How Can We Foster Employee Loyalty and Prevent Union Influence in Our Company?

Hi,

The workers in a company adjacent to ours have formed a workers' union due to bad employer-employee relations. We want to avoid any kind of such things in our company. Can you please suggest some measures that will prevent our workers from being influenced by such parties? I want to motivate our workers to build up their productivity and loyalty and convince them that such trade unions do not serve the workers' purposes.

Please suggest some team-building measures.

Thanks a lot for your support. :)

Hi,

First, let us accept a fact that the right to associate is a constitutional right and therefore we cannot do anything to deny that right. Yes, we can do a lot of things to obviate the need for people to exercise that right and to unionize. So let us keep the law out for the time being.

Historically, the unions have oriented themselves as reactionary organizations that grow strong and unmanageable due to legal protection, corrupt administration, political interference (often), and then of course the employers who provide a cause largely by their overly feudalistic, arbitrary, and authoritarian way. Unionization is a response often produced by a sense of insecurity. The blatant feature of such an approach is undermining the humanness of the workforce!

When the management loses credibility, someone else (inside or outside leadership) steps in and gets control over the workers' minds.

Ostensibly, the unions' fundamental concerns are "protecting and furthering" the rights of its members. This is sanctified in the modern industrial world through the "collective bargaining" exercises. But once the unions are formed, they soon leave behind the legal parameters to their functioning and rely on their negative capabilities.

At this stage, I urge you to consider two facts. Firstly, all this is NOT a generalization even if it sounds so, and secondly, I have experienced individuals who are studied and believe in "reason," "mutuality of relations," "continuous dialogue," and the golden rule of "give and take." They practice a deep understanding that the limits to their aspirations of enhanced wages and facilities are set by the performance of the organization and are willing to work for it, yet uncomplainingly accept the reality of the performance levels of the organization. But then they demand information, participation, credibility, transparency, and justice!

With this prelude, let us look at what can be done to avoid union formation! Frankly, NOTHING! One may be able to only postpone the event but never permanently avoid it!

If unions are a reality, why try to escape it? We can develop skills to deal with unions by disciplining our own systems suitably. In a democracy, unions are accepted as a natural consequence. It's just that in our country, we (the successive governments) have pampered them and therefore mostly they have gone overboard! We as employers have also contributed to their negative approaches. Instead of trying to avoid union formation, I would advise the creation of a system in the organization where certain values are sacrosanct! I suggest:

1) Transparency, fairness, participation in decision-making (where possible), and communication by way of sharing should be sanctified as the culture of the organization.

2) At the level of workmen particularly, apart from judicious and humane treatment, what will keep them calm is the feeling and reality that all are treated uniformly and fairly. To this extent, reliance on intelligent rules/systems is advisable. If 80% of issues are resolved through systems, you are extending that assurance of uniform treatment. If decisions are left to human discretion, there are chances of discretion being differently used (due to the exigencies/compulsions of the situation at any given point in time!) and wrong inferences being drawn by the workmen.

3) In short, treat human beings as human beings, and you may not have problems like your neighbors. And to decide what this sky is the limit to your innovation.

In fact, I had explained the process in an earlier thread also. See if you can get hold of that thread.

I hope you succeed in your mission, but more in acquiring skills to effectively deal with the unions! More about that later, please.

Regards,

Samvedan

October 25, 2006

Hi Niketa,

With due regards to Mr. Samvedam for his invaluable inputs, I would like to add some more to sort out this issue.

When the initial call was given to all proletarians of the world to get united, the economic conditions were different, and exploitation of the working class was rampant. As a result, the need for unionization started. Slowly, the political parties started to dominate union politics to demonstrate their strength among workmen so that this could be an easier way to attract the vote banks. So there are two sides to this union coin - one is to really safeguard the rights of the proletarian class and the second is to utilize the working class to attain power.

There are many ways to tackle unions against the above-mentioned scenarios. But why unions? Are there no remedial measures? To answer these questions - a study of the economic conditions of workmen working in an industry is required to know their level of satisfaction with what they are getting. Are they able to feed their families properly? If they are, then several other aspects of welfare have to be considered both in the factory as well as in their homes. Okay, let us assume that being a progressive organization you have provided everything to a workman to lead a happy and contented life. But still, there is room for dissatisfaction which arises due to either lack of transparency or lack of say in decision-making. This happens in many organizations - they take care of employees very well - bonuses, allowances, and whatnot; they extend every financial benefit available under the sun to their workers. If these organizations are not able to encourage the participation of workmen through various committees like the Works Committee, Collective Bargaining - this leads to resentment among workmen in the long run, which ultimately gives room for unions to raise their ugly head.

In a nutshell, a study of the fulfillment of all needs of a workman has to be undertaken to plug any loopholes. Moreover, they should be encouraged to participate freely in strategic planning, decision-making, and other major areas. In addition, the relationship between them and their supervisors or superiors has to be always kept in check, and any iota of harassment or favoritism may spark a lot of trouble if left unsolved properly.

One more thing is to encourage the workmen to form a union so that instead of getting a jolt from out of the blue, you can have the satisfaction of having a union of your 'own' (you know what I mean) to solve many problems. Though this is an unethical practice that I am personally against - most organizations today are following this path unscrupulously - and getting the required results. This is also another way of avoiding unions.

Regards,

PRADEEP

Hi Niketa,

I am very happy that this thought came to your mind. First of all, please look at the needs of the people. Most of the time, our needs are the same, whether a person is a workman or an executive. If you start looking at their needs in a positive manner, sometimes going out of the way to help them with getting child admission, housing loans, vehicle loans, etc., from the bank, it will not be a burden on Management.

Many times, HR professionals and top management feel that why should we give x, y, z things to workmen, which will be an additional cost. However, when the same things come from the Union, we accept it as a bargain. Why not in anticipation?

You can also think of Family Get-together, Family Sports, Children Competitions, Rangoli Competitions, Career Guidance to Children, etc. Wish you all the best.

Ravindra Chaubal Manager - HR & IR Schneider Electric India Pvt Ltd. 58, MIDC, Satpur, Nashik 422 007.

Hi Niketa,

Samvedan has explained everything in an excellent way. Just to add delta in it / gravy ... start following as the first step:
1. Define formal & informal communication processes.
2. Start small group activities.
3. Know your employees' socio-economic needs better to redefine HR systems effectively.

The rest has been explained well by Samvedan. What is your opinion, Samvedan/Niketa?

Avinash Desai