Sometimes the only way to deal with people who play games is to play their game better than they do.

So, what would you do if your workplace unionized against your wishes and then used its power to override the majority and force a schedule you didn’t want?

Would you just accept what happened and move on? Or would you fight back and get the schedule you want?

In the following story, one federal employee fights back and is named the union president.

Here’s what happened.

Union fights dirty so the union fought back dirtier

This happened in Texas, a notorious anti-union area, in the early 2000s. I worked in a chemical plant, and an acquaintance of mine, we’ll call him Bob, from an unspecified federal agency that was inspecting my plant, told me this story.

Bob was giving his business card to a few of us, and I noticed his card had a union symbol on it. I asked if his cards were made in a union shop, and Bob replied, “No, our office unionized last(-ish) year.”

I had a what-the-fox look on my face while Bob was chuckling. I convinced him to share his tale of how a white-collar, master’s degree federal employee joined a union.

Bob and his coworkers didn’t think much about it at first.

In Bob’s office, there was the supervisor (ineligible for the union) and six other… workers. ALL white-collar and degree-holding. Three of the workers wanted to unionize, and four (Bob included) did not.

For some reason, a 3 to 4 vote meant the office unionized, and Bob now worked as a non-union worker in a union “shop.”

Bob and his three like-minded co-workers couldn’t care less about the union shenanigans because they thought nothing would ever come of the unionization. The three union members paid their dues, held meetings, and not much else happened until something actually did.

Then, there was a vote to change their schedule.

The unspecified federal agency decided to adopt a flex-time policy that let each office choose how to set their hours.

For example, a standard 40-hour week, Monday through Friday, 4-10s or 4 days for 10 hours, 9-80s or Monday through Thursday for 9 hours a day and 8 hours on Friday, one week, and Monday through Thursday for 9 hours a day and off on Friday the next week.

The catch was that the employees had to vote, and all followed the majority (except when the majority didn’t get a vote). The supervisor polled the workers, and four wanted 9-80s and three wanted 4-10s. You can probably guess how the votes worked between the non-union and union employees.

Bob and his coworkers jumped into action.

The supervisor changed the work hours for the entire office to 4-10s because the union negotiated for ALL employees, even if they are not members of the union.

Bob even asked the supervisor about why the majority was steamrolled by the minority and was told, “Nothing I can do because this is a union shop. Join the union if you don’t like it.” And a light bulb came on.

That’s what he and his three coworkers did. They paid the dues, filled out the paperwork, and attended the next meeting. Bob and his compatriots had already worked out their plan for a [legal] coup. They waited until the union president called for new business and launched their attack.

Luckily, Bob becomes the president.

Bob motioned for a vote of no confidence against the current slate of officers (just happened to be three people in the office positions). The vote was 4 to 3, and the current officers were out.

Compatriot #1 nominated Bob and two compatriots to the officer positions, and the vote was 4 to 3 in favor of the new officers. Bob was the new president.

Bob asked for anymore new business and found out that Compatriot #3 wanted to change the work hours to 9-80s. The motion was seconded, and the vote was… drum roll, please… 4 to 3 in favor of the new work schedule. The supervisor changed the entire office’s work schedule to 9-80s the following Monday.

Bob continued to serve as president for several years.

It is now important to point out that the union bylaws required a quorum of 50%+1 of the membership to attend a meeting for a quorum.

The previous number required was 2 of 3 members (and before I get blasted for Internet math 2 of 3 is based on 50% rounded down to a whole number and then add 1) but the new required number fora quorum was 4.

Bob adjourned the meeting and, for several years, did not call a new meeting, and he and his compatriots boycotted all union activities except paying their dues. By following the supervisor’s direction, Bob and his compatriots applied the union bylaws against themselves and their three insensitive coworkers.

Wow! It’s a good thing they fought back!

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit have to say about this story.

Yes, that’s what it seems happened.

This person is a union member living in Texas.

Good catch, but maybe it was just a typo.

The whole thing is weird for this reader.

Those were some smart decisions!

Rather than being forced into a bad schedule, Bob took action and won…well-played!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.