Question

Discussion Questions
1.What would you recommend to union workers whose employer is threatening to close down
unless they agree to wage decreases or other concessions?
2.Is there some alternative to cutting wages or closing down? What is it?
3.Union workers often feel that the company is bluffing when it threatens to close. How can such
doubts be settled so that more open negotiations can take place?
4.Does government have a right to interfere with organizations (i.e., union and employer) that have
already negotiated a collective agreement and force them to renegotiate?

Answer 1

1. Union workers play pivotal role in securing legislated labor protection such as safety,health, overtime as well as enforce of such rights. When labor union wants to increase wages or request other concessions from the employer they do so by collective bargaining. collective bargaining is a process through which workers (through union) and employer meet to discuss on employment environment. If union is unable to negotiate they should threaten employer to go on strike. Threatening to strike can be advantageous as compared to actual strike. Collective bargaining is key to solve economics crisis. It will ensure that corporate profits are widely distributed between shareholders, management and employees. This will force organization to renegotiate.

2.There are many alternatives that companie have instead of cutting wages and layoffs. We have listed three such alternatives:

a. Furloughs : fur refer to leave of absence of employees with a promise of rehiring them or simply retaining their jobs. This will help in giving companies payroll a break while retaining jobs for employees.

b.Hiring freeze : Many companies deploy mass lay off still posting job vacancy. The idea behind it is to lay off old ones and to bring in fresh blood in organization at lower pay. However, cost of recruiting new ones is always greater than retaining old ones hence companies should consider hiring freeze as an alternative to layoff.

c. Cut production: Instead of cutting on employees, companies should cut down on production. This will retain the talent which is real asset for organization. As soon as situation improved higher production goals can be reached.

(An extra point)

d. Sell assets : we all know that a company possess lot of assets which are high end and some which are outdated, both which are seldom used by companies. So instead of cutting wages , company should sellbit off to generate some cash flow and continue operations.

3. If union doubts that company is bluffing to stop it's operations, in such a case it should openly set up a meeting so that there is a room for clear community. Cause shutting would not only impact employees but also the company.

4.Yes, government has right to interfere with organisation that has already negotiated collective agreement and forced them to renegotiate. When conciliation fails , then parties may go for voluntary or compulsary arbitration. In voluntary arbitration either state or central government appoints arbitrator which are representative of board and union. While in compulsory arbitration they submit dispute to a mutually agreed third party.