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The first point kills me -- so JB management would want to negotiate away stuff we already have? Really? So sure about that? That would kill the culture, and it would certainly kill any remaining doubt as to what the company really cares about.
But hey, you'd have the UNION to blame. Kinda like telling your kid that he MADE you hit him.
BC a lot of hopeful thinking on your part. For starters, the culture is killed the moment we have a third party invovled.
But let us discuss, the beleive a union is a
"no lose" proposition. Weaker organizers just
promise employees will get a big raise or improved
benefits if they vote in a union. Smarter
organizers (and the weaker ones when it becomes
clear they are dealing with an employee who knows
how bargaining actually works) will say something
like the union would never agree to cuts in
current wages and benefits, so employees can only
win.
The facts? Bargaining is a two-way street and
unions regularly agree to lesser pay, benefits or
work conditions in a first contract. Unions need a
contract once they are voted in - no contract, no
dues and the enormous investment in the organizing
effort is lost. Of course this always depends on
the relative bargaining power of the parties, but
most of the time - especially in today's tough
market - unions have to agree to concessions to
get that first contract.
Unions have institutional goals in contract
negotiations (like dues checkoff and union
security) that smart companies will only agree to
in exchange for something else. That something
else is normally something employees either
currently enjoy or something the union promised
they'd get during the organizing campaign.
As soon as an election is won by the Union the job becomes to lower expectations. Why?
Because nobody would vote in a
union if they thought they would pay dues for less
pay and benefits. Unions are also great at
"spinning" concessions at the bargaining table.
The bottom line is that there is no such thing as
a free lunch. Negotiations are full of trade-offs
from the two sides to the contract. Some will
benefit the union (notice I did not say the
employees - the employees are not a party to the
contract). And some will benefit the company. If
that doesn't happen there won't be an agreement.
That's not to say that employees won't benefit at
all under the new agreement. The union has to get
an agreement that benefits them and politically
won't get them voted out of office (not an easy
thing to do). But the company has to get a contract they can live with.
If that happens there will be a contract - even if
that agreement cuts some of the current pay,
benefits or work conditions of employees. If not,
no deal.
