Chapter 10 Flashcards
What features federal and provincial labour legislation have in common?
- The right of people to join unions
- The requirement that employers recognize a certified union as the rightful and exclusive bargaining agent for that group of employees
- The identification of unfair labour practice
- The right of unions to strike and right of employers to lock out workers
What are the duties of the Labour Relations Board (LRB)?
- Processing union applications to represent employees
- Processing applications to terminate union bargaining rights
- Hearing unfair-labour-practice complaints
- Hearing complaints and issuing decisions regarding strikes, lockouts and picketing
Why do employees unionize?
Because they feel that individually, they would be unable to exercise power regarding their employment conditions at any particular employer.
What is the labour relations process
Logical sequence of 4 events:
- workers desire collective representation
- the union begins its organization campaign
- collective negotiations lead to a contract
- the contract is administered
What are the results of employees that unionize?
- economic need
- general dissatisfaction with managerial practices
- a desire to fulfill social and status needs
What is a union shop?
Provision of the collective agreement that requires employees to join the union as a condition of their employment
What is the definition of a closed shop?
Provision of the collective agreement that requires employers to hire only union members
What is an open shop?
Provision of the collective agreement that allows employees to join or not join the union
When do employees may want to unionize?
When they perceive that managerial practices regarding promotion, transfer, shift assignment, or other job-related policies are decidedly unfair
What are the needs that can be satisfied with unions?
- fraternize with employees who have similar desires, interests, and problems
- enables them to put to use any leadership talents they may have
What is the deciding factor for employees when they join a union?
Employees perceive that the benefits of joining a union outweigh the costs associated with membership
What needs to be started once employees desire to unionize?
a formal organizing campaign that can be started by a union organizer or by employees acting on their behalf
What are the steps of an organizing process?
- employee - union contact
- initial organizational meeting
- formation of in-house organizing committee
- application to labour relations board
- issuance of certificate by labour relations board
- election of bargaining committee and contract negotiations
What is a membership card?
a statement signed by an employee authorizing a union to act as a representative of the employee for purposes of collective bargaining
What are the employer’s tactics?
- not interfere with the certification process
- they are prohibited by the law from dismissing, disciplining or threatening employees for exercising their rights to form a union
What are the employees’ tactics?
- act in accordance with labour legislation
- they are prohibited from interfering with the operation of an employer’s organization
What is bargaining units?
group of 2 or more employees who share common employment interests and conditions and may reasonably be grouped together for purposes of collective bargaining
What is an unfair labour practice?
specific employer and union illegal practices that operate to deny employees their rights and benefits under labour law