Unit 8: Review Questions PDF

Preview

Summary

Unit 8: Unions and Collective Agreements Review Questions...

Description

HRMT 386: Introduction to Human Resource Management Review

1. Whether employees select unionization will greatly depend on whether the employees perceive the union as likely to be effective in improving various economic conditions of employment – often referred to as the union’s instrumentality. Unions are built on the traditional issues of wages, benefits and working conditions. Employees may seek unionization when they perceive that managerial practices regarding promotion, transfer, shift assignment, or other job-related policies are administered in an unfair or biased manner. Employees cite favoritism shown by managers as a major reason for joining a union. This is particularly true when the favoritism concerns the HR areas of discipline, promotion, job assignments, and training opportunities. Employees whose need for recognition and social affiliation are being frustrated may join unions as a means of satisfying these needs. Through their union, they have an opportunity to fraternize with other employees who have similar desires, interests, problems, and gripes. Additionally, unions also give the employees to put their leadership skills to use as officers of the union and representatives of fellow employees. 2. The bargaining power of the union may be exercised by striking, picketing, or boycotting the employer’s products or services. A strike is the refusal of a group of employees to perform their jobs. When a union goes on strike, it often pickets the employer by placing people at business entrances to advertise the dispute and to discourage others from entering the premises. Because unions often refuse to cross another union’s picket line, the picket’s may serve to prevent the delivery and pickup of goods or performance of other services. When negotiations become deadlocked, the employer’s bargaining power largely rests on being able to continue operations in the face of a strike or to shut down operations entirely. Another prevalent bargaining strategy is for the employer to continue operations by using managers and supervisors to staff employee jobs. Technological advances also allow the employer to operate during a strike. The employer could elect to lockout its employees. The lockout is a bargaining strategy by which the employer denies employees the opportunity to work by closing its operations. 3. Despite the protections it offers, statutory law continues to give employers significant power. For example, the law recognizes trade unions and requires employers to bargain with them, yet these laws continue to allow employers the right to manage their business and their employees as they see fit. Furthermore, some of the features of these laws (such as the grievance process displacing the right to strike during the term of the collective agreement) appear to reinforce this power by channeling conflict into manageable processes. This analysis suggests that employment law (and thus the state) is not neutral....