Select and answer to any four of these topics:
1. It has been said that "a company that deserves a union gets one," suggesting that if proper leadership and motivation techniques are employed and desirable policies devised, the workers will not want to unionize. Either agree or disagree with this philosophy. Support your position and explain what a company could do to create an environment where workers will not want to unionize.
2. Some means of resolving negotiations impasses involve economic weapons (e.g. strikes and lockouts). There are other means of impasse resolution that do not involve the use of economic weapons (e.g. fact finding, mediation, med/arb/interest arb, etc.). Select two (2) non-economic means of impasse resolution, 1) explain how each one functions and 2) discuss the relative pros and cons of each.
3. Unions have declined as a percentage of the workforce in the private sector. With this decline, have career and workplace dissatisfaction and alienation increased? If so, why is this so? If not, why not? Support your position.
4. List and discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages in using seniority as a factor to determine shift preference or overtime assignments.
5. Identify two different steps a company should take to prepare for its first round of bargaining with the union pre-negotiation activities. Explain why each of the steps you have identified is critical to achieving an initial successful collective bargaining agreement with the union.
6. Identify and explain the major ways in which the government is an important participant in the labor relations.