Human Resource Management homework help. Case Study 2: Avoiding a Union Effort at Technologies Essential
Jeannine Marquez has just become the CEO of Technologies Essential. The company is a
15- year-old, mid-size computer software company headquartered in Columbia, Missouri. The
company specializes in providing products that enable users to more fully implement SAP
solutions. Most of the 569 employees are software developers. These employees are well
paid and receive tuition reimbursement and excellent health and retirement benefits. The
company rewards these employees well as they are seen as the key to the company’s
success.
The software developers seem content with the company, but the support staff are not. They
believe that they are overworked and underpaid relative to the software developers. They
receive less vacation and personal leave time, are required to take compensatory time off
rather than receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours per week, and none of
them make over $42,000 a year even though many of them have worked for the company
since it started and have supervisory responsibilities.
The CEO has just received a letter signed by 25 employees indicating they wish to join the Office and Professional
Employees International Union (OPEIU). The letter listed a number of grievances including concerns about work
schedules, concerns that other employees who had expressed an interest in joining a union were fired by the former
CEO, and dissatisfaction with pay and benefits.
Questions
1. Describe the steps that employees at Technologies Essential should take if they want to unionize.
2. Research the OPEIU. What would be the advantages to these employees if they did join this union? What would be
the disadvantages?
3. If employees have been fired for unionizing, do they have any recourse?
4. What advise can you provide to Jeannine Marquez about how to address the concerns of these employees? Are
there legal issues regarding unionization about which she needs to be aware as she begins to address the
concerns? If so, what are they?
5. What is the best advice you can give managers to ensure they are not likely to face an effort by employees to
unionize?