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    Labour Management and Relations

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    Necessity of Labor Unions

    Some people have argued that unions are "unnecessary." Are they? If unions are unnecessary, then who will insure that workers' rights and interests are considered? How? If unions are necessary, then why are the alternatives to unions inadequate?

    Union and Management

    Imagine you are a Union International representative attempting to resolve a grievance in your organization. The grievance was filed by an employee who is challenging a disciplinary action given by management. You are working with the local members and your legal counsel to decide if the grievance must go to arbitration or not.

    Discharge of Postal Letter Carrier for Off-Duty Conduct

    Case Study 13-2 Chapter 13: Labor Relations in the Public Sector Part 4: Applying the Labor Relations Process to Different Labor Relations Systems Analysis and Evaluation 1. Who are the stakeholders in the case and what are their stakes? What challenges, threats or opportunities are posed by these stakeholders? 2. Wha

    Managerial Accounting: Direct Labor as a variable or fixed cost

    Throughout the corporate world, businesses are transforming labor into a more flexible (and variable) cost. Among such companies are Hewlett- Packard, General Electric, DuPont, Sun Microsystems, and British Airways. Discuss whether direct labor is a fixed or a variable cost. What are the pros and cons of management treating dire

    change in American workforce

    Organized labor unions have seen a decline in membership over the last 20 years because of the loss of manufacturing jobs due to off shoring and a subsequent change in the American workforce in the United States. Prepare a paper in which you describe both sides of the issue: - From a union perspective, what steps can be t

    Strike fund held by not for profit organization - Steel workers' union

    Do you think that a not-for-profit organization's board can release the restrictions on money in a strike fund and use it for General operations? Does it matter if the strike fund is held by a steel workers' union to pay benefits to its members during a strike, versus a fund used by a not-for-profit as a safety reserve in case

    College sophomore Suzy Smart works part-time in the Handi Mart convenience store near campus. The store manager requires that each clerk arrives 15 minutes prior to the start of the shift, so that the clerk going off-duty can review the sales figures and cash status with replacements before leaving. The clerk going off-duty punches the timecard after this review, but the incoming clerk is not allowed to punch in until the review is completed and they have agreed that the sales and cash figures are accurate. Sometimes this exercise takes more than 15 minutes, and no matter how long it takes, the clerk coming on-duty may not punch the timecard and start earning wages until the process is completed. Suzy, who completed a course on labor and employment law, realizes that the store manager is violating the FLSA by not allowing the incoming clerk to punch the time clock as soon as he or she arrives. She brings this up with the store manager, who tells her that Handi Mart's parent corporation does not allow the store to compensate two clerks for the same period of time, no matter how brief, since this is classified by the corporation as a "single coverage" store. Furthermore, he adds ominously, if Suzy complains to the Wage and Hour Division of the DOL, he will probably be forced by the company to lay Suzy off, along with other part-timers, and cover the store himself for the evening shifts. He states, "You may get everyone a few dollars in back pay, but you'll also cost everybody their jobs. Remember, some of your co-workers are single parents who need this extra income to make ends meet." Should Suzy file a minimum wage complaint with the Department of Labor?

    College sophomore Suzy Smart works part-time in the Handi Mart convenience store near campus. The store manager requires that each clerk arrives 15 minutes prior to the start of the shift, so that the clerk going off-duty can review the sales figures and cash status with replacements before leaving. The clerk going off-duty punc

    Describe the bottom-up and top-down approaches to managing labor costs

    Describe the components of bottom-up and top-down approaches to managing labor costs and decide which would be most important to use in either your current work environment or one with which you are familiar. Explain your reasoning. In your response, imagine that managers will be part of the budgeting process and may, based o

    Powerful Unions vs. Smaller Unions

    Given today's globally competitive work environment, assess whether larger, more powerful unions (similar to AFL-CIO and SEIU) favorably represent their members or whether smaller, more targeted unions would better meet the needs of their members.

    Capitalize direct labor costs

    My boss wants me to credit salary expense and debit inventory for work performed on an asset. The asset could sit on the books for a long time. This would be understating expenses. What is the correct way to allocate direct labor costs to an asset and still show an accurate salary expense? Is it ok to capitalize payroll cost

    Accounting

    see attached Kendra Company's standard labor cost of producing one unit of Product DD is 4 hours at the rate of $12.84 per hour. During August, 40,800 hours of labor are incurred at a cost of $12.95 per hour to produce 10,000 units of Product DD. Compute the total labor variance. $ Comp

    Direct Labor and Materials Costs for Anthony's Orchards

    It's important that managers understand how costs are reported on the company's financial statements. Review the financial data for Anthony's Orchards for the current year and compare the direct labor costs and direct materials to the previous year. Write a memo to senior management analyzing your findings and provide a reco

    Need help with 2 assignments

    For an overview of labor relations and laws associated with the employer-union process, please see "HR Fundamentals Employee and Labor Relations, retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/files/HR101-4_LERpartI.pdf This assignment takes a look at some of the major laws in the employer-union relationship, inclu

