But non-union employers have a habit of violating the law to delay, or even halt, union representation. Sometimes employers blatantly ignore the NLRA because penalties aren t severe enough and administrative procedures are too slow. Any sanctions that are imposed come too little and too late. The bosses hire union-busting firms that specialize in stopping organizing momentum. Sometimes, these firms advise management to deceive workers with promises of higher pay and better working conditions.
Some employers inappropriately use public funds to pay the union busters.
When that doesn t work, the employers start intimidating and firing employees in an attempt to break the organizing campaign. In addition, the NLRA permits employers to bar union employee organizers from the job site. Organizer Richard Bensinger is appalled that the NLRA can be applied so unfairly, especially since it s intended to encourage collective bargaining. But the relative power and access of the employer never allowed for a truly free choice, he said, and anti-union consultants and lawyers have further undermined the process by exploiting every loophole in the law. In Bensinger s view, employers have made a mockery of it.