3.Answer the questions:

How do you define this conflict?

Does it take place within a workplace?

Who is involved in a labor– management conflict?

When does this type of conflict occur?

What economic issues usually provoke sush conflicts?

How are grievances resolved?

What does the employee make if the employer violates his/her union contract?

4. Match the following words with the translation:

labor– жалоба

shared– старшинство, трудовой стаж

grievance– возражение, протест

 complaint– труд

firing– заработная плата

to expire– уступать

to accuse– подчиняться

to violate– прекращать

to negotiate– обвинять

wage– увольнение

seniority– обоюдный

objection– недовольство

to drop– нарушать

to concedе– истекать (о сроке)

to submit– вести переговоры

5. Read and discuss the example

A common type of labor– management conflict occurs when a contract governing a group of employees is about to expire. Typically, the negotiations over the terms of a new contract will be lengthy; although the vast majority of these are resolved without a strike, a significant number run some risk of a strike as the parties compete to get the best deal possible for their side. It is not uncommon for the parties to meet dozens of times and still to need a mediator as the deadline gets close.

Unit 13

1. Read the tongue– twisters as fast as you can

a) I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.

Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.

b) One smart fellow, he felt smart.

Two smart fellows, they felt smart.

Three smart fellows, they felt smart.

Four smart fellows, they felt smart.

Five smart fellows, they felt smart.

Six smart fellows, they felt smart.

2. Read and translate the text

Employment Conflict

Employment conflict is a term often used loosely by employees, but its proper meaning refers to conflict that is about one or more of the types of legally prohibited discrimination: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or handicap.

An employment conflict usually arises when an employee claims that someone else, who has similar skills and experience, is beingtreated better by the employer, and that the reason can be traced to one of the legally prohibited forms of discrimination. It is not necessary that the link be immediate or direct. At the same time, an employment conflict does not necessarily arise just because persons of differing races, genders, etc., have a dispute at work: many such disputes on a day–to–day basis arise over personal issues, and are not really based on legally prohibited discrimination. Employment conflicts are thus distinguishable from workplace conflicts, in which the fact of conflict in the workplace is the defining factor, rather than the legally prohibited or permissible cause of the conflict. Most employment conflicts involve an individual who disputes some type of decision of an employer, but a significant number involve groups of employees.

Discrimination does not have to be proven for employment conflict to be extremely disruptive in the workplace. Differing cultural expectations make it quite likely that the same action will be perceived differently by people of differing gender, race, religion, color, handicap, national origin and/ or age. An understanding of how employment conflict arises, and of what the mechanisms are that best help parties deal with it, is therefore important not only to managers, but to first–line supervisors and employees.