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That's a common talking point, and I have no doubt it matches what you've seen, but as a counterpoint to "always" - I've only seen unions deal with management t
by danielheath 4y ago
That's a common talking point, and I have no doubt it matches what you've seen, but as a counterpoint to "always" - I've only seen unions deal with management twice, and both times it was productive and mutually respectful.
Negotiations like "The industry has moved and we are going to be out of business if we don't cut costs" lead to unions asking for concessions like voluntary redundancies (before involuntary ones to make up the difference) and on-site cross-training.
In return, the employers got buy-in from staff, which meant smoother knowledge transfer from departing employees.
- WalterBright 4y agoThank you, that is a good example of the right way to do things. Normally what I see, and what is abundantly clear in this thread, is unions are going for win-lose deals.
- danielheath 4y agoSo, the other thing to bear in mind is that in a jurisdiction like the USA a union can’t meaningfully exist without a threat, because there needs to be something they can offer before a negotiation makes sense. Where I live, the government sets quite a few conditions on employment, but many of them can be bargained away by a union, meaning there’s meaningful incentive to negotiating with one.