The Union on the CBA - Research Paper Example

Business Management Paper (Unions)1. Based on the given information, I think that the union has not negotiated a “good” benefit provision for its members, given that it provided for the increase of the workers’ share of their premiums from 10% to 11%. Given that premium rates has the tendency to appreciate every year (probably due to inflation), then the amount that they will have to pay for their premiums will rise anyway. In this case, the workers suffered a double loss: shouldering a higher percentage of their insurance premiums, and as well as shouldering the anticipated increase in premiums.

In addition, the union has failed to explicitly state in the CBA the terms of how they would raise their premiums, given the anticipated appreciation of premium rates.2. I think that the interpretation of the union on the CBA was reasonable, given that the CBA explicitly stated that the percentage increase on the premiums to be paid by the workers, effective January 1,200, would be on the stated amounts as based from the 1999 premiums for the TOP. In this case, it can reasonably be argued that the premiums to be paid by the workers would be based on 1999 premiums; however, it is also the union’s fault that they did not clarify on whether the rates presented on the CBA were merely illustrative, or were the actual rates.3. In this case, I think that the company also had the moral responsibility to explicitly state the terms of the CBA provision, so that there would be no confusion on its interpretation.

On this specific case, it can clearly be seen that the premium payment figures stated in the CBA may be reasonable understood to be based from 1999 premiums, effective on the stated date (January 1,2000). Because the company actually failed to explicitly state that the figures indicated in the company were merely illustrative, despite their previous practice of how premium rates would be computed, this only created much confusion between them and the union, which may lead to significant disruption of normal business operations.