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Case Study of The CRA Case

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In this case study we are going to discuss the CRA case. The CRA case is mainly about the mining company breaking/dissolving the unions and making the employees sign the individual contracts. Here we will discuss and analyse how they went about pursuing the workers to leave the unions and sign the individual contracts. Before that we will briefly look into the profile of the CRA. CRA is a major Australian mining company, it is a large employer with about 15000 employees directly employed and another 8000 workers in associated companies (Petzall, Abbott and Timo: 2003). CRA had sales of $ 5.5 billion in 1994 and assets in excess of $ 5 billion. The company has been undergoing a period of restructuring, reflecting the turbulence in mining …show more content…

The aim was to reduce employee opposition to the individual contracts. Company 'myths ' included: things would have to change if the company was to stay in business; the unions were forcing the company out of business; every individual 's performance matters; and the company looks after the best interests of every employee (Petzall, Abbott and Timo: 2003). CRA ' s strategy also included separating and dividing employees, particularly those who were strong unionists. They were tagged 'poor performers ' and 'troublemakers '. The unilateral nature of the changes introduced by CRA was AIRC during proceedings. The signing of the staff contract represented an employee 's trust in company management (HRM approach) and those who did not sign ran the risk of being tainted as troublemakers and disloyal (Petzall, Abbott and Timo: 2003). Employees at certain operations were offered wage increases (HRM approach) of 11 per cent to 15 per cent under staff contracts, when they had not had a wage increase since 1991 due to breakdown in collective negotiations. The company offered a unilateral and non-negotiable contract. Unions were not a party to these contracts. By the end of 1995, the vast majority of employees had agreed to sign. Workers regarded this as the only way to gain wage increases and possibly some form of job security (Petzall, Abbott and Timo: 2003). First leadership training for supervisors was a prerequisite for cultural

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