Reference no: EM13235129

Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd. is a medium-sized manufacturer of leather and vinyl shoes located in Wilmington, Ontario. It was started in 1969 and currently employs about 400 persons in its Wilmington plant and some 380 more in offices and warehouses throughout Canada. This company has recently experienced multiple human resources challenges and has decided to hire your team of HR consultants to straighten things out for them. Here are their issues:

Robert Clark, the president has just received a letter from the president of the local unit of the Leather Workers' Union, Sam Polanyi, warning him of dire consequences if the firm does not proceed slowly with automation in its local plant. The union had urged its members to adapt a "work to rule" tactic beginning next month. In three months time, the contract negotiations have to be concluded. Past negotiations have always gone down to the wire sometimes just hours away from a strike but so far there have always been last-minute settlements.

Automation and a newly proposed workweek to accommodate this automation have been tossed around as important bargaining items. In addition, Clark who is the head negotiator for the company has stated that he wants to institute a profit-sharing plan as he has heard from another company's president that these plans improve productivity, product quality and decreases absenteeism and turnover (although he hasn't shared those thoughts with the union). The union quickly fired back stating "Forget it. Profit sharing is a management gimmick whose only purpose is to make employees work harder and the company more profitable. And the risk is too great if there are no or low profits. What do we gain then - nothing. We want to negotiate wages and benefits not profit sharing."

Speaking of benefits, Polanyi has heard from the union membership that they are interested in receiving flexible benefits instead of the current fixed benefit plan. Flexible benefits mean employees can choose the kind of benefits most useful to them which is not possible under the fixed "one size fits all" plan currently being used.

With the heavy competition from China, Korea and Malaysia the results on orders has been worrisome. In the last six months, the firm has lost two major retail suppliers in the United States both stating the sole reason being Maple Leaf's high shoe prices.

The recent warning from the human rights commission (HRC) did not help matters either. Apparently two female employees who had been denied supervisory promotions had complained to the commission. They had stated that the promotion criteria at the company had been discriminatory towards women. After preliminary investigation, the HRC had found their cases not strong enough to proceed further however it had warned the company about its concentration of women in low-paid jobs and its lack of clear job specifications for supervisory positions. It has advised the company that it needs to come up with a remedial plan within 12 months to address and clearly specify supervisory competencies and job specifications.

Finally, Clark has just been informed that Sam Johnson a non-union employee has advised his supervisor that he has just learned that he has AIDS. Sam thought it important to also tell Catherine Reading his co-worker that he has contracted AIDS so that she could take any necessary precautions. Both Johnson and Reading work in the cafeteria and have received stellar performance reviews and are valued company employees. Johnson has been with the company for 8 years, Reading for 12 years.

Catherine was quite troubled by this information and the next day she told her supervisor that she was refusing to work with Sam due to her fears. The supervisor asked her if she was refusing to obey his order to work with Sam and she replied "I guess I am. I am scared to." The supervisor informed her that refusing to carry out his request was insubordination and sent her home. Since there is no AIDS policy, he then went to Clark for advice on what to do next. Clark wants to fire both of them for just cause as he thinks Johnson is a health & safety risk and Reading is guilty of insubordination. Better to get rid of problem employees quickly he believes.

To top it off the previous human resources manager resigned two months ago and has moved to another Province. Given all the pressures, Clark had decided to immediately fill the HR manager's position. Using the job ad (see Exhibit 1) from when the previous HR manager was hired Clark posted it in his local newspaper as he had before. However he did not get any suitable applicants. What to do now?

In preliminary conversations Clark has had told you that he wants a tough individual - someone like the previous HR manager who can stand up to the union and take charge as Clark personally dislikes dealing with employee-related matters. However, he wants whoever is hired to consult him on major issues but at the same time make some decisions on their own. There is no formal job description as Clark does not value such documents as he is convinced that they mean little and just adds to the paperwork.
Your HR consulting team has its work cut out for it! What should you do to help Robert Clark and his company?

Discuss the problems facing the company regarding employee/labour relationship and give the salutations