Do any of you want to form a union but are too afraid?

I work in a medium-size hotel, we have about 10 employees including front-desk, housekeeping, and maintenance staff. I also live in a right-to-work state (Idaho) so there are very few legal protections for workers who want to organize. I've spoken (half-jokingly) to a couple of my co-workers about how we should form a union, but really unless we could get other hotels (at least our direct competitors) to organize as well, we'd put our hotel at a distinct disadvantage, as our labor costs would be considerably higher than the rest, and with the slow economy our numbers aren't real good right now as it is.

I guess my question is, if we were to go it alone, and just unionize our outfit, we would probably all be fired and the management would just hire a bunch of scabs to replace us. Part of the idea I had would be to approach my manager with the idea, and explain to him that he'd save a lot of money in lower turn-over, as it costs about $500 to train a new employee, and if we were union, we'd definitely have more job loyalty and would stick around for longer. I'm not sure he'd go for it, with as easy as it would be to replace us, but we have a pretty good crew right now, he'd definitely be taking a chance of getting some more crappy employees that don't stick around for long and don't care much about their jobs.

Should I pursue this and speak to some more of my co-workers about this, or should I just resign to the fact that it would cause more trouble than its worth? I've never held a union job before, and wouldn't even know where to start as far as organizing goes, which union to affiliate with, etc. Any pointers would be helpful.

I'm all for unions. My grandfather was a local union rep for the Steel Workers back in the 60s and 70s.


It's just that my particular job.... Computer Systems Analyst.... doesn't lend itself well to collective bargaining.


I negotiate my own terms of employment.

doesn't really answer the question.

As well as your state's AFL-CIO. The first person you talk to might not be the most helpful, and in fact you might want to talk to an HERE office in another state where the union is a little stronger. The most important thing to remember is that while the union can give you pointers, legal help and encouragement, it is up to you to organize yourself. PM me if you have questions.