Question

When a collective bargaining agreement with Shoe Manufacturing expired, the workers went on strike. The company announced it would let workers who crossed the picket line at work and hire replacement workers. After the strike ended, the union claimed the company had to take back all strikes in place of the replacement workers. Analyze this scenario and discuss if the union’s position is correct.

Answer 1

The workers went on strike when the agreement expired. The company had announced that it would hire replacement workers. The union should have negotiated with the company much before and should not have let this scenario occur.

Now the union is unjustified in its demand that all replacement workers need to be re-instated. The replacement workers have also left their previous jobs somewhere and joined here. So it would not be correct to let go of all these workers now. They will be in deep trouble if the company choose to take back all workers who went on strike.

The union needs to discuss with the company and choose a middle path such that all interests are safeguarded.