Student Project/Assessment
Bayside Foods is a large grocery retail outlet in the community. The city has a population of 50,000. Bayside Foods has approx.
210 employees that fill 144 positions. There is a vast array of employment opportunities in the area, including retail, health
care, education, banking, insurance, manufacturing, restaurants, fast foods and government. The hospital and manufacturing
companies in the area have union representation. There are two separate unions representing these industries. Health Care
Representatives (HCR) is the union representing the hospital and Workers Choice (WC) is the union representing the manufacturing
companies. The unemployment rate in the area currently is low, around 5%. With a lower unemployment rate, there is competition
around the area for good employees.
Bayside Food is the largest employer in the retail food and grocery market for the area. The store is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week. A summary of the positions, number of FTE’s (Full Time Equivalents) and salaries are as follows:
Executive Director 1.0 $135,000
Finance Director 1.0 90,000
Operations Director 1.0 80,000
Department Managers 10.0 483,000
Business Staff 6.0 201,000
Janitorial Staff 12.0 300,000
Storeroom 15.0 414,000
Customer Service 14.0 408,000
Clerks 84.0 2,447,000
Department managers: Responsible for a specific area, such as produce, bakery, meats, dairy, frozen foods, etc. There are a total
of 10 departments, which each having a manager. Responsible for managing staff, ordering inventory for their department, managing
their budget, working with vendors, working with customers, working on promotional activities for their departments
Business Staff: Includes all business functions such as payroll, accounts payable, accounting
Janitorial: Responsible for cleaning and sanitation of the store
Storeroom: Responsible for receiving goods off the trucks, stocking in the storeroom
Customer Service: Responsible for checkouts
Clerks: Work in a specific department, such as meat, produce, bakery, etc. Each department has clerks, who work under the
department managers. Clerks are staffed 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week. There are 3 staffed every day during first shift, 2
staffed every day on 2nd shift and 1 staffed every day on 3rd shift for each department. They are responsible for stocking the
products in their department, and assisting customers. They rotate products in their area so product does not spoil or is not
outdated.
Total budget for Bayside foods for the upcoming year is $13,000,000. Of this, $4,558,000 is salaries (detail above) and $1,140,000
is employee benefits. The detail of these benefits paid by the company is: Health insurance-$393,000, Retirement Fund -183,000
(contributes 4% of salaries on employee behalf), FICA-$348,000 (required benefit-7.65% of salaries), Workmen’s Compensation
premiums-$100,000 (required benefit), Unemployment compensation premiums (required) $20,000, Disability Insurance $96,000.
Employees receive 1 week vacation after 1 year, 2 weeks of vacation for years 2-7, and 3 weeks of vacation after 3 weeks. Vacation
benefits are for full time employees. Part time employees do not receive vacation. All management positions are full time. The
remaining job categories have both full time and part time positions. The store employees a number of students. Each department
manager is responsible for hiring and staffing of their area. No sick time is currently available, so if someone is sick or needs
time off, they can take a vacation day or no pay. Part time staff fills in for full time staff when they are on vacation. The
store closes on Christmas Day and Thanksgiving. Full time staff receives holiday pay for these days, part time staff do not. Full
time staff also receives holiday pay for Memorial Day, Labor Day, July Fourth, and New Year’s Day. Part time staff work these
days, and are paid for working but do not receive anything extra for holiday pay. Current premiums for health insurance that staff
pays are $200 per month for full time staff for family plan and $100 per month for full time staff for a single plan. Part time
staff is not eligible for health insurance.
The current shifts are: Days 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, 2nd shift is 4:00 pm to 12:30 am, and 3rd shift is 12:00 am to 8:30 am. Included
in the shift is a 30 minute unpaid meal break and a 15 minute paid break for the full 8 hour shift. Part time staff generally
works 4 to 5 hours shifts on the weekdays and 8 hour shifts on the weekends and holidays.
A recent vote went through and the WC Union was voted in and will be effective to represent employees at the start of the year.
Potential bargaining units are janitorial, storeroom and clerks. Many of these positions are staffed with part time employees.
The customer service staff is not in yet, and management is trying to keep them out. The union is still trying to get them in.
The union dues for the staff in the union will be $30 a month and all staff being represented by the union are required to join and
start paying dues upon being hired.
In addition to the budget indicated above, management has indicated there is $350,000 available for increases in salaries and
benefits.
Management and Union will be negotiating a contract that will be effective January 1. It is now July 1. This is the first
contract. The only knowns for the contract at this point are the union dues indicated above and the three groups that are for sure
part of the union.
Project Assignment:
Prepare a union contract. A management planning schedule should also be included. The student will determine the content of the
contract and what the negotiated items are. The amount available for the entire organization for salary and benefits is indicated
above. A summary should be included in the project that indicates how the available funds will be distributed between salaries and
benefits and between union and nonunion employees. Be creative. As the job market is competitive, the benefits that are available
may not be the best benefits. This is an opportunity for the creation of new and additional benefits.
Recommended layout for the project:
Summary describing the negotiation process (estimated 2-4 pages)
Management Planning for Contract Negotiations Document (estimated 1 to 2 pages)
Summary of the distribution of the available funds for salaries and benefits ($350,000). Indicate in this document the
nonunion group of staff and the union group of staff. (estimated 1 page)
Union Contract (number of pages will vary depending on what all is negotiated. Pages 387-405 in the text has an
example).It is estimated this contract will be shorter than the contract sample in the text, but still should include detail.
(Estimate 9-13 ages)
The final document should be a formal document that appears professionally prepared.
The final project/assessment is due at the close of the course in week 8. The assignment will not be accepted after this time.
Please post to the drop box in week 8 in the assignment section designated for this assignment.