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PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS STRIKES: AVOIDABLE? 2

 Strikes are a product of the inexcusable irresponsibility of the managers and union officials but certainly not the workers. 

In an industrial relations environment,  there are interactions between workers and managers on the one hand and between management and the union on the other hand. One very important ingredient of this relationship is "Action" which has meaning for the Actors


STRIKES evolve from a very small action called Complaint. 

When an individual complaint is left unattended,  it consequently develops into a group complaint. 

In environments where management feels it is doing workers a favour by employing them,  the group complaint develops into a Grievance. At the point where the group complaint attains a grievance status,  a third party gets involved. This third party is the union which starts to speak for the workers. 

An uncaring management does not consider it expedient to deal with the grievance which then grows into a Dispute. 

Finally, if the dispute is not handled properly, a Strike becomes the inevitable outcome. 

There is only one language a blind and deaf management understands - STRIKES. 


Next week,  let us talk about the process of avoiding Strikes in the workplace. 

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