The National Labor Relations Act
The first thing you must realize is that union organizing and activities are protected by law, and
the law is evolving. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) provides employees with the right to
organize and to engage in protected, concerted activity, which means two or more employees acting
together. This activity is protected if the issues concern wages, hours, or terms and conditions of
employment. Thus, two employees who walk out of a nonunion hotel's kitchen because it is too hot are
protected. It is unlawful to interfere with employees' organizing rights. Thus, as an employer, you may
not refuse to hire employees, fire, or discipline them because they want to form a union. You are also
prohibited from forming company unions (unions that are controlled by or answer to management).
Most hotel organizing in the twenty-first century has been the result of efforts by large international
unions as opposed to small local or regional groups.
Traditional Organizing Drives
The typical organizing approach under the "old-fashioned" method involves a union targeting a
particular company from the outside. In that situation, the union begins by selecting a possible target,
assessing employees' interest in organizing, identifying the issues that concern employees, and then
contacting the employees to begin the communication process. Other times, employees may start
organizing from within and then seek out a union for representation. Regardless, once contact is made
between the union and the employees, the union campaign begins in earnest. The contact may come in
the form of a "blitz" as the union bombards the employees with information, or a slow buildup of
support. In rarer situations, the union may send their members to apply for jobs in a "Trojan horse"
technique. The applicants' real reason for applying for work is to gain access to other employees. This
method, referred to as salting, may strike you as unfair, but it is protected by law. Even if an applicant
openly admits to you in his job interview that he is applying for an open position so that he can organize
your workforce on behalf of a union, you cannot decline to hire him on that basis.1 Another method for
organizing is to enter your property and hand out authorization cards (referred to as "hand billing") or
set up picket lines at the entrances and exits to your property for the same purpose. All of these
approaches fit within the traditional method of organizing because they all culminate in a governmentmonitored
election at your hotel or resort.
The NLRA sets forth the laws regulating this traditional form of employee organization, which
follows the critical path shown in Figure 30.1.2 Under those rules, before any labor organization can be
certified as the exclusive bargaining representative for any group of your employees, the emp