Talking points describing what it means to sign a union card

Scott, Leonard C

English

DigitalCommons@ILR

Cornell University ILR School 
DigitalCommons@ILR 
Leonard Scott Union-Prevention and Counter-
Union Campaign Consulting Files, 1966-2013 
Kheel Center for Labor-Management 
Documentation & Archives 
1979 
Card Signing Talk, circa 1979 
Leonard C. Scott 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/leonardscott 
Thank you for downloading an article from DigitalCommons@ILR. 
Support this valuable resource today! 
This WCIRA Campaign Procedures and What Employers Can and Cannot Do is brought to you for free and open 
access by the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives at DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been 
accepted for inclusion in Leonard Scott Union-Prevention and Counter-Union Campaign Consulting Files, 
1966-2013 by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@ILR. For more information, please contact 
catherwood-dig@cornell.edu. 
If you have a disability and are having trouble accessing information on this website or need materials in an 
alternate format, contact web-accessibility@cornell.edu for assistance. 
Card Signing Talk, circa 1979 
Abstract 
Talking points describing what it means to sign a union card. 
This wcira campaign procedures and what employers can and cannot do is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: 
https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/leonardscott/39 
✓ 
CARD SlGNING TALK 
I have asked you to ge t tog e the r to di s cuss a matter that 
has come to our attention concerning some activity on behalf of a 
union organization in our plant and area. This could become a 
v e ry serious ma tte r, and you need to know the facts, and where 
our Company stands. 
I would rather talk to you off the cuff, but so there 
will be no misunderstanding, I am reading my remarks. (Insert 
name of individual following) is following me with a copy as I 
read. I feel that you should be informed of your rights and 
understand exactly what you would be doing should you be asked 
to sign a union card. 
A union agent or union pusher in the plant may ask you to 
sign a union card. In an effort to get you to sign a card, a 
lot of fancy promises may be made that cannot be kept. You may 
be told that the only purpose of this card is t o get a n election 
to see if a majority of our people are willing to turn their 
rights over to the union. Remember - these cards are carefully 
worded binding contracts which could give the union the right 
to speak for al l your working conditions without an election. 
A union c ard is a legal document. Before you sign a union card, 
you should know that you may be turning over valuable, personal 
rights to the union. 
Sometimes t he union pe ople will use threats that you 
have to sign a card or you will lose your j o b, or promise that 
you will get a pay raise or some other threat or promise. Don't 
you believe a word of it. Tha t card is the first step the union 
knows it must take to get in here and take some union dues money out 
of your pay. If the union can get enough of you to sign, it will 
be one step closer to getting its hands on your paycheck. 
You don't have to sign a card to work here, and you don't 
have to be a union member to work here and you never will. If 
anyone tries to put pressure on you to make you sign a card, I 
want you to report it to your supervisor or to me, immediately, 
and we will see that it is stopped. Anyone who threatens you 
in any way to get you to sign a card will be discharged immediately, 
be cause we don't operate that way around here; we never have and 
we never will. 
An organizer who approaches you may use the trick of let-
ting you b e lief that he is asking you to sign a card which will be 
kept "strictly confiden tial." Let ' s see about that. In small 
print on the card is the statement that says something like: 
" I hereby designate the union as my exclusive 
representative concerning my wages, hours, and conditions 
of employme nt." 
This statement means that the union, if it gets enough cards of 
this s or t , could actually keep you from having an election. 
The union c a n and does take these cards and go into court in an 
effort to prove th at th ey have a majority of you "signed up." 
In order to prove the majority, the union makes the cards a 
matter o f public record, destroying the confidential nature 
of the cards. If you do no t sign, then there is no way the 
union can force you into court to testify about it. In a court 
hea ring, each e mployee who sig ne d a card could be called upon 
Page -2-
to come into court a nd t es t i f y . This has happened in many places 
and with this union. You should know that when you sign a card, 
the union could get your rights and money, whether or not an 
election is eve r held, and even if there is an election and the 
union loses, the y can still attempt to use these cards to over-
turn your vote . It is possible for the union to actually get 
into the plant and represent you on the ba s is of these cards, 
whethe r you want them to or not. Therefore, it is very impor-
tant that you understand e xactly what you are doing if you are 
asked to sign one of these cards. My advice is that you should 
ne ver sign your name to anything unless you are absolutely sure 
you know how you can be held legally liable. 
Another trick sometimes used to get you to sign a card, 
is to tell you that e ve ryone else in the department or area has 
signed exc ept you, even when the union knows this is not true. 
Many union organizers don't care how cards are signed, just so 
they are signed. They have even paid "so . much ahead" to the 
people they hire to solicit for the un ion. They will promise you 
more pay, less work, more be nefits and just about anything else 
the y think you will believe, to get you to sign a union card. 
The truth is, howe v e r, the only way the union organize r 
can try to ma ke his promises come true is by corning to see the 
company a nd a s king the company to make them good. The law says 
t ha t t he union cannot for ce the Company to do anything that it 
doe s not be lie ve to be in the b e st interest of employees and 
the company. If the company should not agree t o unreasonable 
union demands, the union's usual response is to call you out ·on 
the street on strike . 
Page -3-
• As all of y ou know, a s trike i s never pleasant. In addi-
tion to the possible trouble a nd viol e nce, jobs and customers 
have been lost forever becaus e of strikes. Strikers don't get 
; paid; striker's don't get unemployment compensation; yet family 
expenses keep on going, week after week. 
A paycheck is important to pay the monthly bills we all 
have. Your paycheck is large r than it would be if you had to pay 
union dues, as well as any fines and assessments. Don't forget 
that plants which run the risk of having strikes are the ones that 
have a union. Sometimes employees ar e aske d to go on strike even 
though they have no dispute with their money. I am sure most of 
you have no desire to pay the International Union money so they 
can turn it over to someone else in another plant or city who 
happens to b e on strike. 
I b e lie ve that each of you are able to talk for yourself, 
and that if you have a problem, you can look after your own interest 
better than anyone else. Any time you have a problem you can take 
it u p h e re, with people who can do some thing about it. Anybody 
who tQinks I am going to listen to an outsider, rather than to you, 
is sadly mi staken. I am sure most of you feel the same way I do and 
wo uld rath e r continue to have this p e rsonal relationship rath e r 
than have some third party outsider come between us. The union 
fellow does not know you and you can't depend upon some unknown 
g uy who runs the union to r e ally keep a promise. The company 
is opposed to a union here because we are convinced by our experience 
and the experience of many others that you are better off now and 
will always be b e tter off without a union. 
I do not know of a nything t hat th e union can do for you 
Page -4-
I, • ' -
., 
.. 
that you a r e no t ab le to do fn r yourself. I think we should work 
directly togeth e r as we ha ve in t he pas t, a nd not have these 
outsiders interfe ring with our jobs and our lives. 
If you have any questions about what I have been talking 
about, feel free to come to your supervisor or to me or anyone 
else in management and we will give you the answers. 
Thank you for your a ttention. 
Page -5-


Card Signing Talk, circa 1979

Talking points describing what it means to sign a union card.6474b1f12_06.pdf: 4 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Scott, Leonard C.

eCommons (Cornell Univ.)

https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&amp;context=leonardscott

Card Signing Talk, circa 1979

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

DigitalCommons@ILR

eCommons (Cornell Univ.)