quote, "it's cold." My response (after blocking the instinctive desire to cuff him in the back of the head, was the traditional--"back in my day we walked a mile up a steep hill to the bus stop in blinding snow"--speech), "No and put on a real jacket, it's called winter for a reason." Entitlement mixed with the ability to remain oblivious to reality - a dangerous forecast for the future.

You see, if he had his coat on and used his brain just a smidge, all he had to do was time it so that when I went out to my car to go to work he said, "hey, would you mind if I asked you something about how stupid unions are while you drop me off at the bus stop?" Then, while I thought "clever boy," I would have considered it.

What does all of this really mean for the employers trying to hire the best of the Gen Y crowd? Combined with the talent shortage that is upon us as the Baby Boomers retire in droves, 15% of employers are now modifying their policies (flex schedules, new recognition programs) to accommodate the new hires.

For the other 85% of employers out there (who don't have time to drive their staff to the bus stop), I recommend some serious thought to your onboarding process. Either a Pre-Hire Orientation Video or a New Hire Orientation Video, or both, are a smart investment and will help those Gen Y'ers remember their coat when it's cold. Before you hire someone with one set of expectations and then lose them within 90 days because of REALITY here on Planet Earth, tell them what to expect at the World's Best Place to Work. That way you have them at "Welcome." It's simple, effective and it's proven.

Merry Christmas UFCW

Here's another lawsuit for your stocking... I smell a trend here (or someone just burned a batch of Christmas cookies).

First, on October 17, Smithfield Foods in North Carolina filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against the UFCW, claiming extortion and a smear campaign - including trying to undermine the company's stock price by leaking false statements to Wall Street stock analysts.

Now Bashas' grocery stores in Arizona filed a similar suit yesterday, against (1) the UFCW, (2) Phoenix City Councilman-elect Michael Nowakowski, (3)former gubernatorial candidate Alfred Gutierrez and (4) the "false-front" organization called Hungry for Respect.

Hungry for Respect's elves have picketed Bashas' stores and spread rumors about the health and cleanliness of Bashas' stores and products. Bob Grossfeld, spokesman for UFCW Local 99 says that while Hungry For Respect has received funding from the UFCW, it is not a union front and they have no direct relationship with it. Holy reindeer poop, are you kidding me? Go to http://www.hungryforrespect.org, download their PDF and go directly to page 17, where it says (and I quote), "Hungry for Respect Coalition A community project for the UFCW." Don't hide-- you spineless UFCW ninny, defend your position--what's that, you just wanted the dues money? You've been after Bashas' since 2001? Maybe you need to move on, 'cause there's only coal in your stocking this year.

Well, I really can't think of any more Christmas or "Holiday" puns, so let me close with this sobering thought instead: Corporate campaigns are real, they are ugly and many go on for years and years. Develop a game plan with your labor attorney (if you don't have a good labor attorney, ask to have one put under your tree-I mean that in a good way...), and work with an employee communications firm that has a few strategies to unwrap for you. In this case, it really is more than the thought that counts, so make it your resolution to start implementing in 2008.

Okay, I did have about 4 more puns in me, so sue the union of your choice. Merry Christmas to all and to all a Union free environment...

Big Head Ted Quiz

What Democratic Senator said, "This board has undermined collective bargaining at every turn."?

What Senator has been in Congress for 45 years and never chaired a House hearing?

What Senator waits almost 5 years before calling in and grilling NLRB chairman Robert Battista two days before his term expires at that hearing?

Who doesn't have a (insert Tony Soprano word here) clue about what he's talking about when it comes to the NLRB?

Who drives the long way home, around Chappaquiddick Island, rather than cross Dike Bridge?

Okay, it's giant head, poor me another drink, TED KENNEDY.

This past Thursday, Ted Kennedy and almost as dangerous House Representative Robert Andrews put on a political theater show with the hearing to quote, "amplify union attacks on the board" says Representative John Kline, Republican-Minnesota.

Here are some of the negative comments:

Andrews: NLRB decisions reflected an ideological bent of the quasi-judicial agency’s three-Republican majority to limit unionization.

Wilma Liebman, Democratic member of the board: Republican appointees give more weight to business prerogatives and to the right of workers not to form a union than they do to supporting collective bargaining.

Sherrod Brown, Democratic Senator-Ohio: The decline of the middle class in this country is the result of the decline of unions in this country.

