Abstract
Anti-union campaigns conducted by specialists are widely employed and generally successful. Although they have been described in some detail, there has been little analysis as to how they are able to persuade workers to vote against their interests. This study proposes a model of the anti-union campaign in which different personality types gravitate into one of three camps: union supporters, union opponents, and swing voters. Anti-union messages evoke different reactions from each and are intended to drive a wedge between swing voters and union supporters. This model suggests several ways unions could make their campaigns more effective by taking personality differences into account.
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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank my wife, June McMahon for her assistance and encouragement. Nick Builder, a retired organizer, provided helpful comments, and former colleague and once newspaperman Robert Dudnick was a patient editor. Professor Amy Pond helped with my research of the literature. My most important instructors in the complexities of organizing were the people who volunteered for organizing committees on campaigns to which I was assigned. They are, unfortunately, too numerous to mention.
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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by either of the authors. There were no individual participants in this study and, thus, informed consent does not apply to this study.
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Lepie, J. The Union-Buster’s Toolkit. Employ Respons Rights J 28, 249–264 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-016-9283-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-016-9283-z