Chapter 16
The Union Management
Framework
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Union
A union is an organization with the legal authority
to represent workers, negotiate the terms and
conditions of employment with the employer, and
administer the collective agreement.
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Collective Agreement
A contract negotiated between union and employer,
outlining terms and conditions of employment.
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Workers’ Major Reasons for Joining or
Not Joining Unions
Reasons for Joining
Major Reasons for Not Joining
Learn a trade
Find employment through union
Receive union benefits
Acquire collective power
Seek change in management practices
Dislike supervision/supervisory practices
Receive peer pressure
Required by union shop
Want benefits promised during organizing drive
Seek professional contact
Resolve professional issues
Want better pay
Social reasons
Socio-political reasons
Job security and protection
Dislike unions
Possess steady employment
Receive fair treatment
Want a management position
Afraid of strikes
Dislike dues
Reject as unprofessional
Unions not needed for self-employed
Management deterrent (legal and illegal)
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Business Unionism
The practice of unions seeking to improve the
wages, hours, and working conditions in a
business-like manner.
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Social Unionism
A characteristic of unions seeking to further
members’ interests by influencing the social,
economic, and legal policies of governments.
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Canadian Labour Congress
(CLC)
A central labour congress formed in 1956 by the
merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of
Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour.
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Local Union
The basic unit of union organization, formed in a
particular plant or locality.
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Craft Union
A labour organization that limit membership to
workers having a particular craft or skill or
working in a closely related trade.
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Industrial Union
A union representing primarily production,
maintenance, and related workers, both skilled and
unskilled, in an industry.
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Structure of a Typical Union
President
Steward
Union Members
Business
Agent
SecretaryTreasurer
Grievance
Committee
Bargaining
Committee
Steward
Union Members
Steward
Union Members
Steward
Union Members
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Impact of Union Representation
• Strikes
• Wages and benefits
• Unions and productivity
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The Common Core of Canadian
Labour Legislation
•
Right to join a union – employees have the right to join a trade
union of their choice and participate in the union’s activities
•
Good faith bargaining – in attempting to negotiate a collective
agreement, both labour and management have a duty to “bargain
in good faith.”
•
No strikes or lockouts during the life of the collective agreement
– it is illegal for a union to strike or an employer to lockout
employees during the life of the contract.
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The Common Core of Canadian
Labour Legislation
•
Prohibition on unfair labour practices – all jurisdictions have
legislation prohibiting unfair labour practices by employers and
unions.
•
Conciliation – the right of a union to strike or an employer to
lockout employees is (in most provinces) delayed until the
conciliation process has been exhausted.
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Labour Relations Boards (LRB)
Boards set up in the federal and all provincial
jurisdictions to administer labour relations
legislation.
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LRB Procedures for Redressing Unfair
Labour Practices
• The aggrieved individual or organization
contacts the appropriate LRB office (federal or
provincial) and explains the alleged violation.
• If the case appears to have merit, the LRB
informs the other party of the complaint and
asks for a response.
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LRB Procedures for Redressing Unfair
Labour Practices
• The LRB gives the parties involved the
opportunity to present evidence and to make
representations. If the complaint cannot be
solved informally, the LRB conducts an official
hearing with the interested parties present and
usually represented by legal counsel.
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LRB Procedures for Redressing Unfair
Labour Practices
•
On the basis of the evidence, the board will either
dismiss the case, or if one party is found guilty of a violation,
issue a cease-and-desist order. In the event of noncompliance,
this order is enforceable in a court of law.
•
It is up to the board to decide whether a verdict can be appealed
or not. In any case, an appeal can be made in matters of
jurisdiction, failure to pursue legitimate complaints, and
procedural irregularities.
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Environmental Factors that May Lead to
Unionization
External Factors
•
Have there been recent changes in the labour laws that affect your industry
that might cause interest in your firm by union organizers?
•
Has there been a sudden increase in unionization activity in your community
or industry?
•
Is your company planning a major increase in its work force that might
stimulate union interest in organizing the firm before it becomes larger and
more expensive to organize?
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Environmental Factors that May Lead to
Unionization
Internal Factors
•
Has your organization failed to resolve systematically the union complaints made
during previous, unsuccessful organizing attempts?
