Grazer Logistics is a 50-year-old Canadian family owned LTL trucking business, located in Stratford, Ontario. The firm has always been led and managed by the Grazer family members and has maintained a reputation as a principled but fairly run business. The business maintained a fleet of 40 trucks of varying sizes allowing them to carry many different products for a variety of customers. Consequently, the employees at Grazer Logistics were highly skilled drivers, mechanics, dispatchers and terminal labourers who loaded and unloaded trucks, sometimes by hand, other times with fork trucks, depending on the shipment. When the second generation of the family started taking a more active role in day to day management and "old man Grazer" turned full management responsibility over to his daughter Lori, there was some concern about the future of the business. While Mr. Grazer was a "tough boss", he was universally respected and gained his reputation by treating everyone with respect and his benevolent care fostered a stable and peaceful working environment. Lori, on the other hand, was a smart, formally educated manager with a keen eve on the bottom line but not a "people person'. In fact, Lori had worked her way up through the ranks, performing many functions from shipping receiving as well as dispatching, eventually moving into a financial role as company Controller. Despite how she had been trained and involved in the business, most employees felt that she was aloof to the employee's real day to day concerns and interests. Lori's lack of concern for the kind of attention her father gave to his employees gradually created a climate of mistrust and in early 2011 a union organization drive resulted in a 55% vote in favour of a union. After the initial shock of unionization and a transition period after their first collective agreement, the company and The International Brotherhood of Trucking and Shipping had struck a practical but uneasy relationship.

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It seems like the transition from Mr Grazer to his daughter Lori brought about significant changes in the management style and employee relations at G... View the full answer