Facebook and Union Organizing

From The Guardian (UK), via Work-Related Blogs and News:

Kettle Foods have been left with a bad taste in their mouth.  They recently brought in a subsidiary of US union busters, the Burke Group, to advise them on how to stop the Unite union organising workers at their Norwich factory.  They eventually won the battle - and workers voted 206 to 93 - to keep Unite out of negotiating for the workers.  But, while this was going on, something totally unexpected happened.  Two people - one a Guardian reader - set up separate groups on Facebook - Boycott Kettle Crisps for attacks on workers and Boycott Kettle Chips: the Anti-Trade Union Snack.

Now, even after keeping trade unions out, the two groups continue to attract support and nearly 1,000 people in the UK, the US and Australia have pledged to refuse to buy another packet.  The company are in danger of losing the war - they are even paying an expensive parliamentary lobbying and public relations company, Hill & Knowlton, to try to oppose the Facebook campaign.

rb