Most managers and supervisors within small businesses and corporations are untrained and/or inexperienced when it comes to a union's organizing campaign and need to quickly learn how to respond within the guidelines of the NLRA. Professional union organizers plan and direct a union campaign but the actual work of organizing is generally carried out by employees selected and trained to form a plant organizing committee.

When a union campaign has begun, the organizers are often ahead of supervision in communicating with employees and perhaps making promises that employees do not fully understand. The organization needs to make key action decisions. 

The Burke Group works with the leadership team to quickly understand the issues, develop a campaign response plan and educate the leadership on all aspects of the organizing process. TBG brings the management team together to meet the union’s challenge. 

TBG is committed to building a positive workplace climate encouraging managements' direct communication with employees. We encourage managers and employees to become fully engaged in resolving workplace problems together. Our consultants train, coach, counsel, AND develop an employee communications program and motivate supervisors and managers right up to the election date.

We identify employee concerns, make recommendations, and work with managers and employees to build a better workplace. We are engaged to strengthen the internal consultation process, encourage two-way dialogue, and ensure line managers and employees are fully informed about the complex process of union recognition.

TBG fully respects each person's legal right to belong to a trade union and we advocate for the right to make individual and informed decisions about union-based collective bargaining.

ACT Training provides the information and skills needed during an “active” union organizing campaign regarding the legal role of managers/supervisors.  We provide:

• An overview of appropriate Labor Law
• What you cannot say and do, but, more importantly, what you CAN say and do
• Techniques a union may use
• How to convey information about the union to employees
• How to promote your organization.

The unit determination decision often has a critical impact on the result of a union election.  A union has the right to file a petition to represent only that group of your employees it believes to have the best chance of winning.  You have to be prepared to quickly make a decision on who you believe should be in the voting unit shortly after the union petition is filed.  Will you have the right information to make that decision?  Working with your leadership, TBG consultants provide the expertise you’ll need to make the best decision possible.

The Burke Group has developed a planning and communications process that effectively breaks that paradigm by providing the organization with the necessary training and tools.  We have developed and copyrighted a process known as Fair and Accurate Communication Through Supervisors (FACTS™). This allows management to take back communications from the union and dispel rumors before they start, which results in avoiding:

• Unnecessary work stoppages
• Damaging false rumors
• Low attendance at contract ratifications meetings
• Misunderstanding of union free employees
• Unions controlling communication to employees

This has been a an innovative training tool which all organizations should consider utilizing for the most effective approach to future negotiations.

When a union campaign has begun, the organization needs to make some key action decisions.  The Burke Group works with the leadership team to quickly understand the issues, develop a campaign strategy and educate the leadership on all aspects of the organizing process. TBG brings the management team together to meet the union’s challenge.  Our consultants train, coach, counsel, AND develop an employee communications program and motivate supervisors and managers right up to the election date or until a union withdraws or walks away. Employees will demonstrate their conviction to remain union free by exercising their right to vote and my making an "informed" decision. TBG possesses the professional expertise at all levels of a union's organizing efforts that guarantees the voting unit will be "informed".

In almost every employee or labor/labour relations initiative, the key to success is securing the effective support of the front line management team. Well-trained supervisors not only need to understand the importance of a well managed work environment that should require no union, but also the fundamentals required to do so. Our training provides management with the skills, tools and coaching necessary to be successful. Where appropriate, we utilize professionally produced videos and training aids, which have proven effective, or we produce products tailored to the workforce.

Supervisory training will include the following content:

• The National Labor Relations Act
• Specific Union Awareness Training
• Card Signing Mitigation
• Effective Communication and Advocacy Strategies
• Relevant Case Studies
• Questions and Answers About the Campaign
• Business Literacy