Making Unions Unnecessary

During the Industrial Revolution from 1820 to 1900, the US began to establish factories in big cities and expanded resource extraction to secure oil, coal, minerals and wood. The demand for steel was increasing. Railroads, bridges, dams and other big jobs needed to be completed to sustain growth.

The lack of mechanization made big jobs labor intensive and dangerous.  Productivity was critical to staying in business. The Leaders in major industries were inventing solutions to their problems and had no time for “employee relations”.  Labor was a commodity and many workers were injured, became disabled and died. Plagues claimed thousands of lives each year before the invention of penicillin in 1928. Families and communities cared for widows and orphans.

Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto in 1848 suggesting that the working poor in British factories could use democracy as a way to increase their family incomes. Socialism would destroy individual property rights, but the poor had little or no property.  The Poor have always outnumbered the Rich, so collective action looked feasible.

But Socialism creates tyranny with murder and ends in bankruptcy.

The Labor Unions were formed as part of the Marxist inspired Socialist Movement and employed all the violence associated with Communist takeovers. This violence was codified into law as a “right” in the 1930s, by Socialist US Politicians.

By the 1960s, US companies had reflected on the damage Unions could do and knew the causes of unionism.  They were looking for managers who could treat employees well and still get the job done. I trained to do this in college with courses in science, math, literature, philosophy and theology and graduated in 1965. I already had a good understanding of science, math, business, finance, accounting and economics from high school and my family.

I had seen companies fail, because they were divided between Union and Management.  I saw Union violence in car bombings and Mafia tactics.  I concluded that companies could do better by adopting better treatment of employees to avoid unionization.  We called it “making unions unnecessary”.

In the 1960s, I entered the Personnel Field to make Unions unnecessary. I wasn’t alone. From 1960 to 2020, we all but eradicated unions from the US Manufacturing Private Sector.

Employees appreciated policies that led to hiring the best co-workers. Pay had to be competitive for each level of skill. Employees had to assimilate and work well with others. Supervisors had to communicate, appreciate their employees and treat them with respect.

My activities required an accurate read on human nature and a solid world-view. To hire employees, I studied their jobs and wrote job descriptions.  I used multiple salary surveys to determine “competitive pay”.  I called employees “sir” and “mam”. I used humor to keep people “real” and make work more fun.  I hired the best employees I could find. I tested all applicants.  I promoted automation of boring tasks and added more interesting job content to increase job satisfaction.

I refused to work in a restrictive bureaucracy.  I chose my jobs with emerging companies where I could do the most good.

My take on Unions was negative. I saw their anti-company propaganda as sabotage. Unions encouraged the “entitlement mentality” common in socialist states.

In 1967, I pushed to get rid of the Teamsters at Kearney by closing the plant in St. Louis and moving to Atlanta.

In 1968, I joined Monsanto HQ to ensure that pay was competitive to continue defeating union attempts by OCAW

In 1971, I defeated the SEU organizing attempt at Washington U. Medical Campus and established HR.

In 1972, I handled Union negotiations at Washington U Main Campus and the unions decertified. I automated HR data.

In 1975, I joined Schwan Foods in Salina KS to automate the plant and upgrade systems. We had a no layoff policy and promoted from within.  We remained union free.

In 1982, I decertified the UAW from Rickel Manufacturing in Salina KS to sell it to a competitor.

In 1983, I stopped CWA from organizing Hayes Microcomputer Products in Atlanta, ramped up employment and improved systems. We remained union free.

In 1986, I joined Electromagnetic Sciences in Atlanta to ramp up employment for the Reagan defense build-up. We remained union free.

In 1993, I was kidnapped to form my own private consulting practice for the electronics manufacturing companies in Atlanta.

In 2017, I closed this consulting practice to write this blog.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader