What is Managements Role During a Work Stoppage
May 5, 2011In the event of a withdrawal of services, management’s primary objectives will be to maintain critical services, ensure the safety of people and property and to continue to make every effort to resolve the dispute that precipitated the withdrawal of services. It must be clearly recognized that:
- While critical services will be maintained, non-essential services will be disrupted or suspended
- Management must make every effort to maintain professional relations with employees who have temporarily withdrawn their services and avoid discussing the issues regarding the dispute
To effectively plan for and manage the withdrawal of services, management must:
- Prepare and have a good public relations strategy
- Plan for and maintain ways to ensure the working staff continues to have a high morale
- Continue to appear professional, effective and non-bias
- Assume that the union is prepared for a lengthy labour dispute
- Recognize that the union public announcement may misrepresent the real issues and that the initial public reaction may be to focus blame on the management
