The Mayor wants to know why these people are unhappy, what he can do to dissuade or stop them from becoming union members, and if he can’t, can he at least force them to join an existing unit?

Hypothetical: The municipal employees of the Town of Cheapside don’t care much for the newly elected Mayor. During the campaign, he stated his position that all of the town’s budget problems could be solved if union members weren’t so greedy. He also stated that he would cut the wages and benefits of non-represented employees who have historically received the same wages and benefits as union members. Now that he’s been elected, he’s publicly announced that his first cost-saving measure will be to layoff as many non-represented employees as possible – beginning with the older, higher-paid ones.

You are Cheapside’s personnel director. You have informed the new Mayor that for months you have heard vague mumblings and grumblings of dissatisfaction among three non-represented clerical employees in the Town’s Finance Department; you believe that they are weighing the costs and benefits of union membership but don’t know if they have taken any formal action and that his election will likely bring matters to a head. The Mayor wants to know why these people are unhappy, what he can do to dissuade or stop them from becoming union members, and if he can’t, can he at least force them to join an existing unit? Ideally, he would like to fire all three employees rather than deal with their sniveling. He thinks that terminating them is a good start at fulfilling his campaign promises and will make other employees think twice before engaging in similar attempts to derail his efforts to balance the Town’s budget.

Assume for the purposes of this assignment that the previous Mayor refused to meet with the employees or give you the authority to address their complaints about mold in the ventilation system. Your job is to answer the Mayor’s questions, explain to him why the non-represented employees might want to organize and advise him on the ramifications of firing the “snivelers”.