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It's shortly before 6.30am on a winter's day at an industrial park near Sunderland. Outside the TRW Automotive factory, officials from the Amicus union are handing out recruitment leaflets. The night and day shifts change over at this time, so it is an ideal chance to target workers - especially as the managing director doesn't usually arrive until 8am.
US-owned TRW employs 350 people at this factory, and many more at plants across the UK. But while employees in the Midlands enjoy trade union recognition, there is none here. From a TRW building across the road, a company man keeps a careful eye on the Amicus officials. If one strays on to TRW property, a security guard will scurry out to challenge them.
Amicus' regional officer Mike Routledge has been targeting this factory for five years. This morning, as always, he's dressed in a fluorescent jacket and steel-toed boots. "At another [not TRW] plant, the managing director drove at me in his Jaguar and a colleague had to push me out of the way, so the jacket and the boots are for good reason," he explains.
Routledge writes regularly to TRW asking to meet managers, but is rebuffed every time. He shows us an official notice that summarises the firm's position. "Unions bring restrictive practices, disharmonisation, disunity and discontentment," it says.
Bob (not his real name) works at the TRW plant and is a union member - not that he advertises the fact. "Each time Amicus leaflets the entrance we are told by managers why we should not have unions at the plant," he says. "We have even been shown a video on why we should not get unions involved here. It frightens many of the young people into not joining up and those of us who are members keep quiet in case they find a way to get rid of us."
Amicus says TRW has verbally threatened to pull out if the unions get in. For an area gutted by the loss of traditional industries and populated by low-wage, low-skill firms, it is a bluff many cannot afford to call.
The battle to win recognition at TRW is just one of many low-intensity conflicts between unions and firms. Occasionally they burst into flame - witness catering company Gate Gourmet's spectacular set-to with the Transport and General Workers' Union last summer. Most go unreported.
Since 2000, when new laws enshrined unions' right to collective bargaining, some high-profile firms in the UK have been fighting hard, sometimes dirty, campaigns. Anti-union tactics include summarily firing union activists, threatening to move jobs abroad, attempting to have organisers arrested, mailing anti-union literature to employees' homes and calling in consultants to help plan and execute union-busting campaigns.
At an employment tribunal last month, Asda was fined £850,000 after it offered a 10% wage rise to 340 employees at its Tyne and Wear distribution centre if they agreed not to join the GMB union. Asda says it is "disappointed" with the tribunal's decision and is considering an appeal.
Gregor Gall, professor of industrial relations at the University of Hertfordshire, monitors union-busting activities. According to his figures, the incidence is falling - from 155, involving 98 employers in 2003, to fewer than 20 in the first five months of 2005 - but that does not mean industrial relations are improving. "Many of the easier campaigns have been fought and union recognition gained. Now unions are going up against the real hard nuts," he says.
TRW says it has "a common approach to employee relations worldwide". Its spokeswoman, Lynette Jackson, says: "We communicate directly with our employees, and when appropriate, our employee representatives. TRW's philosophy is to work directly, at a local level, with our employees and their representatives, to meet the requirements of the business, its people and our customers and shareholders.
"While TRW feels the most effective relationship is directly between employees and its leadership, we recognise and respect an employee's right to join or not join a trade union. Where we have collective agreements with trade unions, we will continue to bargain in good faith. If employees choose not to be represented by a trade union, we respect their views."
Barry Fitzpatrick, national newspapers organiser for the National Union of Journalists, says media group Northcliffe is fighting hard to stop NUJ members voting for recognition. "The moment they realise we are recruiting or we get near to claiming recognition, editors hold one-to-one meetings with all editorial staff. They make it clear there's no point in joining the union and that it could lead to disinvestment there," he says. "That's happened in Gloucester, Bath, Bristol and Exeter."
At one site, he says, company executives told senior journalists that membership was "incompatible" with their positions - and said they must choose between the two. At another, the company sent anti-union leaflets to all its employees' homes. "Northcliffe is the most anti-union company I've come across," says Fitzpatrick.
