Quote Originally Posted by HoreTore
A question about the wage system you have, Seamus... Do you have a standard nationwide rate for each profession, or do you negotiate wages at a company level?
The latter.

However, "pattern bargaining" is a tool that attempts to use this company-level approach against the employers during bargaining.

Step 1 = determine which company in an industry (say automotive) is "weakest" and can most easily be forced to accept an agreement including substantial increases in wage/benefit.

Step 2 = negotiate a relatively favorable contract with that company, using a strike if necessary (remember, you picked the weakest link) to force the agreement.

Step 3 = announce that this agreement has set the "pattern" for all future agreements expected because you (the union international) want to help all of your workers equally and create an "even playing field" for all companies in that industry. Prima Facie this appears quite reasonable of course (as it can be most of the time if the initial agreement is wisely constructed).

Step 4 = use this added leverage to force other comapnies to accept the new "standards" for wages and benefits.


While trying to establish reasonable "living wage" norms for an industry is not an inherently bad concept for unions, regrettably, the pattern bargaining tactic has been too frequently used in an extortionate manner. We really do have situations now, especially in automotive, where companies are carrying workers to do virtually nothing -- pure waste cost -- and this leaves the companies less competitive. Too many of our union leaders implicitly believe that the jobs are a right that will and must always be maintained -- regardless of economic realities and have NOT done a lot with their unions to make their workers better/stronger/smarter. The answer always seems to be "force the company to give us more" without also paying attention to "how do we aid our workers in becoming more valuable as workers" (and therefore less prone to being let go).