Managing Employees and Bargaining Units in Labor Unions

Labor Relations Bargaining Units Bargaining units are groups of employees who have come together to spearhead their agenda. These movements are meant to champion the interests of the employees. Many organizations have their employees organized in such groups. As seen in Starbucks Company, their employees have organized themselves in such groups. The main agendas being championed are to do with salaries, working conditions, and retirement benefits. The organization is fit to have three levels of bargaining units. The first bargaining unit is for the low-level workers.

These workers perform the lowest tasks in the company. They should be grouped together because they have similar interests and face the same problems (Palokangas, 2010). Some of the serious challenges relate to workplace conditions and salaries. The salaries of most of the low-level employees are low. Ideally, they have to consider championing for increments. At Starbucks, the low-class employees usually have meetings to discuss and deliberate on these issues. The second level of bargaining units here is for the specific professionals within the organization.

For instance, the accountants have their specific groups meant for championing the specific interests pertaining to their profession. Thirdly, the senior managers have their bargaining group and mainly to discuss managerial issues and the best way of managing the junior employees. All these three bargaining groups are formed based on shared interests. The role of the general management is simply to support the activities of these bargaining groups without negatively trampling on their freedom.

The best way of using and managing their activities can be done collecting as many responses as possible from them. They act as a mirror to the management's role and performance (Drucker, 2012). Managing employees There is a statement that "It is not the union that organizes the employees, it is the management." The role of unions is to rally the employees to be aware of their rights. They are also there to make the management respond to the needs of the employees.

At every instance, unions serve the role of watchdogs. They are there to help the employees realize their full right as provided for by the labor laws. However, the employees have a duty to champion their interests by following the duty procedures. The employees also have a duty to play along with the management's rules. However, the management is the one that sets all the playing rules for the employees.

Since they are the official employers, they all the legal rights to set the rules to be played by all the workers under them (Drucker, 2012). They also draw their power from the fact that they make payments for salaries, which is all that employees want. They are also given the official mandate to hire and fire. Conversely, unions have little control when it comes to hiring or firing the workers. They also have little to do in determining how the employees will operate.

From the nature of their service, they are there.