Union organizing will be a primary goal for big labor in 2024 following the recent deals between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. While many employers don't want unions, the threat of union organizing can help companies take employee concerns more seriously.
"I have always been glad there is some threat of unions," said Phyllis Hartman, SHRM-SCP, president of the Pittsburgh HR consulting firm PGHR Consulting. "They prevent employers from getting lazy about employee satisfaction."
However, she added that "having been an HR director in a union environment, I prefer a nonunion organization."
Possible Springboard for Organizing
The key question to watch in the next year is whether the UAW's deals with the automakers and the Teamsters' agreement with UPS can be converted into organizing victories, said Martin Malin, founding director of Chicago-Kent College of Law's Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace in Chicago.
The Teamsters are trying to organize nonunion logistics companies and Amazon, while the UAW is attempting to unionize foreign car manufacturers with factories in the U.S., he said. In addition, the UAW is seeking to organize Tesla, reports The New York Times.
"Under its prior leadership, the UAW failed miserably in organizing the nonunionized auto sector," he said. "We'll see if [UAW President] Shawn Fain and his team can do better."
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