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It is extremely convenient and helpful to have Mr. Nevins available
in Tokyo as a sounding board on my ideas and to obtain advice
and perspective on the various challenges posed in the area of
effective union management and the many other specific personnel
problems which come up in the course of our work each day. For
the last 18 months or so, particularly during the "shunto
base-up" period in the spring, I have periodically gone to
him for answers and to seek coaching (the confidence factor one
needs) to carry out strategic policies to make sure there is a
fair balance between employee/union interests and the realities
of effectively and profitably running an airline.
Without boring you with details of our own situation and progress
we have made, let me offer you a couple of interesting quotes
from a policy paper Mr. Nevins presented to us after having analyzed
our Rules of Employment, compensation, retirement scheme, and
collective bargaining agreements, etc.
"Strikes are indeed counterproductive. By definition, a strike
means that there is a loss in productivity and economic damage
to a business such that it becomes less possible to offer employees
a higher pay increase. Any past pattern where strike action resulted
in management being forced to meet union demands must end, because
rewards for such behavior will obviously merely result in continued
unreasonable demands on the part of the labor union and will encourage
a union and its membership to continue to go out on strike or
engage in a wide variety of other forms of collective action."
I believe that this is a refreshing if not even innovative concept.
To make a lower offer after a strike should thus not necessarily
subject one to an unfair labor practice and can instead be justified
with a computer's calculation.
Another pioneering concept that is remarkable in the simplicity
of its truth and clarity is his following position as presented
to me:
"An employee, whether a union or non-union member, who insists
on wearing an armband, or in other ways distracts and makes customers
feel uncomfortable directly resulting in real economic loss, or
who refuses to work overtime when the company is in need, or will
not pitch in and switch holidays to accommodate the company with
holiday work, certainly has no right to expect to be rewarded
the same bonus or annual pay increases as a more cooperative and
accommodating employee. If the uncooperative employee happens
to be a union member, this is not a question of union discrimination
but it is a question of employee discrimination and the right
of management to discriminate between good employees and not so
good employees."
Hans-Eberhard Schultz
Controller / Japan and Korea
Lufthansa German Airlines
July, 1989
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