04. Workforce

4.1 Provide detailed information on the workforce. How many workers? In which plant do they work? What are the demographics of the workforce?
4.2 Is the company unionized? Which union at which facility?
4.3 Are there identifiable worker issues?

Who the tar­get firm employs tells a great deal about their oper­a­tion. Are most work­ers full-time or part-time? Know­ing more about the demo­graph­ics of the work­force will be cen­tral in iden­ti­fy­ing worker issues and devel­op­ing a campaign.

Form 10-K, which is available from the SEC’s EDGAR database, typically provides rudimentary information on employment and whether the firm is unionized in Item 1. The company annual report and web site might have additional information on the workforce, but it is frequently difficult to find more detailed demographic information. LinkedIn provides some basic information on employees by searching under the “company” tab.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) maintains a database where you can investigate recent NLRB activity. You can search by company to identify if there has been recent NLRB activity at your firm. Unfortunately, the NLRB website will not tell you if your target company is unionized; it only lists recent NLRB activity.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) maintains databases of unions and companies that have recently gone into bargaining or engaged in a strike.  These databases can help confirm whether your company has any unionized facilities.

The AFL-CIO maintains the UNICORE database that includes information on corporate facilities, their location and (if they are unionized) information on the union. This database is only available to AFL-CIO affiliates.

If there is OSHA activity at a workplace they will indicate if it is unionized and what union represents the workers. See Question 20 for how to access the OSHA website.

The US Department of Labor’s Career Stop website provides some basic information on wages and benefits by industry.

Free ERSIA provides comprehensive information on company pension plans.

It is best to contact workers to identify worker issues, but there are some resources available online such as Glassdoor that include workers’ comments about their employer. Social media sites such as Facebook may also be useful.

You can also search for job postings from the company to see what types of jobs they are hiring for.  Job postings sometimes include facility locations, pay scale, and union contracts.  Look for job postings on the company website, on Monster, or other job posting sites.