Memo on the On-going Campaigns
XYZ COMPANY
TO: SENIOUR MANAGEMENT
FROM: HR MANAGER & CONSULTANT
DATE: 28th September 2015
RE: UNION ORGANIZING COMPAIGNS
Non-unionized employees don’t belong to any union of workers; they don’t have any representative at the workplace. On the other hand, a unionized worker is that who has a recognized worker association that represents his or her interest in the union that is as a bargaining liaison. The bargaining or negotiation of wage and salary rates is done by a workforce through the unions. Negotiations can also include benefits of workers, complaint procedures as well as workplace policy and safety (Siu, 2011).
Following a prolonged preview on unionized and union-free campaigns, I would like to take this noble chance to apprise you about company management and operation under two settings. To start with, under a union-free environment, employees air their criticisms both in courts and to the management alike. Be that as it may, employers can sue workers when they conduct themselves unlawfully in their workplace. This is of substantial benefit to business management in the environment that is unionized since the joint agreement will be of pivotal assistance to the organization. In actual sense, this means that there will be no pile-ups that involve case laws of gone years against the organization and therefore, they cases cannot be used against the organization in a court of law by workers.
On the other hand, in a unionized environment, employees undertake a collective bargaining agreement. This strictly follows work jurisdiction (Dessler, 2012). It is, therefore, the duty of the management to keenly concentrate on the best output as per the agreement. This is not the case in a union free environment. Unionized employees will, therefore, have to complete their job as indicated and bargained in the contract.
Under union-free environment, employees are employed under a contract. Thus, breaching of an employee’s right can only be resolved in court, either the employee or the employer. Generally, most workers prefer working in a union free setting because the companies will still meet their needs without the unions. Though, as time goes in case the needs or the expectations of the employees are not addressed, they will resort to joining unions that will fight and cater for their needs (Gleason, 2011). Through unions, we get a basis for increasing job opportunities and leadership since there is the division of labor and high specialization.
Managing an organization unionized setting result in higher costs of administration, roughly 30% higher than when working in a union free setting. The increased costs in a unionized setting mostly arise due to several workers’ strikes extra labor costs as well as overtime payment and employment of extra human resource members. Furthermore, the said expenses could shoot up because of the dues that workers pay to their respective unions (Gleason, 2011).
Throughout the campaign time, management representatives are permitted to thoroughly campaign in order to win, provided what they are campaigning is allowed by the law. Moreover, the representatives are required to keep campaign secrets for the elections till the signing of the petitions; this is more common in a unionized environment’s elections (Siu, 2011). For such elections, managers are required to be flexible and avoid ignoring the voice of the people. In fact, they are required to employ decisive techniques of solving problems and issues of concerned parties. Congruently, it is their duty to perform as a team because of the fact that they are a representative of their colleague workers and co- workers.
It is also the management representatives’ duty to provide ample time for employees to take part in decision-making and negotiation. Equally, representatives must create time, most appropriately when the employees are free. Here, they should contemplate slightest grievances of any employee since it can be pivotal to an individual and, therefore, shouldn’t go unreciprocated. Also, the representatives should find adequate reasons that concern the necessity to take part in several negotiations and the significance of acting as one body and usefulness of being amalgamated (Siu, 2011).
Such representatives have to show transparency during decision making. They must make sure each member takes part in decision-making processes; this can be achieved by continually accentuating on consistent talk with the employees (Dessler, 2012). Representatives must inform employees of the union strength and the financial stability; this will enable them to set expectations with less extreme exaggerations.
Spying, threatening, interrogating, and making promises to workers on the basis that they must not support union are not ethical practices by the representatives, and, therefore, they are outlawed. Consequently, it is also unethical for a representative to interfere with the activities of the workers that might hinder them from participating in the union, which is their right. In addition to that, it is also unethical practice to discriminate against a worker (Gleason, 2011). Therefore, such management representatives uttering and doing insubordinate actions from the union can result in loss of money and most certainly managerial positions.
Yours faithfully,
XYZ CONSULTANT
References
1. Dessler, G. (2012). Human resource management (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
2. Gleason, S. (2011). Workplace dispute resolution: Directions for the 21st century. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
3. Siu, B. (2011). HR manager’s guide to diversity and inclusive practices. Toronto, Ont.: Carswell.
