Reference no: EM132936672
Analyse the extent to which Freeman & Medoff's theoretical distinction between the monopoly and collective voice 'faces' of unionism helps us to understand the behaviour of the union, UWU, in the below scenario.
Employees at Officeworks' distribution centres in NSW plan a strike under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) over what they say is a low offer from management on a new enterprise agreement despite booming sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The planned industrial action of about 275 workers comes amid a surge in work from home arrangements across firms, which is associated with the pandemic.
Officeworks has offered annual pay rises of 2% a year and wants to expand ordinary working hours from 7.6 hours per day to 10 hours.
According to the United Workers Union (UWU), which is the bargaining representative, workers also want management to agree to pay site rates by which casual2 workers would receive the same pay and conditions as permanent3 Officeworks employees.
The union said business is growing for Officeworks, which has increased its profits by 41.5% or $167 million, between 2015 to 2019.
Officeworks shifted its focus to online sales pursuant to its sales policy and rules published on the company website. Because of this the warehouse and logistics workers have been working much harder, and the union finds it unacceptable that the company is offering small pay increases to workers and refusing to protect their job security through decent pay and conditions.
The UWU along with the workers are calling on the wider community to support the action by not shopping at Officeworks, either online or in person.
The company pointed out that it is offering industry-leading treatment of employees.