Question 1: Would you expect a stronger anti-union response from an employer in manufacturing or an employer in a service industry?
I would expect a stronger anti-union response from an employer in a manufacturing industry than an employer in the service industry. While every industry has a unique way of responding to unions, there is a significant variation on how manufacturing industry employer responds to a union and the service industry employer respond to union action (Fossum, 2014). Despite the fact that most unions are found in manufacturing, the recent pro-union agreement place an emphasis on the need to create unions within the service industry. There are some arguments that support a stronger union response in the manufacturing industry than the service industry. Key reasons for stronger anti-union response in the manufacturing industries revolve around the long-term fixed capital, labor costs, foreign competition, as well as market power.
Question 2: What are the potential long-term problems for unions in agreeing to labor-management cooperation programs?
In most cases, unions are not welcomed to take part in activities that concern the labor management corporation programs. In addition to the difficulties faced by unions in the course of a negotiation process, there are two significant long-term problems that may arise for these unions when they agree to the labor union management programs: reduced bargaining power for the unions and reduced trust.
The different roles of a labor management program should be noted to understand how reduced bargaining power is a long term problem for unions when they agree to the labor union management programs. Labor-management committees often deal with building trust and problem solving, and the labor management programs play a significant role in dealing with issues such as workplace safety, personal issues, training, working hours, as well as daily workplace issues (Bruno, 2015). Since functions of the labor management are traditionally considered to be union roles, union tend to lose bargaining power when they agree to the labor management programs. Since labor-management cooperation programs use committees to avoid bringing up irrelevant issues to the bargaining table, they ultimately simplify the bargaining processes.
In his article, Bruno (2015) noted that since the workplace social contract has traditionally underscored, marginalized collective bargain, unions have increasingly assumed the impact of this transformation. Although these committees may initially put an emphasis on dealing with less controversial issues such as overtime and safety for workers, these programs are effective in building a level of trust between the management and labor (Bruno, 2015). The developed trust between management and labor in committee meetings creates a positive impact on their relationship at the traditional contentious bargaining table. The result of an improved relationship between the management and labor-management cooperation programs may ultimately lead to reduced trust for the unions.
References
Bruno, R. (2015). Bargaining through Cooperation: The Impact of Labor-Management Teams on Steward Identity and Performance. Members-only Library.
Fossum, J. A. (2014). Labor relations. Mcgraw Hill Higher Education.
