Well this is a pretty unbiased article, thank you.

I'm glad to see both sides of the disagreement being presented.

Wow. This article does an excellent job of illustraiting the intelligence, maturity, and concern for ALL of their co-works (not just the ones "on their side") the average pro-union Dosha employee is. But whatever, you got your way, so fuck those other guys. Who gives a shit how they feel when you can so easily gloss over them in the persuit of your own self interests?

Keep it classy.

In recent decades, labor law has become very slanted to favor management. Stonewalling in contract negotiations in order to force a second election is very common, and it is effective in wearing down workers (especially those with the most to lose).

Hang tough.

@magmatron: the other option is tl;dr

@smegmatron5k: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Too…

What is your immigrant status?

This is ludicrous. You're a sanctimonious little twit that clearly doesn't understand labor laws. Glad you got out, pissed you left everyone with your mess. And that flash mob? Good job chasing away people's livelihoods.

This is not an unbiased article, nor does it present both sides of the argument. What Mary fails to address are the countless Dosha employees who have been with the company for years and have built a solid and very successful career by EARNING it. I am all for improving the work place, I care about several of the pro-union employees and while this campaign may have started with the best intentions, it's quickly dissolved into nothing more than a witch hunt and an immature, mis-guided attempt to prove a point. I was with Dosha for four years, started at the front desk for $8 an hour in 2006, and was promoted to the Corporate Office Manager and making a comfortable salary, within 6 months. I worked hard, broke sales records, gave outstanding customer service, supported my co-workers, showed up on time and EARNED it. I was the owner's right hand for nearly four years and I can say with 1000% confidence that Dosha is not perfect, no business is, but it is run honestly and fairly. This level of entitlement is what is wrong with so much of our country.

Cmoto: "immature, mis-guided attempt to prove a point..." Pot, meet Kettle.

One correction. There is no law requiring an agreement within 16 months, or anytime for that matter. The NLRB will not allow another representation election in the 12 months following the initial representation election, this is called an “Election Bar”. Had the Union lost the election, they could not try again for 12 months, likewise, the "no" votes can't try to get rid of the Union for 12 months. Another type of bar to representation votes is known as the “Contract Bar”, this is 3 years, or the length of the agreement (whichever is shorter). As long as a Contract Bar is in place, there can be no representation vote. ANY vote, to either certify or decertify a union as the representative must be accompanied with a 30% showing of interest, and must come from the employees, thus management cannot file a petition to get rid of the Union.

Haha, all of a sudden it smells like Aveda in this bitch.  I know many of you look to the Mercury as your primary source of world news, but to let you in on an industry secret... the purpose of a "blog" is to convey opinions. If you want a balanced story, those are posted in the "news" section.

Yeah and guess what male receptionist, we have a right to point out sanctimonious twitness on blogs too.

I didn't see where she said it'd be an unbiased article covering both sides of the issue. You should have expected her opinions and experiences from the get-go when you started reading the article, given how she begins.

Personally, I think this is a good thing, given how horrible labor relations have become in America. Good on the salon workers.

Everyone I've ever met who's worked for Dosha hated it and had plenty of stories about the unfair policies and bad management. Good for Mary and the Dosha workers (a majority) who've had the guts to organize and try to improve their working conditions. I'm shocked to see all the hate for workers expressed here.

And people, it's a BLOG post, not a news article. Disagree or spout some corporate republican bullshit if you must, but quit whining about how unfair it is that the post isn't unbiased.

Okay guys, I'll come clear on my bias on this article's author. My grandfather died in a concentration camp. He fell off a guard-tower.

Workers organize to improve their working conditions. Graham sneers. No surprises here.

Truly disgraceful comments here. Ugh.

A great article, and a reminder to those of us who enjoy union protection of the hard and often hazardous work that goes into organizing and challenging management.

