Management hostility to unions ran deep at Beverly Farm, a privately run, state-funded facility for the developmentally disabled in Godfrey. Although he hired an anti-union lawyer to intimidate the employees, they nevertheless voted to join Council 31 in 1994. Then they spent the next five years fighting to win their first contract. Once they did the director quit. Frequently, employers also will hand out raises to make employees feel they don't need a union.
Supervisors often hand out anti-union literature.
They also may talk with individual workers, trying to raise doubts about the union. Still, the union keeps winning, and the victories aren't restricted to private-sector employees. But I think we've got a long way to go. Organizing is but one way to address privatization of mental health and developmental disability centers. Another is to improve the quality of the facilities.