Transcript Understanding Labor- Management Relations Chapter 11

Understanding LaborManagement Relations
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 Learning Goals
1. What is the historical development of
American labor unions?
2. What role did federal law play in the
development of the union-management
relationship?
3. What is the union organizing process?
4. What is the collective bargaining process, and
what key issues are included in the union
contract?
Chapter 11 Learning Goals (cont’d.)
5. How do employees file a grievance?
6. What economic tactics do unions and
employers use in labor-management
conflicts?
7. What trends will affect American
workers and labor-management
relations?
Learning Goal 1
• What is the historical development of American
labor unions?
– Knights of Labor
• Failed to improve the lot of workers
– American Federation of Labor (AFL)
• Formed in 1881; run by Samuel Gompers
• Addressed matters such as union rights, better wages,
hours, and working conditions for members
– Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
• Formed in 1935 by John L. Lewis and the United Mine
Workers of America
– AFL-CIO merged in 1955
• U.S. labor movement today consists of AFL-CIO, national
and international unions, and local unions
Labor Union:
An organization that represents
workers in dealing with
management over disputes
involving wages, hours, &
working conditions
Collective bargaining:
The process of negotiating
labor agreements that provide
for compensation & working
arrangements mutually
acceptable to the union & to
management
Emergence of Unions
& Collective Bargaining
1. American Federation of Labor
(AFL)
founded 1881; craft unions
2. Congress of Industrial
Organizations (CIO)
founded 1935; industrial unions
3. AFL-CIO joined in 1955
Labor Movement Today
•
•
•
•
•
Craft unions
Industrial unions
Conglomerate unions
Local unions
National & International unions
– Public Services International is a federation of 525
public sector trade unions from 141 countries; it
represents 20 million workers (Source: Public Services
International, www.world-psi.org)
Learning Goal 2
• What role did federal law play in the development
of the union-management relationship?
– Norris-La Guardia Act, 1932
• Banned employers’ use of injunctions
• Greatly limited yellow-dog contracts
• Ended the use of the courts to settle labor disputes
– Wagner Act, 1935
• Encouraged the formation of unions
• Defined unfair labor practices and created the NLRB
– Taft-Hartley Act, 1947
• Placed some constraints on labor union organizing activities
– Landrum-Griffin Act, 1959
• Dealt with the internal affairs of unions
Legal Environment of Unions
• Norris-La Guardia Act
– Anti-Injunction - 1932
• Wagner Act
– National Labor Relations - 1935
• Taft-Hartley Act
– Labor-Management Relations - 1937
• Landrum-Griffin Act
– Labor-Management Reporting & Disclosure - 1959
Learning Goal 3
• What is the union organizing process?
– Organizing drive that can begin:
• Inside, with a small group of existing employees
• Outside, with an established union that targets the employer
– Union obtains signed authorization cards
• Needs cards from 30% of firm’s employees
– NLRB conducts a union certification election
• Majority vote needed to certify the union as the exclusive
bargaining agent
– Union and employer can begin collective bargaining
and have one year to reach an agreement
Union Organizing
Two Ways Members Join:
1. Unionized employer hires new workers
who choose to, or must, join a union
2. Employees of a non-unionized
employer form or join a union
• The average local union spends only
3% of its budget on recruiting &
organizing (Source: Fortune, Sept. 28, 1998, p. 180.)
Union Organizing Process & Election
1. Union contact with employees
2. Authorization card campaign
3. Petition for certification election
4. NLRB determination of bargaining unit
5. Employer and union preelection campaigns
6. Election
7a. Certification
of union
7b. Rejection of
union
Learning Goal 4
• What is the collective bargaining process, and what
key issues are included in the union contract?
– Collective bargaining process
• Both union and management negotiators prepare a
bargaining proposal
• The two sides meet and exchange demands and ideas
• Compromises and concessions lead to tentative agreement
• Top management approves or disapproves agreement
• Union members vote to approve or reject contract
• Key issues included are:
– Union and job security
– Management-rights clause
– Wage increases and fringe benefit improvements
Negotiating Union Contracts
Employer bargaining preparation
Union bargaining preparation
Exchange of initial demands & proposals
Bargaining agenda
Top
management
approval
Transparency 11-10
Bargaining
compromise,
concession,
agreement
Vote of union
members
Rejection &
strike
Resumption
of bargaining
Ratification
Qualities of Good Negotiators
1. They listen
2. They are creative & flexible
3. They are willing to walk
4. They don’t worry about being liked
5. They can handle multiple tasks
6. They love to negotiate
Source: HR News, Nov. 1999, p. 15.
Issues Included in Union Contracts
1. Union security
2. Management rights
3. Wages
African-American & Latina female union members earned
over 40% more than non-union counterparts (Source: AFLCIO/US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1998)
4. Job benefits
The percentage of workers with health coverage was
84% for union members and 74% for nonunion
members (Source: AFL-CIO/US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1998)
5. Job security
Learning Goal 5
• How do employees file a grievance?
– Grievance procedure
• Employee files a grievance
– Oral and/or written presentation to the supervisor
– May involve a union steward as representative of grievant
• Meeting of employee and one or more union officials
• Meeting of the appropriate supervisor and one or more
management officials
• If grievance is not resolved after meetings, union or
management can request that an arbitrator, or neutral third
party, hear and decide the grievance
Grievance:
A formal complaint, filed by an
employee or by the union,
charging that management has
violated the contract
Arbitration:
The process of settling a labormanagement dispute by having
a third party make a binding
decision
Typical Grievance Procedure
Employee with
grievance
Front-line
supervisor
Step 1:
Oral Presentation
Step 2:
Grievance in Writing
Step 3:
Higher-level grievance
meeting
Step 4:
Arbitration
Union
steward
Learning Goal 6
• What economic tactics do unions and employers
use in labor-management conflicts?
– Union tactics
• Strike
– Union members stop working
– Union members may picket or carry signs to alert public to the
dispute
• Product boycott
– Union attempts to persuade consumers not to purchase products
produced by firm involved in dispute
– Employer tactics
• Lockout and strike replacements
– Employer closes the plant and prevents workers from working
– Hires temporary, nonunion workers as strike replacements
Managing LaborManagement Conflict
Union tactics:
Employer tactics:
•
•
•
•
• lockout
• strike
replacements
• mutual-aid pact
• shift production
strike
boycott
picketing
corporate
campaign
Learning Goal 7
• What trends will affect American workers and
labor-management relations?
– Decline in union members will cease
– Growth in membership that began in 1998 will
continue
– Union demands will stimulate new membership
• Wage increases
• Improvements in fringe benefits
– Shortages of skilled workers will persist into the 21st
century
• Unions and employers will need to build apprenticeship
programs for careers in skilled crafts
Trends Affecting Labor-Management
 Overall decline in union membership
 Shortage of skilled construction
workers
Source: Fortune, Sept. 28, 1998, p. 180.
1997
1995
1993
1991
1989
1987
1985
1983
1981
1979
1977
Percen t o f Em p lo yees
th at are Un io n M em b ers
Decline in Union Membership
30
25
20
15
10
5
0