@Sisya don't get me wrong, I had plenty of experiences with unfair policies and bad management during my time at Dosha, but I took them to the powers that be, worked my issues out as a professional, and was heard every time. I was ALWAYS either met with a fair compromise, or left with a clear understanding of why things run the way they do and a clear plan for how I could achieve whatever it was I wanted to achieve. Dosha is an easy target and it's equally easy to get caught up in a romantic, Norma Rae, Union saves the day scenario. The reality is that Unions are HUGE business now, much bigger than Dosha will ever be, and the unhappy employees have taken a huge risk in handing over their power to them. They've also gambled countless happy employee's livelihoods in the process. It's also important to not that I'm not a republican, nor am I a capitalist. I'm actually a bookish, lesbian, super-liberal and I believe in Dosha on all levels. Blog or otherwise, this is a public forum, this is a complex issue, and with so many lives effected, we have a responsibility to each other to explore all angles before casting judgement.

@cmoto, Being a self-professed liberal, or even a lesbian and bookish (?), doesn't disqualify you from being pro-management, pro-corporate, and anti-union. Am I wrong, or did a majority of those "countless" employees vote for the union? Perhaps they don't believe in Dosha on all levels as you do, or perhaps they just want to have a voice. Maybe you could elaborate on your vague charges about the union being "big business," or how so many livelihoods have been imperiled by dreamy-eyed Mother Jones readers (apparently the only people naive enough, in your estimation, to support unions)?

@Ovidius: 45% of the employees at Dosha voted against the union. Does that make them all "pro-management, pro-corporate, and anti-union"? Or is this actually a more complex issue than this simplistic and one-sided article presents itself as?

Maybe if the author had thought to present a useful cogent argument for their side of the situation, presented the other side and then provided a rebuttal against said arguments, things would read differently. As it stands, this article is just preaching to the choir and does jack-all-shit to convince the reader of anything.

I tend to be pro-union and pro-worker, but I'm even more vehemenantly anti-lazy-writing.

@Graham, my remark about being "anti-union" is targeted at cmoto, to whom I addressed it. It's fine to vote against unionizing, but cmoto is using several anti-union canards, suggesting that unions are corrupt "big business," and that the corporation is really the little guy. Furthermore, that by trusting a union, employees are hurting their benefactors and by extension themselves. And, of course, suggesting that union supporters are naive radicals rather than, y'know, concerned working people.

I'm not blindly pro-union, nor do I ostracize members in my own union with whom I have disagreements. One of my colleagues has crossed the picket-line, another told management weeks ago that she would if bargaining broke down. I still count both of them as close friends. I am aware that these issues are complex.

As for this being one-sided, I'll just iterate what others have said about this being a blog post and not a news article. I enjoyed reading it and hearing Mary's side of the story.

It's a POV blog post Graham. It's not straight up news reporting. You're being pedantic. AGAIN.

@kiala a badly written one. Graham has a point. She laid it out like she's the great savior of Dosha. (In reality she jumped ship after her magnificent achievement that left everyone fucked.) She is lazy and egocentric to boot.

@Kiala: We're both aware of how many blog posts get turned into published articles. If we can try and help the intern not publish a shitty article, then that makes us heroes and saviors of the written word. Just because I might agree with someone's position; it doesn't mean that I have to endorse their methodology or style.

@Ovidius of course you enjoyed reading this and hearing Mary's side of the story- it supports your best interest. I am not anti-union, I am anti- this situation. I am anti- entitlement and anti-manipulation, both of which are at the foundation of this case as your comment to me illustrates. I would be thrilled if the union intervention improves the lives of all Dosha employees and saves the day, but I'm clearly skeptical.

@cmoto, I don't have an interest in this. I am not a Dosha employee. I neither feel entitled to anything, nor am I trying to manipulate you since I do not have a personal interest in this. I wonder if you are suggesting that, merely by supporting the idea of unions or belonging to one, one has entitlement issues and is manipulative.

It sounds like you are bitter because you were on the losing side of this argument. That's fine, I'd be bitter too. But there's a difference between skepticism and hostility.

@Ovidius again with the manipulation. It's as if there's a "booya" punctuating each of your sentences. You've 'won' because you rely on the hope that the average American won't apply critical thinking to statements like these. Sadly, you're right:

"I wonder if you are suggesting that, merely by supporting the idea of unions or belonging to one, one has entitlement issues and is manipulative.

It sounds like you are bitter because you were on the losing side of this argument. That's fine, I'd be bitter too. But there's a difference between skepticism and hostility."

Best of luck.

