I took a job at Home Depot and was made to watch their various training videos. At one point, they start off one that sounds fairly innocuous. It's called something like "The Value of Your Signature". It quickly descends into anti-union rhetoric.
I saw a variation of the one above. All of the actors are the same, the main difference is the guy who introduces all of it -- I assume they update the video with whoever is in charge at the time.
Frankly, I was amazed by the video and had to stifle myself from guffawing or commenting. I have no idea how anyone else in the room felt about it.
You can watch it for yourself, but the general idea is that unions are "outsiders" (their words, they use this terminology constantly) who don't get Home Depot's "culture" and apparently go to great strides to infiltrate it.
They make some effort to tell you that they are not anti-union and that they can't force you to do anything. But that's really just a footnote. The rest of the time there's a huge focus on how the only apparent goal of unions is to collect your dues. Because union enrollment is decreasing, they claim that the union's fervor to get you to enroll and collect money from you is stronger than ever.
Unions are, to Home Depot, a third party that gets in the way of their "culture" -- a "culture" where, they claim, you can speak your mind and have a direct channel to management. So, they argue, since we have such a good thing (with benefits, 401k, stock options, etc), there's no reason at all to ever involve the union in your job. But don't forget, they don't hate unions -- in fact, they've even hired ex-union members!
Still, they basically equate union members with these insidious presences at the store -- guys who will randomly show up, mislead you and intimidate you into giving over your precious, valuable signature that the union will count as a vote.
At no point do they note that in getting a job at Home Depot, I have already signed countless documents of a similar nature.
At no point do they note that despite all of this, I'm still making pennies over minimum wage in my new position.
At no point do they note that their 2013 attendance policy makes it so calling in sick is irrelevant and counts as strikes against you while you work for months on end to even earn a few hours of sick leave.
There's a part of the video where they show that despite efforts, Home Depot members have never voted to unionize. They wonder why the unions would keep trying, considering their employees have yelled "no!".
I don't know, considering this is one of the first things I've seen and the unions are equated with parasites over 15 minutes (one of the longest single portions of the training, by the way), why would the average person think unions are positive in any way as it is? Home Depot essentially leads off the argument with their own propaganda and I'd be surprised if most people even gave the union a chance afterward.
I was just surprised by this. I've heard of such videos, but haven't bothered finding a job in this space in a long time. It's so bold-faced and thinly veiled, I couldn't believe it. And if this is how these groups are portrayed to others before anyone gets educated on unions at all? Shit, no wonder so many people don't know or realize what unions have done for them.
