Human Resource Management (Essay Sample)

Case Study:
‘Let Me Keep My Job’ and ‘Cold as Ice’
Name
Institution
Case Study: ‘Let Me Keep My Job’ and ‘Cold as Ice!’
Let Me Keep My Job
The case in issue is a labor dispute since it involves concerns between an employer and the Union representing the employees. In the matter involving a public utility, the rail system, the Company was right to seek guidance from the public utility commission on the way forward in dealing with redundant staff. Since individual employees of the Company cannot go to court against the Company, the Union serves as the umbrella body representing their interests to the court of law. As provided for by Section 2 of The Norris-LaGuardia Act, the genuinely free employee must be able to organize collectively (Industrial Workers of the World). The employees of the Company are capable of exercising actual liberty since they belong to a union.
The Norris LaGuardia Act clearly states that no Court of the United States has jurisdiction to issue any injunction in any case involving or growing out of any labor dispute (Reid & Jr, 1967). However, if I were to make a decision on the matter, I would rule in favor of the Union. The Union was well within its mandate as an employer in seeking guidance on the issue of reducing the number of contracted employees. The Company was wrong in indicating that the Union had no labor dispute with them and by extension no legal protest with them. This was a mistaken view since it is the duty of the Union to represent the workers and agitate for their best interests. It would not be in the best interest of the employees of the Company to be laid off, thus a Union strike was necessitated to help protect their jobs.
The Company was asking for an injunction since the Union had not appeared before the state public utility commission to oppose the proposed changes in the interest of its members. It is, however, imperative to note that the Union had approached the Company or negotiations to which the latter declined. The refusal of the Company to negotiate is indicative of a hard stance towards the employee and the representative Union. This is in contrast to the action of the Union which sought dialogue before resorting to a strike. Since the union showed good faith, the ruling would also be in their favor.
It is a true account that the Company had refused to negotiate in good faith since it was apprehensive of being liable to continue suffering loss if it agreed with demands made by the Union. The proposed changes in the existing contract between the Company and its employees would result in termination of employment of numerous employees without culpable cause.
Cold as Ice
In providing delivery of goods to the market, the nonunionized truck drivers offered the nearly 200 unionized ice peddlers competition for their market. It was also possible that they offered competitive prices since they were not restricted by union guidelines on pricing. The resistance of the nonunion ice peddlers in joining the union is an exercising of an individual right to make choices. The role of the truck drivers was to serve as distributors in the supply chain. The truck drivers would buy ice from distributors and sell ice to retailers from door to door. During the strike, the role of the drivers who were union members was to follow the union directions. The drivers adhered to the restrictions of not crossing the picket line, thus forced the Empire Storage and Ice Company business to suffer the effects of the strike. In this regard, the drivers were used as a tool of punishing the Empire and restraining their trade during the period of strike.
Based on facts from the case, the union boycott was an attempt to restrain and interfere with trade of the Empire. When the union members for the Company picketed around the Empire and imposed fines for any of the union drivers who crossed the picket line, there was limited movement of ice from the Company. The Sherman Act provided that every restraint of trade that is unreasonable is prohibited (Federal Trade Commission). The union took intense effort to break the resistance of ice peddlers who refused to join their body. Instead, the union designed and adopted a plan to restrict nonunion peddlers from purchasing ice for distribution to local retail customers. The union obtained agreements from all area wholesale distributors that they...