MGMT 307 – Human Resource Management

In June of this year the Supreme Court ruled in favor of white firefighters from New Haven, CT.  The court declared that the white firefighters were unfairly denied promotion because of their race, ruling against minorities in a major reverse discrimination case that could affect bosses and workers nationwide.  Interestingly, the court reversed a ruling made by new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor when she was an Appeals Court Judge.  In the case, blacks sought to call the results of an exam in which no blacks scored high enough to be promoted as flawed and prejudiced.  Sotomayor’s court threw out the results, but the white firefighters took it to the supreme court and won.

The Boeing plant in N. Charleston where they make the fuselage for the new “Dreamliner” was unionized about 2 years ago.  Do you know what it takes to have a union voted into a plant?  Well, last week the workers in that plant voted to have the union thrown out of the plant.  Do you know what that means and how it happens?  You will before the end of the semester.

What does it mean if a plant is “unionized?”  How is life for an employee in a unionized plant different from life for an employee in a non-union plant?

Think about what this decision means for the plant and for the Charleston community.  Right now Boeing is deciding where to build the Dreanliner — it’s newest airliner.  With the local plant deciding to go non-union, that makes the Charleston plant a lot more attractive than Boeing facilities in Seattle, Wash.

If the airliner is made here that will mean thousands of new, very high paying jobs for this community.  It also means new support industries will also move into the area.  It also means that education will be impacted as well — these company’s will demand better educated employees.

Workers in the 25 to 34 age group have seen the most dramatic rise in unemployment during the past year.  Their unemployment rate went from 5.7% to 10% in July of 2009.  On top of that, they usually have big bills to pay.  The average undergraduate finishes college with $17,700 in debt if they went to a public school and $22,375 if they went to a private school.  Part of this includes $4,100 in credit card debt.