Battista fires back:

He rejected the notion that the NLRB undermines unionization spitting out some stats left and right. Such as the agency has collected $110.3 million in back pay this year, has reinstated 2,456 employees. (During his five years as chairman, $604 million has been collected in back pay and 13,279 employees have been reinstated.)

2,439 election petitions were filed with 1,559 elections conducted (93% being held within 56 days) Unions won 54 percent of the time.

The NLRB backlog has been reduced from 621 to 207 cases.

He said the board does not take sides between workers and companies, but tries to ensure employees can freely choose or reject a union. If they embrace representation, the board “encourages collective bargaining,” he said.

“The law is neutral and so is this agency,” he said. “We’ve done a good job making the agency more productive and efficient. The vast bulk of our unfair labor disputes are dismissed or settled very early in the game.”

and last "We may not be champions to the unions, but we’re certainly champions to the employee.”

I say, bravo Mr. Battista, bravo and screw you Ted Kennedy.

As 3 of the 4 NLRB seats run out (including Battista's exit) when Congress breaks for the holidays, you might wonder what the real goal of the hearing was all about.

To demonstrate that the NLRB positions should go through the regular Senate confirmation process and that recess appointments are off limits...can you say "Borked?"

PS- To see Battista's full comments/oral statement from the hearing, click on the article title, "Big Head Ted Quiz" above.

Ask Not for Whom The Press Tolls...

By now, we all know the drill of a union Corporate Campaign. The unions aren't shy about it, and their tactics seem to be evolving into a more complex tangle, to the point where the public at large really has no way of knowing what the goals of the propaganda are.

First, the attack: Teamsters and members of 'Students Against Sweatshops' leaflet the Amherst, NY Foot Locker store.

The supposed target: New Era Cap, headquartered in Mobile, Alabama

The real target: The New Era Cap facility in Jackson, Alabama that is still union-free.

The Teamsters' corporate campaign: leafleting to alert holiday shoppers "that Foot Locker and New Era both have a troubling record on discrimination." The line of thinking was apparently to hit retailer Foot Locker in New York to end discrimination and worker intimidation at New Era's Mobile, Alabama facility.

The tactic: create a pseudo-environment at New Era that the EEOC and civil rights groups will investigate by having workers bring about charges of racial discrimination. Also file lawsuits of race or gender discrimination at Foot Locker.

The real goal: freak out a client (Foot Locker) that might apply pressure on its vendor (New Era Cap) to give in to the Teamster's (organizing, dues-collecting) demands.

What should Foot Locker and New Era have done? Called their labor attorneys first, and then (if it were me), I would have paid some members of the Young Republicans - college students - to hand out leaflets on the Teamster's membership decline and corruption within their ranks, with a big ole 25% off coupon on the back side of it. You see, the Teamsters announced in advance that they were going to be leafleting at Foot Locker on Wednesday, December 12 at 4:30pm. No real element of surprise - why?- Again, the real objective is the press coverage... not the event itself.

Here's another one...

The attack: celebrity cook and Food Network hostess, Paula Deen as 40 protesters supporting a labor union hit her Savannah, GA kitchen. What union? The UFCW.

The supposed target: Smithfield Foods, a Virginia-based company.

The real target: Smithfield's Tar Heel, NC facility--the world's largest pork processing plant.

The corporate campaign: attack Paula Deen, recently ranked #99 in Forbes' list of the 100 most powerful celebrities and endorser of Smithfield products. In addition to the restaurant protest, the UFCW follows her around the country showing up at book signings and paid appearances.

The real goal: disrupt a major marketing campaign by rattling the celebrity endorser herself. Make her stop endorsing Smithfield if the company refuses to make changes. What changes? Why, they are union-free and they need to be unionized. Paula Deen told the Associated Press this past Monday that she has no plans to intervene. "I feel that I'm being dragged into something that I'm certainly no expert at."

What should they (Smithfield and Paula Deen) have done? First, call their labor attorney and entertainment attorneys, respectively. Then, (and here's the really smart move) get booked on Larry King Live (Paula Deen really did this - click on the link under the title to see the interview). After that, follow through on Larry King's offer to hold a meeting with Deen, Smithfield and the UFCW and ka-boom let them have it for the world to see.

But, hey, that's just me, cheering for those not afraid to stand up for what they believe in. The bigger question is how can YOU make sure that you are not the target, either primary or secondary, of one of these underhanded Corporate Campaigns? Like any crisis preparation, it takes strategic planning and the right tools. Start today with powerful employee communications tools such as a video and website that help create "bullet-proof" employees.

