Xerox Cuts Costs Without Layoffs Through Union-Management Collaboration
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The case study that follows deals with Xerox Corporation, a multinational equipment manufacturing company that decided to work with its union to find ways to use employees' skills and new technologies in addressing economic problems in its manufacturing division. The specific labor-management cooperation project described here began after the Xerox Corporation decided that to produce some of its products competitively, it would need to save over 53 million in production costs. At first, the only solution the company saw was closing down one department, laying off ISO employees, and subcontracting the manufacturing of component parts. But this did not happen. Instead, the company and union agreed to try the unorthodox route of collaboration to solve economic and production problems—without any layoffs. This collaborative effort came despite a companywide downsizing policy that resulted in extensive layoffs throughout Xerox.