You are the Human Resources manager for large distribution site. Your recent employee opinion survey indicated that overall, employees felt that this was a good place to work. However, recent downturns in the economy have resulted in the loss of large contracts, which provided a significant portion of the company’s revenue. One of the impacts from this loss in revenue is that the company will be unable to provide annual COLA or merit increases for the first time in more than 15 years. You have heard rumors from employees close to you that there is talk about efforts to unionize.

What guidelines will you develop for supervisors to successfully respond to employee questions about unionization? What can your supervisors say or do that is legally permissible in this situation?