•
Are employee turnover and absenteeism rates higher than the norms for your industry
or community?
•
Has the company failed to conduct job satisfaction surveys? Or, if they have been
conducted, do they reveal a trend toward dissatisfaction?
•
Are pay and benefits below average for the industry, community, or unionized firms?
•
Is the company’s procedure for resolving employee complaints largely not used by
workers?
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Unfair Labour Practices by Management
•
Interfering in the formation of a union or contributing to it financially
(although there have been allowances for the providing of an office for the
union to conduct business and for paid leave for union officials conducting
union business).
•
Discriminating against an employee because the individual is or is not a
member of a trade union.
•
Discriminating against an employee because that individual chooses to
exercise rights granted by labour relations statutes.
•
Intimidating or coercing an employee to become or not become a member of a
union.
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Unfair Labour Practices by Unions
•
Seeking to compel an employer to bargain collectively with the union if the
union is not the certified bargaining agent.
•
Attempting, at the workplace and during working hours, to persuade an
employee to become or not become a union member.
•
Intimidating, coercing, or penalizing an individual because he or she has filed
a complaint or testified in any proceedings pursuant to the relevant labour
statute.
•
Engaging in, encouraging, or threatening illegal strikes.
•
Failing to represent employees fairly.
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Obtaining Bargaining Rights
• Voluntary recognition
• Regular certification
• Pre-hearing votes
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Management Rights
As used in union-management relationships, those
rights reserved for management that are within the
collective agreement.
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Conciliation
A government appointed third party attempts to
bring together the parties to reconcile their
differences.
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Mediation
Process whereby disputing parties choose
voluntarily to reconcile their differences through a
third party.
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Grievance Procedure
A formal procedure outlined in the collective
agreement to resolve grievances.
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Typical Steps in a Union-Management
Grievance Procedure
•
Preliminary discussion. The aggrieved employee discusses the complaint
with the immediate supervisor with or without a union representative. At this
sage, or at any other step in the process, management may resolve the
grievance to the satisfaction of the union or the union may decide to drop the
grievance. Otherwise, the grievance proceeds to the next step in the process.
•
Step 1: The complaint is put in writing and formally presented by the shop
steward to the first-level supervisor. Normally, the supervisor must respond in
writing within a contractually specified time period, usually two to five days.
•
Step 2: The chief steward takes the complaint to the department
superintendent. A written response is required, usually within a week.
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Typical Steps in a Union-Management
Grievance Procedure
•
Step 3: The complaint is submitted to the plant manager/chief administrative
officer by the union plant or grievance committee. Again, a written response
is typically required.
•
Step 4: If Step 3 does not solve the dispute, arrangements are made for an
arbitrator or an arbitration board to settle the matter.
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Arbitration
The resolution of a dispute relating to the
interpretation of a clause in the collective
agreement.
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Union Shop
A union security provision in which employers
may hire anyone they want, but all workers must
join the union within a specified period.
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Strategic Implications for Human Resource
Management
• Design jobs that are personally satisfying to workers.
• Develop plans that maximize individual opportunities
while minimizing the possibility of layoffs.
• Select workers who are qualified.
• Establish fair, meaningful, and objective standards of
individual performance.
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Strategic Implications for Human Resource
Management
• Train workers and managers to enable them to achieve
expected levels of performance.
• Evaluate and reward behaviour on the basis of actual
performance.
• Provide employees with a “voice” in the workplace.
• Implement a compensation plan in which wages/salary
and benefits parallel those available in the union sector.
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Methods of Building LabourManagement Cooperation
•
Prior consultation with union leaders to defuse problems before
they become formal grievances.
•
Sincere concern for employee problems and welfare even when
management is not obligated to do so by the collective
agreement.
•
Training programs that objectively communicate the intent of
union and management bargainers and reduce biases and
misunderstandings.
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Methods of Building Labour-Management
Cooperation
•
Joint study committee that allow management and union
officials to find solutions to common problems.
•
Third parties who can provide guidance and programs that bring
union leaders and managers closer together to pursue common
objectives.
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