To begin with, I’ve made it a habit to scare the higher ups with open union and worker’s rights threats. Nothing, not a single thing has been done, but it’s good to keep them on their toes.
When in the break room with others, if a manager enters or steps in to se what’s up, I will quickly pretend that we need to change subjects, something like “hey let’s talk about the union later” or “Hey how’s it going guys? Nothing much just talking about striking”
Well, now the big boss has gotten wind of this and does NOT find it funny one bit. I didn’t outright tell them I was joking, but I assured them that if there really was a union or a union push, they’d know about it and wouldn’t be finding out about it through break room jokes.
That’s the best time to agitate your coworkers to do something, if you are ready to move on already, then you have nothing to lose. Also, even though it is an “at will” state, if you document things thoroughly and are fired for no reason or even a BS reason you can still sue. Remember, it is FEDERAL law the prohibits the firing of employees as a means to squash unionization talks. At will states just don’t require the employer to document their stated reason for firing you, all you need to prove is that they fired you for something they don’t normally fire others for and that they did so while aware that you were talking about unions.
(I did over simplify this in my explanation, but the gist is true.)
Want to form a union?