the single best way to avoid unions is simply to treat people right in the first place–we–humans-not bosses-are not very good at this–MOST employers are decent folk—they are also SMALL businesses and really cant afford any more then what they offer their employees—the unions came about as a result of the operations of larger companies and unsafe work conditions and unfair labor practises—like 10-12 hr days,6&1/2 day work weeks, child labor.etc—Granted–unions are not always the “good guys”-but they are NOT out to ruin America—Jman list the things you have to do for “Union Avoidance”—these are EXACTLY what Union s fought for and i find it hard to believe that just becasues a shop is “union” that means that you can not jump in and help out to fix a problem–in all the years i have been working i never saw a union contract that forbids cooperation! Nuff said.1

Tiki, I still have membership in a couple of unions that I’d never give up. But I have belonged to unions that forbade any sort of cooperation with management outside the specifics of the contract. When I was a kid I worked as an oiler on permit from the Operating Engineers. We were forbidden to spend half a second after a whisle blew working. I once had to let a generator to kill itself because I was on break when it needed lubrication. Working for Detroit Steel I had to drop coils while operating a crane because it was time for lunch. As a member of the Wire Service Guild I wasn’t allowed to shoot pictures when a photographer was not on assignment, and I couldn’t even hand copy to a teletype operator for transmission. Also, I was not permitted to finish writing or editing a news story if my shift had ended, regardless of the urgency of the story. As a member of the stagehands union (IATSE) I couldn’t even page a chimp at an ice show under certain circumstances.