Most of the most successful business is spend a lot of time studying business case studies in order to understand what makes a corporation succeed or fail. One of the most often overlooked areas of study, however, is labor management relations. Labor relations can make or break a corporation. Back in the old days, companies used extremely crude labor relations strategies. They would employ private guards, breaking up strikes and pickets and hounding labor organizers until the workers were shut down. This proved to be an extremely effective strategy for stopping outside agitators from getting in the way of an employee's right to negotiate with with his employer. It was, however, a strategy that enraged the public. They thought – not without reason – that this type of labor relation program was cruel and inhumane, and demanded it be stopped. This was a PR disaster for the same companies, and it should serve as a message for all of us.
Of course, human resources management has come a long way since then, but that doesn't mean that there aren't lessons to learn from the old days. Adversarial labor relations are right out. Although it may be possible to sit out a strike, slow down, or walkout, it should be avoided. Once a business has itself in the position of squaring off against a well-organized union, it has already given more ground than it should have. Good labor relations management means that things should never get to this point. Unions and other outside agitators have no place in the modern workplace. It is the right and the responsibility of each worker to negotiate his or her own contract with management.
I have talked to a lot of executives, and many of them higher shy away from hiring a labor relations expert until it is too late. They reason that this is an unnecessary position, one that costs the company a fair bit of money without providing any tangible benefits. When things go downhill, however, these same managers always live to regret their decisions. Without the right labor management, independent workers can be coerced into forming a union in no time at all. Although some people claim that labor relations are well served by working with the union – allowing the boss to negotiate with just one party instead of many – in reality, this is not the case. It is your workplace, and without unions you are the one who holds the cards.
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