US retail giant Target has allegedly directed its store managers to stop workers from forming unions, and warned them how to identify signs that staff may be trying to organize.
The company, one of the largest American retail chains, emailed its store managers new documents and guidelines in January suggesting that they proactively look for warning signs of possible labor unions, according to documents leaked by Target Workers Unite.
Managers are also advised to cooperate with the company’s human resources departments to prevent the organizing of such campaigns. The documents and training program, titled “Intro to Labor Relations,” were anonymously leaked by one of the managers to Target Workers Unite, a worker’s advocacy group.
“This training will help you understand Target’s philosophy on unions and how unions could impact our Brand and our team,” the introduction to the training reads.
Worker unions are described in the documents as a problem that can reduce flexibility and narrow job descriptions, increase operational costs of stores and create “conflict between management and employees.”
Managers are encouraged to look for “red flags” of unionization efforts, including small gatherings, expressions of negative sentiment, and “unusual activities” like distributing pro-union leaflets in store parking lots. Taking part in work-related discussions on social media and meeting with recently fired workers were also highlighted as potential red flags.
“If you look at the training, they try to say they’re not anti-union, that they’re pro guests and pro team members, but they wouldn’t be having these training forced on management at our stores if they weren’t actually trying to union bust and prevent us from exercising our rights… Target is no better than any other company out there,” Adam Ryan, one of Target’s employees and an organizer with Target Workers Unite, told the Guardian.
Target workers started to organize last August, demanding hazard pay for the Covid-19 risk present at the workplaces. This campaign led to the company offering an extra $2 per hour in the last weeks of 2021, but the group Target Workers Unite was not satisfied by the deal, and continued its efforts.