For three decades, XYZ Corporation–a mid-size, family-owned business–has been producing precision machined parts for the aerospace and auto industries. XYZ employs 30 salaried office employees and 200 hourly nonunion workers, mainly machinists and quality inspectors. The family patriarch, Robert Downing, is the CEO and he has successfully run the business his way using an iron fist. The organization has high turnover, and there is a continuous stream of new employees at XYZ.
Joe, Bill, and Tom were hired last year as machinists in the shop. Last month, the three of them approached Robert about his management style as CEO, and provided Robert with a list of concerns that their fellow workers have about wages, benefits, and working conditions. Robert, however, responded with anger and directed them to get back to work. He then installed surveillance cameras in the shop so that he could monitor hourly employees.
Joe, Bill, and Tom then became actively engaged in soliciting support for unionization with their co-workers through their personal social media accounts. On social media, Joe described Robert as an autocratic, bumbling idiot and XYZ Corporation as a family-run sweatshop. Robert discovered the existence of the social media campaign and watched on the cameras as groups of employees gathered in the shop with increasing regularity. He determined that Joe, Bill, and Tom needed to be dealt with. He also determined that a policy should be implemented in the Employee Handbook that anyone discussing unionization on social media or in the facility would be immediately terminated.
You are the new Human Resources (HR) manager for XYZ Corporation, and Robert has instructed you to investigate and handle the situation with the three employees.
