Labor 101-School is in Session

Today's News reads: "Graduate assistants at Florida State University have voted overwhelmingly (76.2%) in favor of joining union."..."This was a totally grassroots effort."..."We talked to thousands of graduate employees over the past 17 months. We wanted to improve our working conditions."..."To have this historic moment is just amazing."

This is a going to be a costly lesson for FSU, one from which all companies can learn. FSU Provost Larry Abele said, "Negotiations can prove costly for the university, depending on how long it takes to come to terms."

Could this all have been avoided? More than likely, and here's why: What originally led to the organizing drive, I do not know and it doesn't really matter, because the university failed to communicate it's union-free position to the Graduate assistants. Or at the very least, provide any education on how important their votes were in the election, regardless of which way they would have voted. You see, the "overwhelming" majority that voted for the union, the 76.2%, was only 448 Graduate assistants. The 140 that voted against the union make up the balance of those that actually voted... out of 3,000 eligible voters.

Are you with me? That's 2,412 that didn't vote. That's 2,412 that woke up today-- unionized and unaware of what just happened. What happened was that 448 decided the fate of 3,000. Congratulations Union, you won because of apathy, no one cared enough to vote. If a majority of the Graduate assistants actually cared "overwhelmingly" about the union, they would have gotten out of bed and actually cast a ballot for that union. But the reality is that 2,412 either a) didn't know about the vote, b)didn't understand the seriousness about the vote, c) didn't know the voting procedures, or d) did not care enough about the university or the union (or their own happiness on the job) to actually vote.

So, the reality is that less than 20% of the eligible voter pool decided the fate of everyone. That means that 15% of the Graduate assistants voted for the Union, 5% voted against unionization and 80% just let it happen to them. FSU management missed an opportunity to communicate to it's employees and put themselves in the driver's seat. The Union seized the opportunity and won, making it look "overwhelmingly" easy.

Remember that this is how you become unionized under today's rules. Tomorrow's rules could be EFCA-driven and these Grad Assistants wouldn't have even had an election. Union pressure to sign cards combined with employee apathy and lack of labor education will again put Unions in the driver's seat.

So what can everyone learn from FSU's all-around lack of awareness? Companies with a union-free philosophy must develop a labor communication strategy to communicate, BEFORE the union ever comes calling. Don't let fewer than 20% of employees decide the fate of your company and their fellow workers.