> I'm hesitant to say where he works, even in a roundabout way, but he works
> in the transportation industry. It is a "hot shop" and is in a sensitive
> location. The problem is that most of the employees in his company ARE
> unionized, but the corporation is planning to layoff large amounts of
> people. He expects that the unionized workers will have first dibs on his
> lower level grunt job.
His best bet would be to get the local that represents his fellow workers to file for an NLRB election on the "residual" unit of people in the same job as your friend who aren't a part of the union.
You could also have him contact the UE, which isn't affiliated with the AFL-CIO. It was kicked out of the CIO in 1949 for being too close to the communist party. Today it prides itself on being a rank-and-file led union. For instance, it caps the salaries of its officers according to what its members earn.
mark