Chapter 13
Creating Positive Employee - Management Relations
A labor or trade union is an organization of workers dedicated to protecting members' interests and improving wages, hours and working conditions for all.
No matter what you do for a living, there's a union with members who do the same thing.
Unions represent:
- mechanics,
- teachers,
- factory workers,
- office workers,
- actors,
- musicians,
- police officers,
- construction workers,
- airline pilots,
- janitors,
- plumbers,
- doctors,
- pharmacists,
- IT/computer professionals,
- government workers at all levels,
- engineers,
- writers,
- nurses,
- and many more types of workers.
Collective Bargaining
Unions
6.9% private sector employee's are unionized.
2011 Union Membership
4.4% workers age 16-24
NY - highest membership 24.1%
NC - lowest membership less than 3%
Three types of unions
2. Trade Unions - skilled employees - plummers, carpenters
3. Employee Associations - teachers, healthcare employees, clerical
NLRA - National Labor Relations Act of 1935
Before the Wagner Act - What tactics were employers allowed to use for firing employee's?
Railway Labor Act - s a United States federal law that governs labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The Act, passed in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, seeks to substitute bargaining, arbitration and mediation for strikes as a means of resolving labor disputes.
Who is covered by the RLA:
The RLA applies to freight and commuter railroads, airlines, companies directly or indirectly controlled by carriers who perform services related to transportation of freight or passengers and the employees of these railroads, airlines and companies.
The RLA contains five basic purposes:
To avoid any interruption to commerce.
To ensure an unhindered right of employees to join a labor union (added in 1934).
To provide complete independence of organization by both parties to carry out the purposes of the RLA.
To assist in the prompt and orderly settlement of disputes covering rates of
pay, work rules, or working conditions.
To assist in the prompt and orderly settlement of disputes growing out of
grievances or out of the interpretation or application of existing contracts covering the rates of pay, work rules or working conditions.
NLRA of 1947 - Taft Hartley Act
Extends rights to many private-sector employees including the right to organize and bargain with their employer collectively. Employees covered by the act are protected from certain types of employer and union misconduct and have the right to attempt to form a union where none currently exists.
Right to Work Laws
Union Shops
REVIEW TABLE 13-1 ON PAGE 419 - UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
REVIEW FIGURE 13-1 ON PAGE 420 - RIGHT TO WORK STATES
Closed Shop - Solely employs individuals who are current union members.
Agency Shop - Requires nonunion employees to pay a union fee for their services in negotiating their contracts.
Open Shop - Doesn't discriminate based upon union membership in employing or retaining employees.
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 - Landrum-Griffin Act
Card Check
Employees sign a card of support if they are in favor of unionization, if a majority of workers (over 50%) sign a union authorization card, the NRLB requires the employer to recognize the union without a secret ballot election.
Decertification Election
What are the steps of a decertification election?
Hard Bargaining - taking a strong position on an issue.
Surface Bargaining - going through the motions of negotiations with no intent of reaching an agreement.
Collective Bargaining
the process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at reaching agreements to regulate working conditions. The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong.
Question - What are the three categories that are a part of a collective bargaining agreement?
Employee Rights
Management Rights
2. The right to determine the uses to which the organization's material assets will be devoted.
3. The right to take disciplinary action against an employee for cause.
Negotiations
Two type of Negotiations
2. Integrative Negotiations - a win-win negotiation, in which there is no loss to either party.
Four Fundamental Principles of integrative Negotiation
2. Focus on interests, not positions.
3. Create options for mutual gain.
4. Insist on objective criteria.
In-Class Assignment - Case Study - Union/Management Cooperation at General Motors Tonawanda Plant
Mediation - using a neutral third party to attempt to resolve the dispute through facilitation.
Arbitration - an impartial third party acts as both judge/jury while imposing a binding decision on both negotiating parties.
Rights Arbitration - covers disputes over the interpretation of an existing contract, and is often used in settling grievances.
Interest Arbitration - resolves disputes over the terms of a collective bargaining agreement currently being negotiated.
Strike - union members refuse to work, halting production/services.
Wagner Act Strike Coverage
2. Economic strikes
3. Recognition strikes
4. Jurisdictional strikes