Chapter 10 Flashcards
What was the first labour relations legislation?
Trades Unions Act 1872: gave the ability to strike & collective bargaining
What is Canada’s labour relations system?
- It is highly decentralized
- 90% of the workforce is governed by provincial legislation
- Each province has a Labour Relations Board (LRB)
What are the 3 main reasons why employees unionize?
- Economic needs
- General dissatisfaction with managerial practices
- Desire to fulfill social & status needs
What is the labour relations process?
- Workers desire collective
- The union or employees begins its organizing campaign
- Collective negotiations lead to a collective agreement/contract
- The contract is administered
What is a union shop, closed shop & open shop?
Union Shop: collective agreement that requires employee to join union as a condition of their employment
Closed Shop: Collective agreement that requires employers to hire only union members
Open Shop: collective agreement that allows employees to join the union or not
What are the strongest reasons why an employee will join a union?
Unhappiness with wages, benefits & working conditions
Provide examples for each reasons why employees unionize.
- Economic needs
- Dissatisfaction with managers
- Social & status concerns
- low wages, poor working conditions, health & safety ignored
- Unfair promotions or transfers, favouritism
- Needs for recognition and status like leadership
Who are the 2 large influential labour unions?
- CAW: Canadian Auto Workers
2. CEP: Communication, Energy & Paperworks Union of Canada
How do employees organize a union? What are the steps?
- A formal organizing campaign may be started either by a union organizer or by employees acting on their own behalf. MOST organizing campaigns are begun by employees
- Should evaluate their chances of success & possible benefits before & employers vulnerability towards unions
- Employee & union contact
- Initial organizational meeting
- Formation of in-house organizing committee
- Application to labour relations board
- Issuance of certification by LRB
- Election of bargaining committee & contract negotiations
Describe each steps for organizing a campaign. (For regular certification)
- Explore possibility of unionization, gather info on employee needs, problems & complaints
- To win employee support: union organizers must build a case against the employer
- Schedule initial union meeting to attract supporters. The organizer will use the info gathered from step1 to address employee needs & explain how the union can secure these goals
- Form a committee composed of employees willing to provide leadership to the campaign, have employees sign a membership card, this card demonstrates the strength of the union (must have at least 50% of employees as members before they apply for certification)
- Application is made to the appropriate LRB. Majority of unions are certified without a vote if the LRB finds that the union has the support of the majority of the employees (based on the # of membership cards)
- LRB reviews the application & informs both the employer & employee about the application so that either the employer or employee have an opp. to challenge
- Once certified, a bargaining committee is put in place to start negotiating
List the employers obligations & tactics & for unions
- Can’t promise better conditions
- Can’t change wages & working conditions during certification process or bargaining
- Can’t coerce/intimidate
- Can’t interfere in certification process
- Must commit to bargain seriously & fairly
Unions: the same applies
-can’t engage in activities like strike before the expiration of the union contract
What are examples of unfair labour practices by employers & unions?
Employers:
- helping to establish or administer a union
- altering work conditions without the unions consent during certification
- intimidation, threats, promises
- hiring professional strike breakers
- failing to recognize or bargain with certified union
Unions:
- not representing fairly the employees in the bargaining unit
- calling/authorizing an unlawful strike or threatening to do so
- negotiation with employer
What was the largest wildcat strike in Canadian History?
- Canadian Union of Postal Workers
- Country wide-strike that lasted 2 weeks
What is a wildcat strike?
- Undertaken by unionized workers without union leadership’s authorization, support, or approval.
- It is illegal
What is compulsory binding arbitration?
To resolve collective-bargaining deadlocks in the public sector. Jobs in which strikes cannot be tolerated (police, fireman)
