Employee Grievance Committee
Jake2
33 Posts
We are currently not unionized. We have a group of employees who are forming an "employee grievance committee" to voice concerns that employees have over what they call "working conditions."
What I know so far is that they want a bigger lunchroom, increased benefits, vacation, and more pay. I think the employees have a right to do whatever they want off of company time, but can they meet on company time, etc? When does this become a union? This seems extreme, especially since we are willing to talk to the employees and see if there are some common points that we can agree on. However, I just want to know what I have to do to address this developing situation . . . any help would really be appreciated.
Comments
Employees have the right to talk with each othe about the terms and conditions of their employment...you can't stop them from doing that. You can talk to your employees about certain things though, like why they feel they need a union and why you think that a union would not be useful or beneficial to them. You have to make sure, though, that your conversations aren't threatening or lead your employees to think taht there may be negative consequences for them if they do unionize.
As far as when they can participate in organizing activities, I think that if you don't have firm policy what employees can/can't do on work time, you might have some problems now telling your employees that they can't talk about these things during work time, because it would look as if you are targeting just union activity.