Chapter Eleven Enhancing Union-Management Relations.

Chapter Eleven

Enhancing

Union-Management

Relations

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives

1. Explain how and why labor unions came into being.

2. Discuss the sources of unions’ negotiating power and trends in union membership.

3. Identify the main focus of several major pieces of labor-management legislation.

4. Enumerate the steps involved in forming a union and show how the National Labor Relations Board is involved in the process.

11 | 2


Learning Objectives (cont’d)

5. Describe the basic elements in the collective-bargaining process.

6. Identify the major issues covered in a union-management contract.

7. Explain the primary bargaining tools available to unions and management.

11 | 3

Chapter 11 Outline

– The Historical Development of Unions• Early History• Evolution of Contemporary Labor Organizations

– Organized Labor Today• Union Membership• Membership Trends• Union-Management Partnerships

– Labor-Management Legislation• Norris-LaGuardia Act• National Labor Relations Act• Fair Labor Standards Act• Labor-Management Relations Act• Landrum-Griffin Act

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.11 | 4

Chapter 11 Outline (cont’d)

– The Unionization Process• Why Some Employees Join Unions• Steps in Forming a Union• The Role of the NLRB

– Collective Bargaining• The First Contract• Later Contracts

– Union-Management Contract Issues• Employee Pay• Working Hours• Security• Management Rights• Grievance Procedures


Chapter 11 Outline (cont’d)

– Union and Management Negotiating Tools• Strikes• Slowdowns and Boycotts• Lockouts and Strikebreakers• Mediation and Arbitration



Union-Management Relations

• Labor union– An organization of workers acting together to

negotiate their wages and working conditions with employers

• Union-management (labor) relations– The dealings between labor union and

business management, both in the bargaining process and beyond it

11 | 7


The Historical Development of Unions

• Early history– Craft union

– Knights of Labor

11 | 8


The Historical Development of Unions (cont’d)

• Early history (cont’d)– American Federation of Labor (AFL)

– Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

11 | 9


The Historical Development of Unions (cont’d)

• Evolution of contemporary labor organizations– Industrial union

– Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

– AFL-CIO

11 | 10


Organized Labor Today

• Union membership– Approx. 15.5% of the nation’s workers belong

to unions

– AFL-CIO

– Teamsters

– United Auto Workers (UAW)

11 | 11


Organized Labor Today (cont’d)

• Membership trends– Union membership has declined steadily since 1980

– Heavily unionized industries have been decreasing or not growing as fast as nonunionized industries

– Firms have moved from unionized areas (Northeast, Great Lakes region) to less unionized areas (Southeast, Southwest)

– Largest employment growth is in service industries, which are typically not unionized

– Some companies are moving manufacturing to other (less unionized) countries

– Management is providing benefits that reduce employees’ need for unionization

11 | 12


Organized Labor Today (cont’d)

• Union-management partnerships– The adversarial nature of past union-management

relations has given way to limited cooperative partnerships between unions and companies

• Companies gain increased productivity, improved quality, and reduced costs

• Workers gain increased response to their needs, more decision-making opportunities, less supervision, more responsibility, and increased job security

• Unions gain credibility, strength, and increased membership

11 | 13


Labor-Management Legislation

• Norris-LaGuardia Act (1932)

• National Labor Relations Act / Wagner Act (1935)• Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)• Labor-Management Relations Act / Taft-Hartley Act

(1947)

• Landrum-Griffin Act (1959)

11 | 14


The Unionization Process

• Why some employees join unions– As a way to combat alienation and loss of personal

identity from dull and repetitive jobs– Due to the perception that union membership

increases job security– As a way of expressing dissatisfaction with one or

more elements of the job– Due to personal background (family history of union

membership)– As a requirement to keep a job under provisions of

the labor contract between the union and the firm

11 | 15


Steps in Forming a Union (cont’d)

• Complicating factors– Bargaining unit

– Jurisdiction

11 | 16

• The Role of the NLRB– Overseeing organizing campaign

– Conducting the election

– Certifying the results

– Monitoring questionable behavior


Steps in Forming a Union (cont’d)

11 | 17


Collective Bargaining

• The process of negotiating a labor contract with management• First contract

– Pre-negotiation preparations by both parties– Exchange of initial contract demands by union and company– Bargaining over issues until agreement is reached (or strike)– Agreement is ratified by a vote of the union membership– Agreement is signed and becomes a legally binding agreement (or

more negotiation)• Later contracts

– Pre-negotiation preparations are more intense– Each side may take a harder line on the issues in negotiations– Contract expiration date produces tension

11 | 18


Union-Management Contract Issues

• Employee pay– Forms of pay

• Direct compensation• Deferred compensation

– Magnitude of pay• Parity with local and national industry

pay levels• Real wage protection through cost-of-living clauses• Financial condition of employer• Cost-sharing for benefits

11 | 19


Union-Management Contract Issues (cont’d)

• Employee pay (cont’d)

– Pay determinants• Management seeks to tie wages to each

employee’s productivity• Unions feel this creates unnecessary competition

and usually suggest pay according to seniority• Management seeks to constrain benefits to only

some employees• Unions want equal application of benefits

11 | 20



• Working hours– Overtime– Special hourly rates for weekend or holiday work– The right of employees to refuse overtime– Premium pay for workers on less desirable shifts– Starting times– Length of meal periods and work breaks

11 | 21



• Security– For the individual

• Job security

• Seniority

– For the union• Membership

• Closed shop

• Union shop

• Agency shop

• Maintenance shop

11 | 22



• Management rights– The firm wants to control whom it hires, how

work is scheduled, how discipline is handled

– Unions seek to control these matters

– Some union executives have been given seats on corporate boards of directors

11 | 23


Union and Management Negotiating Tools

• Strikes– Picketing

– Wildcat strike

• Slowdowns and boycotts– Slowdown

– Boycott

11 | 24


Union and Management Negotiating Tools (cont’d)

• Lockouts and strikebreakers– Lockout

– Strikebreaker

• Mediation and arbitration– Mediation

– Arbitration

11 | 25

Date post:	05-Jan-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	carmel-adams
View:	221 times
Download:	0 times

Chapter Eleven Enhancing Union-Management Relations.

Documents