Henry Is the Owner and President of a Machine Shop

Essay

Henry is the owner and president of a machine shop with 36 employees.Of these,30 persons are employed as machinists and the other six work in the office or in sales.There has never been union representation.In the same industrial park is a dealership for heavy equipment such as that used in road construction or surface mining.There are about 50 mechanics who have formed a union at the heavy equipment dealership.Some of these mechanics have been trying to get the machinists at Henry's machine shop to join their union.The union formed by the mechanics is not affiliated with any national union.Henry believes he has been a good employer and fears a union will drive a wedge between him and his employees.Henry's employees currently are at-will employees.Henry takes several actions to prevent his machinists from voting to join the union.He has forbidden any representatives of the mechanic's union from coming on to his premises.In addition,he has reminded his employees that they are at-will employees,and if he hears of any of them discussing the union with any of the mechanics,they will immediately lose their jobs.He also gives all his employees a $1-per-hour wage increase,and tells them that if a union is formed,they will have to start at zero and negotiate a new wage.Henry has also considered offering to form a company union if it looks like the union vote might succeed.Discuss the legal implications of the union's and Henry's activities.