Target Targets Union Employees

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Last week Gawker added another edition to its ongoing expose of life working at Target.  This edition, Gawker get's some inside info from a former Target Team Leader.  Some juicy stuff on the script the company uses to train managers to stay union-free and how to avoid hiring employees who were previously unionized or have union buzz words within their resume.

We all recall Target firing pro-union employee Tashawna Greene last August, a mere 7-weeks after the union election for essentially nothing, but this is a whole other level of anti-unionism by Target. 

On screening job applications:

We also had training on how to read job applications. They gave us words to look out for which may indicate the employee was in a union at a previous jobs. Those applicants were not to be hired. The official training paperwork didn't say this, but verbally they did...As far as job applications go, I do specifically remember they said if we see words like shop steward, steward, local, brotherhood

When unionizing came up amongst staff:

I do remember when the topics of unions came up one thing we were supposed to remind the hourly employees was that if they joined a union "Things could get better, but they could stay the same, and they definetly could get worse" and emphasize that "Just because you join a union, nothing is guarenteed and it might become a lot worse". We were supposed to talk about how if they join a union that essentially they would have no control over anything anymore and that their union leaders would essentially have a bunch of closed door negotiations and none of them would have a voice anymore and they would be forced to do whatever the union leaders wanted.

Check out the entire piece at Gawker: http://gawker.com/5889767/a-former-target-team-leader-explains-hiring-firing-and-staying-union+free

This is nothing new to us within this industry, but Gawker has been doing a stellar job reporting the truths about what it's like to work for the mega-retailer, Target, truths which are usually swept underneath the carpet and receive little media attention.