Follow these 4 tips to avoid union strikes

Some 450 members of United Steelworkers Local 40 went on strike on October 1, 2021, when the union failed to reach a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with management at Special Metals, a plant based in Huntington, West Virginia, which develops and produces nickel alloys. Like many employers dealing with strikes, it's likely Special Metals is doing its utmost to maintain high standards and meet customer needs despite the union’s efforts. Successful strategies for dealing with strikes are certainly important, but employers are generally more motivated to take measures to prevent strikes before they happen because the consequences can be severe. Here are four major tips to avoid strikes before the work stoppage occurs.

Proactively take action to prevent unionization

The best way to avoid a strike is to prevent a union from organizing in the first place. You should look for warning signs to anticipate when employees may organize to form a union. Warning signs can include:

• Influx of complaints made to agencies;
• High turnover among employees;
• Workers who used to cooperate with you but no longer doing so;
• Employees socializing with coworkers with whom they didn’t regularly mingle with in the past, and
• Good employees turning down opportunities for promotion without exhibiting a good reason.

Other warning signs include employees asking for representatives when employers engage them in counseling or investigation or when words such as “due process” and “unfair labor practice” (ULP) begin to appear in conversations.