Labor Relations
Why do unions exist?
Poor Management
Protect workers rights
Positive impact on employee wages
Protect Job Security
Provide Employee voice and instrumentality
Get fair share of pie
Checks and balances
– Don’t forget past and present management abuses
Legislative Framework
Three periods of legislative action and Union
membership trends
– Strong Encouragement – 1930s
• Norris LaGuardia Act (1932) & NLRA (1935)
– Modified Encouragement – 1940s
• Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
– Detailed Regulation of Internal Union Affairs – late
1950s
• Landrum-Griffin Act (1959)
The Triumvirate
Three of these pieces of legislation pretty much
shape the characteristics of contemporary labor
relations
– National Labor Relations Act
– Taft-Hartley Act
– Landrum-Griffin Act
• Essentials is not a big fan of this act
Strong Encouragement – 1930s
Norris-LaGuardia Act
– Guaranteed rights of Ees to bargain collectively
– Ideas there, but no enforcement provisions
National Labor Relations Act
– Added teeth to N-L Act
• Banned Unfair Labor Employer Practices
• Must have secret ballot elections that are determined by
majority rule
– Established NLRB to enforce these additions
Unfair Employer Labor Practices
Interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees against
union membership
Management cannot interfere with formation or
administration or labor organization
– Can’t bribe employees, move business to avoid unionization, or
blacklist sympathizers
No discrimination because of union activity
Cannot fire for filing unfair practice charges
Cannot refuse to bargain collectively with employees
chosen union representation
Modified Encouragement – 1940s
Taft-Hartley Act (Labor-Management Relations Act)
– Reflected public’s less enthusiastic attitudes toward
unions
– Allows Ers to express their views about unions more
freely
– Limits Unions by:
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Prohibiting unfair union practices
Enumerating rights of Ees as union members
Enumerating rights of Ers
Allowing President of U.S. to temporarily (80 days total) bar strikes for
national interests (emergency)
Unfair Union Practices
Banned from restraining or coercing Ees from
exercising their bargaining rights
Unions cannot cause Ers to discriminate in any
way against an EE to encourage or discourage
union membership
Unions must bargain in good faith
Exercising the Taft-Hartley Act
Just exercised in Dockworkers strike
– Last done before that in 1978
Steps:
– President forms board to investigate disputes
– Asks court to force workers back to work for 60, then 80 days
• Cooling off period
– Mediators work with two sides in meantime
– After 60 days, NLRB polls workers on employer’s last offer
– If workers reject offer, can strike again
Invoked 35 times, worked 22, not 10, court rejected 3
Detailed Regulation of Internal Union
Affairs – late 1950s
Landrum-Griffin Act
– Aim was to protect union members from possible
wrongdoing by their union reps
– Laid out rules for union elections
• Must elect officers once every five years using secret
ballots
Union Structure
Five types of Union Security:
– Closed Shop – hire only union members – outlawed in
1947
– Union Shop – hire nonunion individuals, but they must
join the union after probationary period
– Agency Shop – Ees not belonging to Union still pay dues
(Assumption - Unions benefit plight of all workers)
– Open Shop – Union membership up to employees
– Maintenance of Membership Arrangement – Union
members employed by firm must retain membership
AFL-CIO
Governing body to those unions who decide to
affiliate with the Federation of Labor
– American Federation of Labor
– Congress of Industrial Organizations
– Merged in 1955
Provide structure and lobbying body
– No-raiding pacts of affiliated unions
– Handles a lot of public relations issues – located
right across the street from the Capitol
Local Unions
May or may not be affiliated with AFL-CIO
Purpose revolves around contract negotiation
and grievance handling
Cornerstone of union representation
Union Drives
Initial Contact – Union determines ee interest
Authorization Cards – need to get 30% of eligible
Ees in bargaining unit to sign petition for election
The Hearing – Er chooses whether or not to contest
– NLRB is contacted by union to request a hearing
The Campaign – Union and ER appeal to Ees for
votes
The Election – Must be held within 30-60 days of
NLRB decision about vote
Contact
Occurs because Unions want to expand, Ees
take initiative in soliciting Union, or Organization
seems an easy target for Unionization
Technology now impacts contact stage – Ers
need to be wary of putting prohibitions on Unionrelated emails
Ers should focus on avoiding contact rather than
battling Unions in campaigns
– Union Salting – undercover union person obtains
employment with firm to strum up support
Authorization Cards
Must get 30% of Ees in bargaining unit to sign
on
Managers should stay clear of the cards – they
are considered confidential and if managers
know who sign – can open up for unfair ER
practice
Hearing
Ers can choose to:
– Not contest union recognition – no hearing needed
and election goes immediately
– Not contest right to an election – no hearing needed
and parties stipulate election
– Contest – go to NLRB
• Evidence is presented (30% of cards), the bargaining unit
is defined, and the election date is to be set
Campaign
Must be careful about unfair practices – both
sides
– Yet they are likely going to happen to some extent
Management will try to set record straight on
what unionization means for Ees
Union will try to sell benefits of union
membership
Election
Election held, voting is secret, majority rules
If unfair employer practices occur, a “no union”
decision can be reversed
If fails, can’t have another election for 12 months
Decertification Elections
Labor laws grant employees the right to legally
terminate union representation through an
election
About 500 decertification elections held
