My opinion is that if workers are looking to unionize then management has failed to meet their needs. Most often it is not money that drives workers to seek out a union. It may be a public works diirector that does not treat workers evenly and fairly. Policy is not clear and is not applied equally. Joe may get time off whenever he needs it and Harry gets told no we are too busy. It may also be that the workers feel that they are not appreciated and have no voice with the town.
We sucessfully deunionized several of our locations here in New Jersey by treating the worker fairly and paying a fair wage and benefits for the area and work. We had to make workers trust management to do the right thing as apposed to trusting the union to watch out for their well being.
Meredith should fight the attempt by taking a good look at their management and addressing the workers concerns. My limited contact with DPW employees at the recycling center has told me that they are hard working but do not seem to be a happy work force.
Pay is only one small part of the equation. The changes to work rules that will come about as the workers try to negotiate away what makes them unhappy will be far costlier in productivity.
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