Non-union companies usually work to keep an eye out for signs of union organization among their workforces. However, they are generally focusing on unions and union organizers, not nonprofit groups like “worker centers.” Yet some of these worker centers have begun aggressively partnering with unions, targeting non-union employees, pressuring companies to change working conditions and even leading work stoppages as a prelude to forming a union. These “union front organizers,” or UFOs, don’t follow the same rules and regulations as unions, even while some lay the groundwork for unionization. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that two nonprofit community groups, backed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the United Steelworkers, successfully began the process of organizing nearly 200 carwash workers in Los Angeles and New York.
Under their union contracts, New York carwash workers who had been paid $7.25 an hour will now receive $7.53 an hour, including tips, along with five days of paid sick leave for the first time. Their pay rate will jump to $9.18 an hour by the third and final year of the contract.