Final answer:
HR can prevent industrial actions by communicating employee concerns to management, negotiating contract provisions to prevent sympathy strikes, and engaging external legal counsel to handle grievances.
Step-by-step explanation:
To help prevent industrial actions, HR can take several actions:
- Communicating the perspective of employees to management: HR can act as a mediator between employees and management and ensure that employee concerns and grievances are effectively communicated to management. This can help address issues before they escalate into industrial actions.
- Negotiating a provision in contracts against sympathy strikes: HR can work with labor unions to negotiate contract provisions that prohibit sympathy strikes, which occur when workers go on strike in support of another group of workers. By including this provision, HR can help prevent solidarity strikes that can lead to larger industrial actions.
- Eliminating the peer panel program for dispute resolution: HR could consider discontinuing the peer panel program for resolving disputes if it is not effective in preventing industrial actions. Alternative dispute resolution methods such as mediation or arbitration might be more suitable.
- Hiring outside counsel for handling grievances: HR can engage external legal counsel to handle grievances and ensure legal compliance. This can help prevent potential legal issues that could lead to industrial actions.