I often hear of trade unions collectively bargain over redundancy packages but I don’t know how that works. How can a redundant employee bargain with an employer when they have nothing to bargain with if their job is already gone or in the process of being made redundant?
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It’s negotiated ahead of time, before layoffs, at the same time as the rest of the collective bargaining agreement like salaries, workers comp and pension plan employer participation.
Once the employer and the union signs on the dotted line, they are contractually obligated to follow this contract, ideally negotiated in good faith. Once the employee is laid off, it doesn’t matter that he/she has no infividual leverage because the employer signed a contract with this obligation.
That will depend on the union.
The idea is that either, there will be some kind of package so the person laid off can have time to get back on their feet, being offered to move to a different location where there is a need of that trade in the same company, or it can be something like opportunities for re-training, basically move to a different position you get trained in. You are no longer redundant as you fill a needed position.
The point of a union is that it’s not just the employees who’re directly affected who are throwing their weight around.
If a company has just made 20% of its employees redundant, it’s probably not in a *great* position to deal with a bunch more of its employees going on strike. So if the union head comes up and says “Hey, those guys you fired? Yeah, some of them were in our union. You’re going to pay those guys, the ones that were union members, a redundancy package or all the union members still working for you are going to strike” then the employer is in a tough bind and may well agree.
From my understanding, in such situations, the trade union’s role would be to negotiate for fair compensation or alternative options on behalf of the redundant employees, aiming to minimize the negative impact of job loss.
From my experience, the first thing trade unions do is present an argument that counters the business case for closure or redundancies. When that proves unsuccessful, they begin to seek an agreement to maximise the support (mostly financial, but other support too) for the employees facing redundancy. This may be to improve the terms, above those that are legal minimums, it may be arranging for employment retraining for employees, CV writing and interview training, that type of thing
I was a Union rep at a site closure that was happening in phases, and I managed to convince the business to not make a man redundant, but to offer that slot to another member in a different team who was approaching retirement, and to switch my man into that role. The business agreed, and the man moved into the vacant position. He thanked me, with tears in his eyes, for helping him. I’ll never forget that, and it’s one thing I remain very proud of doing
> How can a redundant employee bargain
The key word is “collective” bargaining. All employees engage in the bargaining not just the one (or ones) being let go. The threat being, treat the people who are being let go this way, or we will all walk off the job.
It’s a collective bargain, not an individual one.
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