unions don't always solve a problem - in fact many unions are the problem...
i'm not supporting unfair or exploitative business practices, mind you, but seeing picket signs like that with "union busting" usually means that some militant outsider or insider has rallied people around a cause that may or may not exist...
it is cheaper to shut a biz down and ressurrect it later on w/ new people and stuff... if you shut a biz down you technically don't terminate people, and on a legal aspect you can only pay separation on people (if applicable) based on what the liquidation value of the biz generates...
it would suck to be a 50-year veteran to get just a pittance, but if the owners of alona palm took the shut-and-reopen route, then chances are the veteran may just be hired back (else we could surmise he would have been let go a loooong time ago)
so to summarize, in my experience unions - named as such - are really nothing more than fronts and playthings of communists and socialists that only seek to disrupt the normal function of business... where employees organize themselves into a peaceful and productive organization it's usually called an "employees' association"...
"po-tey-toe/ po-tah-toe" but don't see the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno rallying around "employees' associations"...
Jag