A short Word on Unions and Corporations,
Today?s telecommunications and IT workers are commanding more and more pay, more and more perks, as we all know in the IT field. The price of hiring can be the largest single outlay you make on an employee. This bears to mind one question. Should both workers and Corporations being to rethink the role of the Union?
As more and more corporations are migrating toward worker retention, now that we have gotten over the outsourcing initiatives. We find our selves as employers offering larger and larger sums in order to keep the already trained employees we have, and to stop the bleeding out of our employees in to subcontract positions. This trend in the Contracts with the Federal Government, where an employee leaves our company only to turn up a few weeks later on the same contract for double the money. And all of the intellectual property that he took with him is in the hands of our competitors. The scenario I just laid out is not so strange to any of us that have been working government and private contracts for some time.
We left the workers feeling very vulnerable with the outsourcing deals, perhaps a little too vulnerable, because subcontracting has become preferable over employment. And remember, a Sub has no loyalty, they are just seeking the next highest rate
So with this in mind, should we all rethink the role of the Union in these times of ever increasing pay scales for desktop technicians and wire pullers? I think it is a resounding yes, here is why:
On a corporate level the contract can be negotiated, meaning that uniformity would finally be brought to the cost to do business in the lower level employees. Costs can be more accurately forecasted, and the contract can be limiting or confined into those forecasts, therefore alleviating the need for the front line managers to manage the overtime and sick costs of the baseline employees. Global Contracts can be struck with the global Unions, giving predictability, and uniformity to most worker levels, below management, with regards to pay scales, health benefits, vacation, sick and job titles, all things corporate America has struggled to standardize in the past 5 years. Standardization and uniformity in Global Roles would bring a cost benefit almost immediately to most large corporations. (Average pay scales could be a blended rate, drawn down by the outsourcing, however, fairer rates, and standardization bring a level of comfort to employees more than ever before in a non standard, seemingly at whim pay determination structure) Unions have these rates embedded already, and if Corporate America learns to manage and negotiate with the bargaining unit for human capital in the same manner they do other commodities, the use of bargaining unit employees becomes the preferable methodology for hiring below the management level. This frees resources in Corporate to focus on the Management Chain, training, education, mentoring, and grooming to insure that the next generation of leadership is prepared for what they are about tot face.
The Second biggest driver I see as to why most large corporations would benefit from the use of bargaining units is Healthcare costs, as it stands now the corporation is responsible for the negotiation of Healthcare costs and management of its costs after the negotiation is complete. These activities can be singularly turned over to your bargaining units, reducing the need for overhead employees to manage the bulk of your workforce. Freeing up these overhead resources, on both the day to day management of Healthcare and worrisome rating activities, may be the new frontier for Corporations to explore.
Just a thought
Of course there are many other issues to be considered as to why or why not to use bargaining unit employees, this is just one thought out of what I am sure are many.