Back in the 70s, I had a trucking customer that was a parts manufacturer for several industrial equipment manufacturers. I delivered several loads of steel there and got to know the receiver pretty well. He was really happy working there, wages were well above average and the owner treated employees like family, great benefits, generous vacation time, big weekend picnic in the summer and lavish Christmas party. But a couple of people who had hired in were trying to get the union in to represent the workers. He was afraid it was going to damage the relationship with the owner and the employees. Sure enough, an election was scheduled to vote on union representation. A couple of days later the owner called everyone to the cafeteria and laid it all out in plain and simple language. He was not going to allow a union to interfere with his operation, and that no employees had ever complained about being mistreated or underpaid, and lastly if the union was voted in, he would immediately close the plant and move the operation to another of his non-union facilities. He said it wasn't a threat, it was a promise and he was a man of his word.
Well the union won the election held on a Friday. Monday when the employees showed up for work, the plant was locked up, and on Tuesday trucks, I was one of them, started hauling the machinery and material to one of his plants in southern Illinois. The receiver was there that day and said several of the employees that had opposed the union had been offered jobs at the Illinois plant with the company paying for moving costs and purchasing their homes at market price so they could relocate with little or no financial loss. He was going to take the offer, said it was the best job he's ever had.
So the moral of the story is be careful what you wish for.
