Fear at Work:

An Inside account of how employers threaten, intimidate and harass workers to stop them from exercising their right to collective bargaining

Written by Gordon Lafer, Ph.D. and Lola Loustaunau

A majority of American workers say they’d like to have a union at their workplace – but less than 1% see this wish come true each year through National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections.  The primary reason for this is the weakness of federal labor law, which allows employers to engage in intimidation tactics that would be illegal in any other election to public office.  Employees in workplace elections have no right to free speech or a free press, are threatened with losing their jobs if they vote to establish a union, and are regularly forced to hear one-sided propaganda with no right to ask questions or offer opposing views.  And a $340-million-a-year industry of “union avoidance” consultants guides employers in how to exploit these weaknesses in the law. 

This report provides detailed inside accounts of two union drives – at a tire plant in Georgia and a TV streaming service company in Texas – to illustrate with real life examples how employers use threats and coercion to intimidate employees out of exercising their legal right to collective bargaining – even in workplaces where a majority of employees want a union.