Collective Bargaining at West University Case Study

Collective Bargaining at West University - Case Study Example In this case it seemed that the school was the one opposed to allowing the workers to unionize or allow another union to speak on their behalf. As employees there is another disturbing aspect to living and working in a right-to work state. Under that law a company can terminate an employee without cause, wrong-doing, or explanation; being part of a union would allow for a level of job security that many businesses may be disagreeable with. After all if the majority of their employees become part of unions then their freedom to down size their staff becomes more and more limited. A survey conducted showing that more than 50% of employees not presently in any kind of union, suffer from feelings of vulnerability, which negatively effects their efficiency and productivity in the workplace (Larsen, 2011). In this case the law found in favor of the RAs and CDAs, so in this case the law seemed to be on the side of the union. 2. Do you think teaching assistants should be considered employees ? Yes, even if their labor is exchanged for credits, school related funds, and because it looks good on their transcripts and resumes in the future, student workers should still be qualify as employees. The contention involves the necessity of employers to allow employees to freely unionize. However by proving that teaching assistants, RAs, and CDAs are not, actually, employees then the laws regarding unionization and collective bargaining would, simply, not apply to them (McHugh, 2011).The time that they spend is not their time, they are given schedules, duties, and responsibilities that they must complete in order to complete their job. However, they are still required to be treated with respect, consideration, and in ways conducive to the rules and policies that apply to all employees. If they are not considered employees then there are no realistic protections for how they are treated and the condition under which they may work. They are employees and just because they may not a lways be paid via actual monies they should still have the right to question how they are treated and have the right to negotiate the duties of their job expectations. According to the research the turnover rates of RAs is quite high, the hours, lack of perks, the aggression, and retaliation of disgruntles students who do not respect their authority makes the job unbearable and not worth it, essentially. The University may save monies in the long run by listening to the demands of the staff members, making changes to solve issues, and limit the turnover and wasted training costs over the course of the school year. 3. Do you think management's reaction to employee interest in unionization differs if the employer already has a high union density among other employee groups? Yes, I think that it does make a difference. In today’s modern society right-to-work states have the freedom and privilege of terminating their staff without any reason or cause, which relieves them of any r esponsibility to their employees. When employers already have a number of involved unions it limits their ability to thin out their staff as they see fit. They may become eager to discourage further unionization for that reason. In the case presented, and as mentioned before, the school is working so hard to verify that the segment of their staff that wants to unionize cannot and they cannot be represented by another