Ken Thompson, Northcliffe's employment affairs director, disagrees. "Journalists are free to join a union if they wish. However, as the management in our centres generally prefer to deal directly with their staff, and journalists are probably aware of that, they may think it less worthwhile."
A report from the Commons trade and industry select committee last year contained evidence from unions on the tactics used by some firms. According to its evidence, when the GPMU started a recognition campaign at Amazon, managers told the union it would not be granted access to the workforce. When a vote was organised, the GPMU told the committee: "The company distributed a sample ballot paper to make it clear how employees should fill it in. On the day before the ballot, workers were issued with T-shirts bearing the words 'Tell the GPMU yesterday's gone' and 'Vote NO'."
"We would disagree with the GPMU's report," said a spokesperson for Amazon. "Amazon respects the right of employees ... to choose whether they want a third party to represent them. We do not believe that third-party representation benefits our employees, customers, shareholders, or the company as a whole ... A third-party intermediary can great[ly] reduce our flexibility and ability to innovate on behalf of customers."
The select committee also heard about a print firm, Europackaging UK Ltd, which employs over 200 people at its Sparkbrook site in Birmingham. Urdu is the first language of many of its employees, and some know no English at all, but during dismissal hearings, the GPMU alleged, the firm would supply only company managers to act as translators between staff and union reps. The firm declined to comment.
One new tactic since 2000 has been the use of outside consultants. These include the American firm PTI Labor Research, which has an office in London. Its website says it can help companies with "union prevention activities ... as well as corporate union avoidance programs and understanding your union vulnerability".
Asda brought in PR company Portland at its Tyne and Wear site. Staff were sent literature described in the tribunal judgment as "very hostile to trade unions and highly disparaging of the collective bargaining process".
An Asda spokeswoman denies the company is anti-union. "We have always been willing to work closely with unions. While union membership at Asda is relatively low, we've always respected the right of colleagues to join a union if they wish."
When T-Mobile was battling a joint recognition drive by the Communication Workers' Union and Connect, it hired the Burke Group, a US company, which claims on its website to have been "successful in helping businesses avoid union petitions more than 70 times by working a counter campaign before a petition is filed by the union ... You can't lose an election that never takes place."
The company sent a film to workers' homes. Fronted by Frank Mount, then chief technology officer in the UK, the film told them unions would signal the end of the company as they knew it. Factsheets backed up these warnings.
Employees at Sky were bombarded with similar messages when Bectu went for recognition. Organisers set up www.bectusky.org - but staff reported they could not access it from work. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber described it as "one of the worst cases of intimidation" he had come across since the Employment Relations Act was introduced in 2000.
Sky robustly defends its position, saying it "places significant emphasis on positive employee relations". Robert Fraser, head of corporate press, points out that the events Bectu refers to took place three years ago and a legal ballot saw union recognition rejected by a margin of seven to one. "We believed it was important to be honest with people about the possible risks that union recognition brings," he says. He denies Bectu websites are blocked.
Elsewhere, battles continue, rarely making the headlines. Research from Edmund Heery, professor of industrial relations at Cardiff Business School, highlights techniques used to "cow or intimidate workers", including "decapitation" (firing activists), implementing limited improvement of conditions, refusing unions access to the workforce, and staff associations - trumpeted by Sky as an example of its good labour relations.
The Sky Forum has 70 members, elected by employees in a process administered by the Electoral Reform Society. Sky calls it "an effective channel for two-way dialogue between all levels of the company and to give staff a voice on a wide range of issues". It says the forum has delivered "tangible results" on issues such as canteen facilities. But, says Gall: "If you want to nip in the bud a recognition campaign, you will deal with grievances and make some superficial changes."
The TUC now runs a course teaching organisers about anti-union tactics and how to respond to them. But this war is having an effect. According to the TUC, the number of recognition deals in 2001 was 450. That fell to 282 in 2002, 166 in 2003, but rose slightly to 179 last year.
Back to TRW, and union activist Fazia Hussain is preparing for her next job, at a bank where Amicus has recognition. She is organising skills training so members can learn Spanish, computing or basic literacy. "That's what we can offer," she says. "Do they really think we're interested in getting a factory shut? What are they afraid of?"
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