BU354 Lecture 30: Lesson 30 bu354
Document Summary
The four activities that labor relations professionals are most involved in are conflict resolution management, coaching with regard to labor relations best practices, administration of the collective agreement, and grievance settlement. Employers frequently adopt either a union suppression or union substitution approach to avoid unionization. Union suppression approach involves fighting union representation: employer may try to intimidate workers, threaten to close or move the plant or facility, or discriminate against union supporters. Union substitution approach examines what unions bring to the employment relationship and then tries to introduce such features into the nonunion workplace. When unions are present, often hr departments are expanded to include specialists in labor relations. Unionization may be associated with greater centralization of employee record- keeping and discipline to ensure uniformity of application. Managers may become dissatisfied because their authority decreases while their responsibility increases. Unions means that management has less freedom to make unilateral changes. Some unions and employers are moving towards greater co-operation.