@cmoto, I don't really think that the "average American" will be reading my comments on the Merc blog, and frankly I don't care, much less hope, that they will. I swear I am not part of a grand union conspiracy to manipulate and persecute you. I am a lone, bored commenter on an local alt-weekly's blog. I also promise that I have never said the word "booya" in my life, nor have I "won" anything because, again, I am not a Dosha employee. I am not even a Dosha customer.

@cmoto, Unions are non-profit organizations, with constitutions granting their members rights to participate in deciding the direction and leadership of the organization. They are the only organizations fighting for the rights of working people. How is that anything like big business? And since when is "entitlement" a bad word? Some times, the feeling of entitlement comes from actually having a right. I will grant you that at a non-union employer, entitlement is misplaced by virtue of having no rights to feel entitled to.

@Condemno, the biggest lesson I learned after 8 years of managing non-profits is that non-profit does not mean good, honest, or that someone's not making a huge profit off of my hard work and under pay. Non-profits are like corporations, or anything else for that matter, there is no black or white. Non-profit does not automatically equal good and corporation does not equal bad. Similarly "entitlement" does not have to be a bad word, you are correct, but we have lost perspective as we have had things come so easily for generations and can no longer discern a "right" from something that must be earned.

The word "entitlement" is currently used to characterize people pushing for change as freeloaders. I believe all people have a right to health care, education, a living wage, shelter... these are problems that impact all of us, and should be shared by all of us. Efforts to address these problems are met with rebuttals citing socialism and entitlement culture.

Likewise, unions are characterized as profit driven big business to keep people from exercising their rights to join one. The difference between the non-profits you managed and unions, is the constitutional democracy inherent to all Unions. Under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, Union finances are monitored more closely than any other non-profit or for profit organizations. Hence the reason why people that steal from the funds are always caught.

Bottom line is, I admit that I am a hard core supporter of Organized Labor. You claim to be a liberal with no bias against Unions, and that may be true. But the points you raise are straight out of a union busting handbook.

I admit that I am a hard core supporter of Dosha. Supporting them does not mean I do not support Unions, the two are not mutually exclusive. And just for the record, no one is being denied their human rights by the owners or management of Dosha. To compare the two is an insult to sufferers of true rights violations.

"Hence the reason why people that steal from the funds are always caught." Nice.

I would agree that the two are not mutually exclusive. A union supporter can be pro-employer as well.

I'm not following how you are connecting my pointing out that "entitlements" is a term used by the right to somehow demeaning human rights efforts. Nevertheless, by doing so you seem to be in agreement that health care and a living wage are rights. You further state that these rights are not being denied by Dosha. That leaves me wondering, what rights are these union supporters claiming that has lead you to believe they have a misplaced sense of entitlement?

And yes, people steal shit. Drug Addicts, teenagers, poor people, cashiers... CEO's, business owners, and some union officers too. Unions just have more people watching for it.

You know, it's really easy to bash unions and say that Dosha workers are just whining when you haven't been at the bottom of it. I have NEVER in my LIFE been treated worse at a job than when I worked at Dosha. Say what you will everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I worked my ass off for over a year clinging to the hope that things would get better. I couldn't take it anymore and I had to get out, so unfortunately I wont get to see the benefits of The Unions hard work. The feeling of unappreciated, underpaid, over worked, talked down to and pushed to sell products or you'll lose your job just plain sucks! There are a handful of employees (mainly the ones on commission pulling $70,000 a year) who absolutely LOVE it. Why wouldn't they, they're the ones who are treated great!? They're the ones who got in early and made nice the the owners. They make the company BIG money, of course the owners love them. However the rest of Dosha workers are just a number to them. Who cares if they're unhappy because the sooner they quit the sooner they can fill their spot with another stylist who has maybe heard that Dosha isn't the best place to work but doesn't really know the half of it yet. I've heard people say "if you don't like it then quit" well sure, why not take the easy way out. But what about the next round of new hires? They're going to be treated just as crappy as you were, then they'll quit and it's an endless cycle! Why not say instead of "just quit" say "man, you should be treated with respect and dignity at work". I stayed as long as I could but I wasn't strong enough, sorry it's the truth. You can only take that crap for so long. I applaud my former co workers and friends who have stayed strong and suffered the abuse the sake of all Dosha employees. I was ready to quit right before the Union, but I thought maybe things could get better. They only got worse. Dosha workers need a contract, now.