Ex-manager: Company insisted workers sign forms (afraid of EFCA!)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090823/NEWS0...

By JOHN S. ADAMS Tribune Capitol Bureau • August 23, 2009

HELENA — A former manager of a Great Falls hair salon said she and her employees were pressured by corporate officials to sign an agreement that would nullify any future attempts to unionize the store.

Keri Gorder left her job at Cost Cutters, which was formerly Hair Masters, shortly after managers for Regis Corp. asked employees of the company to sign a "Protection of Secret Vote Agreement."

The one-page agreement states in part that, "In order to preserve my right to a secret ballot election, and for my own protection, I knowingly and without restraint and free from coercion sign this agreement revoking and nullifying any union authorization card I may execute in the future."

Gorder, who worked at the 10th Avenue South salon for eight years, said employees were called into a meeting earlier this month where managers played a video aimed at convincing them to resist unionizing.

"They were trying to scare the staff into signing that paper," Gorder said. "I don't feel like my staff or I should have signed it or should have had to sign it."

Gorder said she was pressured by her boss days later to get her staff to sign the document.

"She said, 'I would do what the company wants you to do,'" Gorder said.

FULL 2 page story at link.