It's Your Call: Labor Days 31-Aug-2007
Manufacturers and their workers throughout the country must develop a new détente which will obviate their historical adversarial relationship. If such a détente does not come into being, then the United States will fall behind not just the rapidly developing economies in China and India, but also the more mature economies in Japan, Germany, and France. In order to succeed, management and labor must agree to implement the following eight...
Changing Corporate Culture, Increasing Productivity 26-Jul-2007
Increasing employee morale and producing entails making drastic...
Making a Great Place to Work 16-Apr-2007
Using a cohesive labor relations plan reduces employee-related problems and increases a casino’s productivity and...
Viewpoint -- Employee Free Choice Act Puts A Target On The Back Of Manufacturers 16-Oct-2006
Proposed legislation would require employers recognize a union when a majority of a company's employees sign union authorization...
Making Retail Pay 01-Jul-2006
Whether negotiation is art or science is unknown. But reaching mutual agreement with a labor union is nothing short of a miracle. Retailers of size may just be praying for miracles these days, as the current retail labor-union landscape shows signs of impending chang and...
Obermayer/Cabot Employment Alert 13-Nov-2005
The United States Supreme Court on November 7, 2005, declined to review a decision of the federal court of appeals in Ohio, which found that the City of Cincinnati discriminated against a transsexual police officer, and awarded the officer $874,236.00. This case was originally brought under...
How Corporate America Can Protect Itself From the Rupture in the AFL-CIO 17-Oct-2005
During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, more than one third of all workers were union members. Today, union membership has dropped to less than 10% of the workforce. What happened? The union movement was the driving factor behind important legislation that protected workers’ rights, and created new rights. With the passage of anti-discrimination laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans With Disabilities Act, and with the creation of OSHA, many...
Racial Code Words 29-Sep-2005
It is no secret that many of today's bank tellers are women and people of color. Unfortunately, many of them are being terminated because of downsizing that has resulted from mergers, while still others are being replaced by the marvels of...
When Words Mask Discrimination 29-Sep-2005
A supervisor criticizes an employee, referring to the female clerical worker as "another foolish person whom we shouldn't have hired." The employee, in turn, feels that the supervisor's criticism is, in effect, a form of racial...
Supplanting the Role of Unions 29-Sep-2005
In order to maintain a productive non-union workforce, manufacturers need to supplant the role of unions. Unfortunately, there are not many managers trained to do so. That lack of training can be a detriment to a company's...
