Who can join the union?
Every full time & part time material handler would be in the union bargaining unit. This includes Problem Solvers, SAS, and trainers.
What's the risk of unionizing?
Union dues are $0 until we agree on a contract, so there’s really no risk for employees. A union would negotiate a contract with Kohl’s that covers just about everything: hourly wages, holiday pay, guaranteed scheduling, health insurance, other benefits, PTO, UA, steps for disciplinary action, etc. A union contract could even determine whether supervisors are able to force workers to be sent to other departments.
How much are union dues?
Union dues are about 2.5 times your hourly wage. Example: If you currently make $20 an hour, but the Union helps us to negotiate a $5 pay raise, you’ll be at $25. So monthly union dues would be $62.50 — So you would earn $10,000 more per year, but pay $750 a year in dues.
Can Kohl's shut down EFC 3 if we unionize?
This is ILLEGAL. Also, only 1% of businesses do shut down due to union organizing. So, it would be illegal to make this threat. And it would also be an empty threat. Kohl’s spends an average of $467 million a year on stock buybacks and $220 million on dividends. Giving a $5 raise to EFC3 would only cost $5 million. Giving $5 to all EFCs would only cost $30 million. If Kohl’s decided to be part of that 1% that shuts down the building, they would be losing much more than $5 or $30 million. A majority of Americans support unions. Shutting down a warehouse due to union organizing could cause irrepairable damage to the company image.
How long to form a union?
As long as it takes. It could be as fast as 6 weeks. The lengthiest part is getting 30% of employees to sign the union authorization form. After that, we will petition for a secret ballot union election and vote. Someone from the NLRB Baltimore office should be able to send someone to Kohl’s EFC 3 for a vote within a month of us filing the petition.
How long to negotiate a contract?
I really don’t know. Kohl’s currently does not have any unions at all, so they might want to delay this as long as possible. However, most Americans support unions. It could create a bad look for the company if they delay this and do not attempt to negotiate a contract with us. I have some ideas for how to create urgency and give us leverage. But I’m not going to post that yet. Just trust me.
Are unions corrupt?
Some unionized companies do have weak contracts. Some have really great ones. If we unionize, we basically are the union. We would have a handful of employees that negotiate the contract terms with Kohl’s. The union would just be there to provide assistance.
Even after we negotiate the contract, the employees would vote on it. A majority must agree to the contract for it to go into effect. We would have control of our wages, benefits, and working conditions. Unlike now where Kohl’s decides everything without consulting with us. Big corporations like to minimize employee compensation so they can maximize profits for executives and shareholders.
Do you have any questions?
Email me at efc3union@gmail.com
If you don’t want to send an email and want to anonymously ask questions, you can post on Reddit. Go to this subreddit and post a question. https://www.reddit.com/r/rEFC3Union/