Sound management and the fair treatment of employees may be the only way to prevent the entry of a union. An employer that provides everything for its employees that a union might promise deprives the union of organizing leverage. Virtually all collective bargaining units are born of anger or fear. Fear of the future and economic uncertainty. Managers who are blind to that anxiety are in for a surprise.
Good management requires no secrets.
It embodies many things. Managers need not coddle employees, but they must be sensitive to employee concerns. Grievance and complaint-resolution channels should be created and scrupulously used so that problems and unrest can be detected and confronted. Workplace policies against discrimination in all its forms must be communicated to supervisors and employees, and enforced aggressively and fairly. Economic uncertainty is tough enough to deal with.