Prompted by UFCW representatives, members of the Florabunda workers’ o

QUESTION

Prompted by UFCW representatives, members of the Florabunda workers’ organizing committee develop a campaign to encourage fellow workers to support unionization.

Which of the following strategies would be most effective in building support for their effort?
A) Post pro-union posters and flyers in public places.
B) Focus on specific workplace issues that have been common topics of complaint and which management has not been able to resolve.
C) Organize a picket line outside the greenhouse to encourage workers to vote in favor of unionizing.
D) Explain the benefits that unions have been able to win for employees in other fields of work, such as automobile manufacturing.
E) Warn workers that if they do not allow the UFCW to represent them, they all might lose their jobs.

ANSWER

Answer: B
Explanation: B) Management’s strongest argument is that workers’ grievances can be handled in-house without reliance on a union. So Choice B is correct: if employees’ experience shows that complaints are not being acted on, then the union organizer has a strong argument. The other choices are more general arguments for unions or come close to coercion. Publicizing the move to unionize, as in Choices A and C, makes the effort more visible to the media and the general public, but it doesn’t do much to present to workers a positive argument in favor of union representation. Choice D may be true, but it does not necessarily follow that the UFCW will be able to win similar benefits at this location. Choice E is a scare tactic that could backfire if management is able to show that the claim is not true.