Labor Relations
© Nancy Brown Johnson, 2000
http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/workersrights/colbert_kyriver.cfm
Learning Outcomes
 Students
will be able to explain the
underlying premise of the US labor
movement.
 Students will be able to provide an
overview of US labor laws.
 Students will be able to explain the reasons
for the decline in the US labor movement
History: Early Union Attempts
 Utopian
Schemes
 Legislation: Populist Movements
 Radical Movements: Syndicalists
Knights of Labor
 Abolish
wage system using education
 Did not believe in strikes
 Organized workers by geography
 Strikes gained them members
American Federation of Labor
(AFL)
 No
reformist goals-accepted capitalism
 Collective bargaining
 Strikes
 Craft union autonomy
 No legislative attempts
 Business Unionism
Early Legal Environment
 Common
Law
 Criminal Conspiracy Doctrine- 1794
 Ends/Means Test- 1842
 ends
to raise wages
 means was the strike
 Injunction
 Yellow-dog
contract
Norris-LaGuardia
1932
Restricted
use of the Injunction
Made yellow-dog contracts
unenforceable
Neutral
Congress for Industrial
Organization (CIO)
Industrial
v. craft
Kicked out of AFL
Successfully organized auto, steel,
rubber
National Labor Relations Act
NLRA (1935)
 Also
Wagner Act
 Pro-labor
 Provided for union election
 Created Employer Unfair Labor Practices
 Create National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) to enforce
Employer Unfair Labor Practices
 Cannot
threaten, restrain, or coerce
employees in attempting to unionize
 Must bargain in good faith
 Employer must not discriminate based upon
union activity
 No company unions
Taft-Hartley (1947)
 “Slave
labor bill”
 Established union unfair labor practices
 Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service
(FMCS)
 Precluded secondary activity
 Right-to-work laws
Landrum-Griffin (1959)
 Labor
Management Reporting and
Disclosure Act
 Union Financial Reporting
 Employee Bill of Rights
 Union Representative Elections
Public Sector Laws
 Federal
- Civil Service Reform Act 1978
 federal
workers could join unions
 cannot negotiate wages
 cannot strike
 State
and Local
 enacted
on state by state basis
 usually precludes right to strike
Union Membership
 Peaked
in 1955 at 35%
 Today approximately 12.4%
 Public sector workers 37.4 percent
 Education, training, and library
occupations 38.1 percent
Reasons for the Decline
 Global
Economy
 Deregulation
 Move from Manufacturing to Services
 Laws Providing Employment Protection
 More Aggressive Management Tactics
Why People Vote for Unions
Dissatisfied
with wages & working
conditions
Believe union can improve
(instrumentality)
No other choice
Union Effects
Exit/Voice
Voice
Hypothesis
- complain
Exit
- leave
Union Effects
 Voice
 unions
encourage voice
 decreases turnover
 increases productivity
 Monopoly
 unions
raise wages
 cause labor market inefficiencies
Contract Negotiation Process
 Distributive
bargaining (win-lose)
 Integrative bargaining (win-win)
 Attitudinal Structuring
 Intra-organizational bargaining
Union Bargaining Power
Product Demand is strong
 Product Perishability is high
 Capital intensive
 Replacement workers not available
 Single production sites or
 Facilities are not very integrated
 Lack of product substitutes

Impasse-Resolution Procedures:
Strike Alternatives
 Mediation
 Arbitration
 Grievance
Procedures
Grievance Procedures
1
2
3
4
Oral: supervisor.
Written: higher level manager-steward and
management representative meet.
Written Appeal: top level / labor relations
staff.
Arbitration: final & binding decision.
Measuring Labor Relations
Effectiveness
 Strikes
 Wages
and Benefits
 Productivity
 Profits