    General Dynamics: Labor time and costs to produce 8 and 16 units

    3. General Dynamics is considering the sale of satellite equipment to a government agency in Canada. The agency plans to purchase 8 units, although it would consider buying 16 units. General Dynamics has started a chart relating labor time required to units produced. Units Produced (X) Time Required to Produce the Xth Unit

    Cutler Electronics makes a radio-cassette player, CE100, which has 80 components. Cutler sells 7,000 units each month for $70 each. The costs of manufacturing CE 100 are $45 per unit, or $315,00 per month. Monthly manufacturing costs incurred are: (see attached) Cutler's management identifies the activity cost pools, the cost driver for each activity, and the cost per unit of the cost driver for each overhead cost pool as follows: (see attached) Cutler's management views direct material costs and direct manufacturing labor costs as variable with respect to the units of CE100 manufactured. Over a long-run horizon, each of the overhead costs described in the preceding table varies, as described, with the chosen cost drivers. The following additional information describes the existing design: a) Testing and inspection time per unit is 2.5 hours. b) 10% of the CE100s manufactured are reworked. c) Cutler places two orders with each component supplier each month. Each component is supplied by a different supplier. d) It currently takes 1 hour to manufacture each unit of CE100. In response to competitive pressures, Cutler must reduce its price to $62 per unit and its costs by $8 per unit. No additional sales are anticipated at this lower price. However, Cutler stands to lose significant sales if it does not reduce its price. Manufacturing has been asked to reduce its costs by $6 per unit. Improvements in manufacturing efficiency are expected to yield a net savings of $1.50 per radio-cassette player, but that is not enough. The Chief Engineer has proposed a new modular design that reduces the number of components to 50 and also simplifies testing. The newly designed radio-cassette player, called 'New CE100' will replace CE100. The expected effects of the new design are as follows: a) Direct material cost of the New CE100 is expected to be lower by 20%. b) Direct manufacturing labor cost for the New CE100 is expected to be lower by $.50 per unit. c) Machining time required to manufacture the New CE100 is expected to be 20% less, but machine-hour capacity will not be reduced. d) Time required for testing the New CE100 is expected to be lower by 20%. e) Rework is expected to decline to 4% of New CE100s manufactured. f) Engineering-hours capacity will remain the same. Assume that the cost per unit of each cost driver for CE100 continues to apply to New CE100. Answer the following: 1) Calculate Cutler's manufacturing cost per unit of New CE100. 2) Will the new design achieve the per-unit cost-reduction targets that have been set for the manufacturing costs of New CE100? Show your calculations. 3) The problem describes two strategies to reduce costs (a) improving manufacturing efficiency and (b) modifying product design. Which strategy has more impact on Cutler's costs? Why? Explain briefly.

    See attached file. Cutler Electronics makes a radio-cassette player, CE100, which has 80 components. Cutler sells 7,000 units each month for $70 each. The costs of manufacturing CE 100 are $45 per unit, or $315,00 per month. Monthly manufacturing costs incurred are: (see attached) Cutler's management identifies the activit

    Compute variances for direct materials, labor, variable OH

    See attached file for proper format. Topic 11: Standard Costs & performance Analysis eLearning Assignment Question:[A-10] Trueform Company produces a broad line of sports equipment and uses a standard cost system for control purposes. Last year the company produced 8,000 varsity footballs. The standard costs associate

    Problem 20-1

    Beta Company produces two products, A and B, each of which uses materials X and Y. The following unit standard costs apply: Product A: Material X = 4 lbs @ $13, Material Y = 1 lb. @ $8.50, Direct Labor = 1/5 hr. @ $14 Product B: Material X =6 lbs @ $13, Material Y = 2 lbs @ $8.50, Direct Labor = 1/3 hr. @ $14 During N

    Public employee unions have always been a controversial topic.

    Public employee unions have always been a controversial topic. Taxpayers are asked to foot large bills for wages and benefits negotiated through collective bargaining agreements between public employee unions and federal, state and local governmental agencies. Recently states, most notably Wisconsin and Ohio have passed laws r

    create a motivational and labor-relations strategy

    Imagine yourself as a small-business owner with 10 employees. Create a one (1) paragraph memo explaining the training, evaluation, compensation, and benefits policy of your company. With the same business in mind, create a motivational and labor-relations strategy. Please be as creative as you like. Thank you so much for ass

    Unionism in Happy Trails, LLC

    Happy Trails, LLC The organization, Happy Trails, LLC, is a medium-sized, for-profit independent living home located in a suburban environment. Because of traffic and road congestion, this facility is the most convenient independent living home near the city. Independent living homes in the city offer many of the same servi

    New contract with its labor union

    In two particular departments, the supervisors suspect significant drug use on the part of the employees. Other supervisors are not sure if their departments have this problem. Several of the more serious plant accidents had some under-the-influence element as their cause, and you agree with him. Whether it is true or not, expen

    Calculating and explaining labor price and usage variances

    Exercise 22-14A Calculating and explaining labor price and usage variances Raman and Sons, a CPA firm, established the following standard labor cost data for completing what the firm referred to as a Class 2 tax return. Raman expected each Class 2 return to require 4.0 hours of labor at a cost of $50 per hour. The firm actually