book review - Fighting Union Busters

Keeping a union intact and vibrant is a constant effort, particularly in North Carolina, a “right to work” state, where it’s illegal to require union membership. 

Fighting Union Busters traces an intensive battle when carpet maker Mohawk Industries in Eden, North Carolina, enticed members to decertify their union, a pretext for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vote declaring the plant non-union. 

Experienced union organizer and author Cohen was dispatched to mobilize the union membership.  He carefully helped workers document illegal management activity.  Federal law requires that workers, not a company, decide whether a workplace is union or not. 

The decertification battle reads almost like a novel.  Cohen interjects his personal story along with the local union leadership efforts and the rank-and-file workers’ reactions.  As one reads, the tension grows – will this union survive? 

Cohen and union activists documented enough legal violations that the NLRB eventually declared the company’s effort illegal and sustained the union.  The union contract benefited non-union workers and they stepped up, testifying to federal agents about corporate tactics.  Cohen kept the union members on track, bringing non-union workers in to testify about illegal practices and building a case that the anti-union drive was corporate manipulation.

After the union win, Cohen reoriented the union members toward a more amicable relationship with management, convincing them that positive relations would help keep the plant open.  He also covers grievances, lay-offs and other less dramatic efforts that are a union’s daily fare.

This book is almost a primer on union representation.  Cohen includes clear explanation on federal law, union rights and even the leaflets he produces.  This is a great way to learn basic union rights and the how an organizer works with members and leadership to ensure their voice is heard yet also keeps the union moving forward.

This is an easy read and the intensive fight to stop the union busting campaign builds momentum within the book.  A union representative’s job is a constant effort, maintaining self-discipline and building relationships with members, union officers, management and federal agents.  Anyone who thinks the job is easy would learn from Cohen’s experience.  Learning how a union operates with staff like Cohen and elected local members offers great insights.

Fighting Union Busters in a Carolina Carpet Mill: An Organizer’s Memoir

By Phil Cohen

McFarland Books, 2020