Labor Relations Strategist Warns Fast Food Chains: 'Prepare Now for Attack'

BROKEN ARROW, Okla., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Fast food chains have a new threat to worry about: the Service Employees International Union. Labor Relations Strategist Phillip Wilson challenged these firms to prepare for this new threat before it is too late.

An internal memo leaked last week from the powerful but embattled SEIU reveals a plan to target and organize fast food restaurants, an industry largely ignored by unions in the past.

"QSR companies are sitting ducks," Labor Relations Strategist Phillip Wilson stated today, "and they better prepare immediately for a rapidly changing labor environment."

Wilson, President of Labor Relations Institute and a labor and positive employee relations expert, offered a 3-step strategy fast food restaurants should implement immediately to "super size" their defense against union organizing.

Wilson says the first thing a QSR system must do is train first-level leaders to recognize the behaviors that change when union organizing. "I'm not talking about trying to make them labor lawyers - that traditional training just scares them," says Wilson (a labor lawyer himself). "Instead you need to focus on creating what we call a 'tripwire' system."

The second step is to develop what Wilson calls a Campaign in a Box. Just like QSR systems have manuals on exactly how to make each food item, Wilson advises companies to create a toolkit that includes everything needed to respond to an organizing event. "Our restaurant clients have developed very specific communication tools that are suited for their specific environment."

Finally, the fast food chain must redouble its efforts to create a positive workplace. "The bottom line is that if employees are happy they won't be interested in giving over their hard-earned money to a union."

In response to this newly announced attack on QSR chains, Wilson's firm is offering its 3-question "pulse" survey free to the first location in each company that requests one. The pulse survey quickly and accurately assesses a workplace's vulnerability to union organizing activity.

About Labor Relations Institute: LRI is the nation's leading union-free and positive employee relations consulting firm. With over 10,000 successful client engagements, we provide comprehensive employee communication products and services our clients use to monitor their risk of unionization, build positive employee relations, train supervisors, and if necessary, run a winning campaign. For more information about Tripwire Training, Campaign in a Box or Pulse Survey research, please contact LRI at 800-888-9115 or at http://www.lrionline.com

Contact: Phillip Wilson, [email protected], (918) 994-2574

SOURCE Labor Relations Institute