Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Supreme Court of Canada has made a number of important decisions pertaining to union rights. What impact do these decisions have on management and unions?
Following the decisions made by the Supreme Court of Canada, it is highly likely that both the management and the unions will be affected in one way or another. For instance, the employees will demand an assurance that allows them to engage in various activities within the organization without experiencing any form of interference from the management. Considering the fact that such decisions can also increase the employees’ bargaining power, they should be ready to undergo some challenges. This is because their right to make a collective bargain or engage in an industrial strike is subject to the rules and regulations set by the legislators. Since the Charter on Rights and Freedoms does not accord the employees the right to picket, the management of the organization might limit the level of pickets together with other employee’s activities whereby the employees exercise their rights and freedom.
The decisions made by the Supreme Court of Canada might also force the management and the unions to make changes to retirement procedures. This implies that the management may decide to scrap off the retirement benefits or may increase the number of retirement age so that employees can remain in the organization for a long duration.
Reverse discrimination has, so far, not been a salient issue in Canada, especially since human rights legislation allows employers to use employment equity programs “to correct past wrongs”- that is, hire more protected groups, such as women, members of a visible minority and Aboriginal people, ideally to more accurately reflect the distribution of protected groups in the community in the makeup of the organization’s staff. Despite the legality of employment equity programs, the question has been raised as to whether it is ethical to choose a less qualified candidate over a better qualified one. Shouldn’t the “best” candidate get the job? Please comment.
Reverse Discrimination usually arises when the management of a given organization finds it appropriate to promote or recruit people who come from a disadvantaged group. This means that an employer may opt to recruit a less qualified person to fill a position within an organization. Although there may be highly qualified people available to fill the position, the employer may ignore such qualifications and consequently offer such opportunities to disadvantaged people. Despite the fact that several employment acts insist on equity during the recruiting process, I suppose it is prudent for the management of an organization to put other factors into consideration. Such factors should relate to the goals, targets, and objectives of the organization. It is only by recruiting the most suitable set of employees that an organization can manage to achieve its set goals and objectives. However, the management should be able to maintain the required level of standards when undertaking such processes. This means that management should exercise acts of fairness and eliminate any form of bias during the recruitment process. By doing so, the management finds it easy to address the issue of equality when hiring. It also accelerates the process of achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
Suppose your employer asks you, the human resource manager, to justify the relatively large recruiting budget that you have been historically assigned what arguments would you provide? What indices or measures will you provide to show that your recruitment is cost-effective?
As the human resource manager of the organization, the relatively large recruiting budget can be justified by the following reasons. To start with, the manager should understand that there is a need to recruit the most competent and able staff. In order to identify the right people to fill vacant positions, the selection process should be carried out in an effective way. This would require the assistance of recruiting experts who are specially trained to undertake the process. A large budget is therefore required to access the experts who will help identify people who have the required knowledge and skills. An inadequate recruiting budget is likely to limit the selection process and consequently, it might lead to the hiring of employees who are not well qualified. Examples of measures or indices that can be used to show the cost-effectiveness of the recruitment process include applicant ratios, cost per hire, cost offers, and hire quality.