annually,about 2500-3000 certification elections
held
Collective Bargaining Process
Certain Bargaining items must be negotiated,
there are also illegal bargaining items
Bargaining must be in good faith – done
between negotiating teams
– Parties are not compelled to agree, but must
communicate and negotiate
– Ers are likely to stress that the bargaining process
does not compel them to come to terms with Union –
though this is likely not the most constructive stance
once Unionization is inevitable
Collective Bargaining Process
Lots of research occurs before parties sit down
(at least it should) so that reasonable or
informed positions can be taken
Teams are selected that are composed of union
rep (local) and shop stewards (elected)
– Must appoint a spokesperson – important role for
relaying communication
Bargaining in Bad Faith
Surface Bargaining – going through motions
Concessions – should be willing to make them
Imposing Conditions – imposing conditions
considered to be onerous is a problem
Bypassing the representative – cannot usurp
union’s representation
Bargaining Items
Mandatory
– Time table for
agreement
– Wages
– Pay rates
– Vacations
– Pensions
– Severance
– Layoffs
– Drug Testing
Permissible
– Management
rights as to
union affairs
– Continuance
of past
contract
– Scope of
bargaining
unit
Illegal
– Closed shop
– Separation of
ees based on
race
– Discriminatory
treatment
Bargaining Stages
Each side presents demands
Reduction of demands
Parties form joint subcommittees to find
alternative solutions
Informal settlement reached
Formal agreement worked out and signed
The Dreaded Impasse
When parties can’t move towards
resolution/agreement – Impasse occurs
Resolved by:
– 3rd Party Involvement
– Strikes
– Other Alternatives
3rd Party Involvement
Mediation
– Neutral 3rd party tries to help parties come closer
together, focus on reducing conflict and increasing
agreement
– Does not have power to force agreement
Fact-finder
– Studies issues and makes public recommendations
Arbitration
– Present conflict to arbitrator for binding resolution –
dictate settlement terms
Strikes
Number per year has declined from 380 in 1970 to 29
in 1997
Economic Strike
– Results from failure to agree to terms in negotiation
• UPS, MLB (players and umps), Airlines strikes, Maple Heights teachers
Unfair Labor Practices Strike
– Aimed at protesting illegal conduct by ER
Wildcat Strike
– Unauthorized strike occurring during a contract period
Sympathy Strike
– Union strikes in support of another union’s plight
Other Alternatives
Boycott
– Union members do not buy goods or services from
organization
Lockout
– ER attempt to break an impasse
– Dockworkers on west coast, MLB
Unions and Practice
Unions are political entities
– Therefore, decisions will be politically motivated
– Elections at least every 5 years, typically 3 years
– Negotiating teams are elected and handle:
• Bargaining
• Administration of grievances
• Everyday issues
Unions and Practice
Honesty is absolute policy
– Integrity in dealings is absolutely important
– After the negotiations, must work together
– UPS – wanted to implement a team-based work
concept, ended up being a huge bone of contention
because of adversarial relationship with union
Unions and Practice
Company issues MUST be handled through
union reps
– Failure to do so, or attempts to deal with workers
directly, can be an unfair employer labor practice
– This is one of the hot topics that management will try
to communicate to workers thinking about organizing
• Akron Provost sent emails pre-information session about
union activity and how it would change the managementemployee relationship
Unions and Practice
Establish a working relationship
– Unions can’t actively help management – not in job
description and would not have a purpose if they did
– but they can NOT impede management attempts
to improve productivity
• Bill Ford lunches with UAW head weekly to maintain
relations
– Flexible work issues are often tough to deal with
because of union status
Labor Case 1: UPS Strike
Teamsters vs. UPS Management
– Problems brewed for years
– Disjointed union representation was at fault for many
of those years
– 1991, Union started to make strategic moves to set
up for the strong stance it took in 1997
• Had to create unity in traditionally non-united worker
corps (Part vs. Full-Time)
UPS Strike
UPS Issues
– Demanded give backs (UAL is doing this now)
– Thought they could take advantage of disjointed
unions
– Exploit division/rivalry between the PT and FT
workers
• Team-Concept thus seen as an attempt to undermine
union reps
UPS Strike
Union Built Unity
– Did not spend money on advertising, rather held
rallies that caught press attention
– Surveyed members to get feedback
– Built groundswell of support and unity with collateral
materials – like t-shirts and hats
– Attacked big issues brought to table, like UPS desire
to take over pension funds
– Able to create a hometown story because of UPS
presence in every town in US
UPS Strike
UPS and Unions claimed victory
– Workers went back to work
– UPS went on as it was instead of firing all workers
and becoming a smaller, possibly more profitable
carrier
– Teamsters used settlement to build membership
Labor Relations Case 2: Dockworkers
1st use of Taft-Hartley since 1978
– Interesting that it was used pre-election
– Bush administration already seen as pro-management because
of use of Railway Act to prohibit strikes in Airlines and
Railroads post 9/11
Data has been mixed on TH effects
– In this case, movement is being made towards agreement on
some issues – like development of technology
Dockworkers make $106K per year and the occupation is
pretty closed – families pass jobs down
Future of Unions
Essentials would blame “me generation” and
Reagan for decline of membership
Seems to be fairly constant when you look at
numbers
– Playing a prominent role in many disputes
Provides a check and balance for management
Continuous expansion in white collar jobs