Expert sounds warning over labour strife By Ahmed ElAmin Labour strife in Bermuda has the potential to harm the Island's ability to compete on a global scale, an expert in industrial relations has warned.

Michigan State University professor of industrial relations Daniel Kruger said globalisation, technology and the deregulation has increased the level of competition companies face.

The higher competition was in turn increasing the pressure in the workplace.

This meant companies and their employees were having to adjust to the changed environment.

Those that didn't manage the change and became embroiled in labour disputes ended up on the scrap heap. He extended the same prognosis to countries.

"Labour problems can make or break a country,'' he said. "Everybody is trying to take away from everybody else. You have to have quality so you can compete. Look at Bermuda's tourism industry. The consumer has many other places they can go for a holiday.'' Dr. Kruger is familiar with the state of labour relations -- and strife -- in Bermuda. He led the three-man board of inquiry into labour practices at the Bermuda Telephone Co. Ltd.(BTC) this year. He also regularly conducts local seminars on industrial relations for the Department of Labour. He believes companies fail to garner the trust of their employees by not building solid relationships with them. Once a company gets into a combative mode with employees, it's difficult to get out of disruptive situations. Often productivity and quality goes downhill.

"In good labour relations you find you have more in common than in conflict,'' Dr. Kruger said. "Everyone wants to work for a good employer. The critical issue is organisational efficiency and job security.'' He said employers make what he calls a psychological contract with their employees. Such a contract is more than just about productivity.

Expert warns of danger of labour strife "The psychological contract is an unwritten set of expectations operating at all times between each employee and his supervisor or manager relative to what the employee wants from the job,'' he said. "It's an implied contract.'' In turn the employer must honour the unwritten contract and deliver the goods.

"It's a state of mind,'' Dr. Kruger said. "If they feel good about their employer they will work their buns off. If they don't feel good you get grievances.'' Many problems arise when employers sit down with their employees and start determining how much they share in the company's profits. The task of managers everywhere is to harness their employees' productivity so the company's profits grow.

"It's only when you start dividing the pie that the disagreements begin,'' he said. "The major premise in economics is the allocation of scarce resources.

You always get people's noses out of joint. If the employees can help the employers expand the pie then there's more to be shared around.'' He also believes Bermuda's mostly voluntary system of labour relations and arbitration lacks the teeth necessary to get employers to follow fair workplace standards. Here, Government labour officers may come to decisions over official complaints, but the employer is under no requirement to adhere to the recommendations.

"You need a little compulsion,'' he said. "US law is very clear about labour practices and corporate practices where government acts as a referee.'' The example of labour problems at BTC was a local example of the pressures being put on the workplace by increased competition, he said. He said BTC labour problems derive in part to a change over to a competitive environment from a protected, monopolistic one.

"BTC has to issue information to their employees about the competition,'' he advised. "They have to do a herculean task of educating their employees on the new workplace environment. Employees have to understand the reality of the competition where productivity and quality is not an option.'' He believes workers and managers can adapt to the pressures being put on them.

They must realise that in today's business world they must face reality, be responsive to change, and nurture relationships.

Dr. Kruger also suggested that Bermuda should begin teaching school children early on about how to be good employees to help them make the transition.

"Most of us are going to be employees rather than entrepreneurs,'' he said.

"I would say entrepreneurs are almost extinct. To make the transition you need school courses on what it means to be an employee -- that you have to follow the rules. You have to come to work on time because people are depending on you. You have to reconcile organisational values and personal values.''