Using Emotions, Union Organizers Get Authorization Cards Signed Uber Easily.

As the adage goes: Happy employees don’t unionize.
The underlying premise of that statement is, as most human resources professionals know, if your employees are unhappy, they become a ripe target for union organizers who prey on employees’ emotions.
What’s more, when employees are upset with their employers, they will often sign union authorization card without even knowing what the card actually means.
Here’s a case in point via the Village Voice:

Hunched over in the middle of a throng of screaming Uber drivers and activists, Abdul Diallo stood patiently filling out a union card a stranger had just handed him. He says he has no idea what the card means, but he’s getting desperate. “Maybe they can help me?” the 50-year-old Uber driver says. “But right now, I feel like I’m going to be homeless.” [Emphasis added.]

Even though Uber drivers (at this point) are independent contractors, the article explains how Uber drivers are upset Uber has slashed fares in New York and, on Monday, the drivers responded by protesting outside the company.

While Uber says the fare reduction should result in drivers making more than they were because they will be getting more passengers, drivers don’t seem to see it the same way.
It is that anger that the United Drivers Network (which may be affiliated with the Amalgamated Transport Union) appears to be tapping into.
And, by using that anger, the union is more than happily able to get drivers like Abdul Diallo to sign union authorization cards…even if the drivers have “no idea what the card means.”

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