Final answer:
Unilateral changes in terms and conditions of employment refer to actions taken by employers, such as altering the compensation or benefits package during collective bargaining, without reaching a good faith impasse. Such actions violate collective bargaining practices and may lead to labor disputes or legal issues.
Step-by-step explanation:
Actions such as changing the compensation or fringe-benefit package unilaterally during bargaining without having reached a good faith bargaining impasse are called unilateral changes in terms and conditions of employment. These actions violate the principles of collective bargaining, where negotiations between unions and firms must be conducted in good faith. Unilateral changes can disrupt the balance of a bilateral monopoly, where there is a single employer (or a monopsony on the demand side) and a labor union on the supply side.
Engaging in such practices could be interpreted as bad faith and may lead to labor disputes or legal consequences. Collective bargaining aims to ensure that all changes to employment terms are mutually agreed upon. Changes to wages, hours, or other terms of employment should ideally only occur after an impasse is declared, indicating that both parties cannot come to an agreement despite thorough negotiations.
Unilateral changes can be a strategy used by management to circumvent the influence of unions, akin to the past use of company unions to undermine independent union efforts. This undermines the workers' rights to negotiate and may lead to discrimination or the subversion of affirmative action efforts designed to rectify past injustices in the workplace.