The newer video, reviewed by Salon (but which is not being re-posted for legal reasons), echoes or repeats verbatim many of the lines from its predecessor, which Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan posted in 2011 and mocked as “shitty propaganda” with “the production values of an eighth-grade educational film.” Gone are the switch to black-and-white (to depict a unionized universe); the trippy image of $20 bills stacking up against a shifting red background (to represent union dues), and the sight and sound of a slamming door (to portray being cut off from communicating directly with management). An actual Target executive no longer makes a cameo to stiffly set forth Target’s stance on organizing; instead, the two stars of the new film (“Dawn” and “Ricardo,” replacing “Doug” and “Maria”) make all points on his behalf.

But the message is much the same: Narrators tell employees — whom union organizers charge were required to watch the video in mandatory meetings — that right now, “We put people in jobs because they’re well-suited for them, not because of the day they happened to get hired.” If a union came in, “chances are they would change our fast, fun and friendly culture, with their way of doing business.”

Workers are warned that “this is a very competitive business that we’re in,” and that “If Target faced rigid union contracts like some of our competitors, our ability to serve our guests could suffer dramatically – and with fewer guests, what happens to our team?” Even if they vote union, they’re told, “Management doesn’t have to agree to any union demand.” The video closes with a pledge that “there are always people you can talk to,” and a list of five places to take your questions: “Supervisors/leaders”; “Human Resources”; “Chat Sessions”; “Best Team Survey”; and “Employee Relations and Integrity Hotline” (not listed: rank and file co-workers).

The Target video, “Think Hard: Protect Your Signature,” was shown to Valley Stream, N.Y., Target employees in the lead-up to a 2011 unionization vote, according to the United Food & Commercial Workers union. Target was compelled to turn over the video as part of the National Labor Relations Board’s investigation of alleged illegal union-busting prior to that election, in which employees voted against becoming Target’s first unionized employees. In a 3-0 decision last year, the NLRB found sufficient wrongdoing by Target to throw out that election result, paving the way for a new unionization vote. However, citing intimations of lost jobs (including in that now-hipper video) and an alleged purge of union activists (whom the NLRB has not ordered Target to reinstate), the UFCW union last week told Salon that it now plans not to pursue another vote there.

“The system failed the workers, as it’s going to continue to fail the workers,” said UFCW Local 1500 organizing director Aly Waddy. Before the election, she alleged, Target used a mix of legal and illegal tactics to scare and spy on workers; after the union was defeated in the vote, she charged, the company rewarded or punished employees based on their stance toward the union, and used a four-month store shutdown for renovations as a pretext to transfer or terminate 20-some pro-union activists. “None of the workers that started the campaign are there …” Waddy told Salon, “Workers have seen a company that’s gotten away with doing whatever it is that they wanted to do.”

While the UFCW filed charges with the NLRB alleging union activists were illegally targeted for termination, the union was unable to secure any rulings to that effect from the Labor Board. Instead, the NLRB decision throwing out the 2011 election results cited a company solicitation policy, which it found illegally interfered with workers’ organizing rights, as well as “a coercive interrogation, a threat of unspecified reprisals, and the distribution to employees of a leaflet that unlawfully implied a threat to close the store if employees selected the Union …”