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Question 1: Study and comprehend the case.

Choose one of the tools presented in class arid


discuss what went on and why? Provide [al well-defended reason[sj for the best practice in
the case.

NEGOTIATING A LABOUR DISPUTE - THE CASE OF STABIC BANK

I joined Stanbic bank in August 2012 as the Employee Relations Manager; which role hitherto
did not exist until my appointment. This role was initially subsumed under the Head HC
responsibilities, As a result of this situation, the main stream ER issues were not given the
required focus / attention hence my recruitment at a time when the bank had a strained
relationship with the Labour union in regard to the Collective Bargaining Agreement
negotiations that had reached a stalemate after over ten years of unsuccessful discussions hence
the labour dispute lodged with Ministry of Labour. This labour dispute had been lodged with the
Commissioner Labour and indeed at my first intervention, the Minister Labour had been drawn
into the picture as an Arbitrator, The union had further petitioned their apex affiliate at Africa
level to get support to boycott the Standard bank brand wherever it operated in Africa and
beyond in order to pressurize Stanbic Bank into signing the CBA. Over and above the failed
CBA negotiations, the Union accused the bank of interfering with the workers rights to associate
at the work place and that there were arbitrary harassment of the members and unfair dismissal
from employment. The bank in return gave a counter accusation to the effect that the union was
operating in an unconventional manner and in many cases stormed the banking halls during
office hours which was unethical and had the effect of scaring customers present in the bank to
who otherwise would be in the hail on normal banking activities. This had a negative impact on
the bank customers who were threatening to close accounts in the face of the misconduct
promoted by the union activities.
This was a multifaceted labour dispute and to help resolve the same to a win-win result, I had to
tap into my vast experience; skills; knowledge and stakeholder relationships as a subject matter
expert. First I Invoked the lobbying process through the Standard bafik Head of ER to get our
side of the story communicated to the President of the Lnion Apex Affiliate at the continental
ieei, This would mitigate the propaganda and marshal support against the boycott of the Standard
bank brand across the globe and indeed this effort paid off. I then called in the same Standard
bank ER Head of Africa whose office is in South Africa (headquarters for Standard Bank Group)
to the arbitration meeting chaired by the Minister of Labour alongside the Commissioner here in
Kampala. This was not only to show our commitment in our readiness to a quick and amicable
resolution of the matter but also to get firsthand information flow for effective communication
with Mr. Joe Kokela - the President of Africa UNI the Apex Union

After the Arbitration meeting, the matters to be resolved were given tirnelines and I adopted the
Mutual Benefit Approach to resolving the impasse with a clear end in mind of WinWin end
result for both parties. In preparation for the negotiations, I embarked first on a confidence
building mission to enlist trust with the Labour union at the bank i.e. National Union of Clerical,
Communication, Professional & Technical Employees (NUCCPTE) by asking the Union
Secretary to seek independent reference from past unions I have dealt with like Uganda Building,
Construction, Civil Engineering, Cement & Allied Workers Union (UBCCEC& AWU) v/hue I
was ER at Hima Cement and the NOTU OS Mr. Werikhe Peter Christopher with whom I had and
still have a good working relationship in the CBA negotiations and other Labour related
concerns. The union secretary made the call and he was given confidence that I was the kind of
Employer Representative who dealt with the unions with respect and integrity and for whom you

would take my word for a given. This approach gave me the confidence, trust and the rapport to
get to the negotiating table to resolve our issues in the time lines given by the Arbitrator.

Back home at the Bank after the Arbitration meeting chaired by the Minister Labour, we (ER
Africa & myself) updated the CE Stanbic Bank of the outcome and the recommended way
forward. Resulting from this brief, I was given the mandate within which to operate without
going back and forth to seek fresh mandate as unions are very allergic to such delays. Armed
with this mandate, we formed a lean but competent two-man negotiation team (Myself & one
other member from the legal department). We were ready to meet the union. Note: huge numbers
/ negotiation team can scare the union and are vulnerable to uncoordinated communication.

Within the first two sittings, over 90% of the CBA union demands had been reached within the
management mandate with room to negotiate / saving on the management side. These savings
were to be given at the end as a bonus reflective of management goodwill to work with the union
for the betterment of the employees geared to the entrenchment of a high performing culture of
the workforce. In the intervening period before conclusion of the negotiations and at the request
of the union to consult its constituency on the remaining 10% aspects, infighting unfortunately
ensued followed with a big number of the membership opting out while accusing the union
leadership of unconventional union practices impacting negatively on the membership. NB: it
came to transpire that while the union leaders convinced the members to join the union on
anticipated benefits, they withheld information especially on their rights as members and
obligations of the leadership to members particularly on financial accountability. It is the
discovery of this vital information so withheld that led to the members to disband the union as
exploitative. Along with this discovery, the Bank was vindicated on the accusations that it was
uimecessarily interfering and harassing union members. This was communicated back to the
Arbitrator following which the agreed 90% provisions implemented

Important to note is that the working relationship with the bank has normalized / healthy. The
boycott effort against the Standard bank brand was dropped. Also to note is that new and legible
members for the union are not interested in joining as members because the bank has adopted a
proactive approach by way of a competitive Employee Value Proposition which covers people
aspects which otherwise traditional unions would be advocating on behalf of its members.
Alongside this EVP, the bank has instituted fully fledged disciplinary process operating of the
principles of Equity, fairness and transparency in handling any form of misconduct to the
satisfaction of all the employees irrespective of grade.

REQUIRED

To answer the question, pick one of the tools provided below. In your answer analyse and
explain what happened. State clearly what theoretical tool you are using. Take special care
to spell out the background, statement of the abundance/opportunity, purpose of the
analysis, a case study based conceptual framework to guide your answer. Avoid
reproducing the theoretical framework given in class since this is a generic framework.
Instead, carefully study the case and produce a new theoretical framework based on the
chosen theoretical tool and your understanding of the case. (25 marks). Write the number
of words at the end of the question. The tool you choose to use for this question must NOT be
used to answer questions 2, 3, 4 and 5.

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