Topic: Industrial Labor Relations:
Description:
You walked into the lunchroom and overhead Jane and some of the company’s managers discussing recent declines in company profitability; in part because of the restrictions placed on management’s prerogatives to fire underperformers, reassign workers, establish pay grades, etc. You decided to join the discussion and wanted to add your two cents in the following areas:
• The ethical dilemma of who the most important stakeholders to a company are: unionized employees, shareholders, the community, etc.
• Does a company deserve to make more profits for its shareholders if it does this by not agreeing to higher wage demands from their unionized workforce?
• What ethical responsibility do union leaders have to their members if the company is headed toward bankruptcy because of uncompetitive labor costs versus its nonunion competition?