When employees' voices are strongly in opposition to the damage unions can do and the divisiveness they can create, the company has created a voice that can clearly be heard above the din of a corporate campaigns.

Class, Today's letter is "U"

What class am I referring to? Why Union 101 and Union History class of course... Little Timmy and Susie may soon come home from school with their head chock full of unions and labor history, all courtesy of a proposal being considered in the Wisconsin Legislature.

"It's appalling how little high school graduates know about unions and labor history", said David Nack with the Wisconsin Labor History Society. "I think there are people out there who do not think that the history of organized labor is that important," Nack goes on to say.

You think? Are there really people out there who just don't care about the history of organized labor? Let's see my high school daughter already comes home with 4+ hours of homework a night, forcing me to constantly prove to her how little I remember from Calculus, Physics or American History... but hey let's pile on some Jimmy Hoffa...

Cuz, that I do know. I agree with the Nack-man. Let's teach all the kids in America about the decline of union membership from a high of 39% in 1958 to less than 8% today; let's watch a documentary today on Caterpillar and the UAW strike called "Six and a Half Years to Forget" and on Friday a test on Collective Bargaining. And class don't forget your papers are due Monday on "Why the EFCA is wrong on SO many levels?"

Sean Hannity just blew a blood vessel... This is real legislation waiting to be passed.

John Ashely, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Board which opposes the bill, states that "It makes sense for labor history to be included in the standards (in other words it's already covered but not as a single class or course), but not to require it under state law." Phil Neuenfeldt, secretary of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO argues, "Organized labor history is rarely taught and that handicaps student's ability to deal with the world in which they work.

By the way the bill is being introduced by Senator Dave Hansen, Democrat from Green Bay. And speaking of Union History there Dave, this was pushed in the Legislature back in 1997 and again in 2001, failing to receive a passing grade both times.

The lesson for today is: This is the kind of Union tactics that are happening all over the country, every single day. Before you learn about it from your children or your employees, I strongly urge you to enroll at Projections University. For a full course brochure go to http://www.projectionsinc.com/portal

Class dismissed.

"Would you like dues with that?"

Can anyone pick on Burger King more than my own kids? I mean that mascot of the Burger King dude is really scary looking. My son went as him at Halloween rather than Dracula...

But the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, that's right the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is going after the King. What do they want? Just an extra penny-a-pound pay increase for the tomato pickers they represent and Burger King is just their latest target. Let the corporate campaign begin as hundreds of demonstrators protested last week at Burger King's Miami headquarters--"Burger King exploits farmworkers" and "Exploitation King".

The CIW (I really can't say this name enough-the Coalition of Immokalee Workers) was successful with a similar campaign back in 2005 when it got McDonald's and Yum Brands (Taco Bell). You may recall that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter helped broker the deal. Because you know the CIW said "farm worker abuse" and "human trafficking"...but I digress.

I mean look at this quote by Cruz Salucio (age 23 from Gutemala): "Pickers who can't make enough money to take care of their families are often abused." Well then it must be true, if Cruz Salucio from Gutemala says so. He goes on the demand that Burger King sign the code of conduct (translation pay the extra penny) to "respect workers' human rights."

Let's go back to the 2005 McDonald's & Yum Brands' deal: the extra penny raised picker wages to 77 cents for each 32-pound bucket of tomatoes picked--a 71% wage hike. Burger King's position: the CIW has failed to provide any solutions for the real issues facing farm workers and that the CIW has not explained how the additional pay, spread over thousands of workers would meaningfully increase wages.

You should know that the CIW hostages are the tomatoes: Florida is the source of more than 90% of the fresh winter tomatoes produced in the U.S.

Who else wants the King? Try both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win. You didn't really think that I was writing about the Immokalee Workers did you? Also present in this corporate campaign: Arlene Holt Baker, the newly-elected Executive VP of the AFL-CIO along with Stewart Acuff, Director of Organizing. On the Change to Win side: SEIU 11 and UNITE HERE Local 355.

Can the union "Have it their way?" or "Would you like dues with that?" because you know that the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win coalition could care less about the Immokalee Workers but the Burger King employees are worth more than an extra penny. Next to the Democrats and strikes, a corporate campaign is the union's most powerful weapon...

Be prepared, have a plan - or if you know you could be a union's next target, then go ahead and create a communication tool for your management team or front-line supervisors with a custom website. Click on the link above or go to http://www.laborlook.com for more information.