Jr. Companies that negotiated collective bargaining agreements in the 1980's and 1990's have been largely successful in avoiding strikes. The past twenty-five years have featured a marked reduction in the number and severity of strikes compared with earlier years. This compares with only 831 major work stoppages from 1980 through 1989. Managers must still work hard to keep the labor peace. But the big losers in a strike are those who miscalculate the financial and emotional costs of a strike.
Strikes are emotional and fast moving.
You can't wait until the union hits the picket line to decide on your plan for operating during the strike. A manager approaching collective bargaining must first consider his or her collective bargaining strategy. Miscalculations on either side cause needless strikes. Along with realistic bargaining goals, management needs to assess, well in advance, whether the union will strike and whether the company can operate during the strike. In deciding whether or not to operate during a strike, management must consider a thousand and one contingencies.