CHAPTER 9 Collective Bargaining and Labour Relations Flashcards
Role of Unions and Labour Relations
Unions:
Organizations formed for the purpose of representing their members’ interests and resolving conflicts with employers
Labour relations:
Emphasizes skills that managers and union leaders can use to:
-cultivate effective labour-management cooperation
-minimize costly forms of conflicts (e.g. strikes)
-seek win-win solutions to disagreements
Labour Relations Decisions: 3 Levels
- Labour relations strategy:
Management—how to work with unions or develop (or maintain) non-union operations - Negotiating collective agreements:
Decisions about pay structure, job security, work rules, workplace safety, and other issues - Administering collective agreements:
Day-to-day activities which may involve handling disagreements
Types of Unions & Affiliations
Craft Unions
Industrial Unions
Union Locals
Labour Congresses
Overall Decline in Union Membership
- Change in the structure of the economy:
Job growth in non-unionized service industries - Management efforts to control costs:
Global competition brings pressure to reduce higher-paid unionized workers - Human resource practices:
Employers more proactive in offering what unions have sought - Government regulations e.g. workplace safety
Impact on Company Performance
Decrease productivity?:
- Due to work rules and workload limits set by union contracts
- Production lost to union activities e.g. strikes
Increase productivity?:
- Reduce turnover
- Seniority-based pay systems encourage cooperation vs. competition among employees
- Employer may be forced to improve management practices
Management Goals
- Increase the organization’s profits.
- Keep labor costs low and increase output.
Limit increases in wages and benefits.
Retain control over work rules and schedules. - Maintain flexible operations to meet competitive challenges and customer demands.
Labor Union Goals
- Obtain pay and working conditions that satisfy members
- Give members a voice in decisions that affect them
- Membership is linked to better compensation and benefits
- Social unionism: Attempts to influence social and economic government policies e.g. universal prescription drug coverage
- Regular flow of new members is essential to survival
- Rand Formula: mandatory payment by all workers
- Checkoff provision: employer, on behalf of the union, automatically deducts union dues from employees’ paychecks.
- Membership security
Closed shop/Union shop
Societal Goals
- Union activities take place within context of society.
- Societal values drive laws/regulations that affect unions.
- Society’s goal for unions is to ensure that workers have a voice in how they are treated by their employers
Unfair Labour Practices
Management:
- Interfering in the formation of a union or contributing financially
- Discriminating based on union membership or because employee exercises rights
- Intimidating or coercing an employee to join/not join
Unions:
- Trying to bargain when the union is not the certified agent
- Persuading employees during working hours or at the workplace
- Illegal strikes
- Failing to represent employees fairly
Collective Bargaining
Is the negotiation between union representatives and management to arrive at an agreement defining conditions of employment
Bargaining structure differs:
- Range of employees and employers covered
Negotiations go through various stages
Typical Collective Agreement Provisions
- Rights of parties:
e.g. recognition of union security; management rights to test - Organization of work:
e.g. technological change; distribution of work - Labour relations:
e.g. grievance procedures; joint committees - Education and training:
e.g. leaves; apprenticeships - Conditions of work:
e.g. work schedules; overtime; job security; pay; benefits
Bargaining Over New Contracts
1- Preparation for bargaining is important.:
- Establish objectives for contract, review old contract, gather data, predict likely demands, establish cost of meeting demands.
2- Union and management present proposals.
3- Each side considers proposals.
4- Union and management attempt to reach agreement.
- When bargaining unsuccessful, work stoppages can ensue.
When Bargaining Breaks Down
Strike: Collective decision by union members not to work or to slow down until demands or conditions are met
Lockout: Closure of a place of employment or refusal of the employer to provide work to compel employees to agree to demands or conditions
Alternatives to Strikes & Lockouts
Mediation:
- Least formal and most widely-used
- Mediator facilitates the process
- No formal authority for resolution
Conciliation:
- Report on reasons for the dispute
- May recommend settlement but parties may decline
Arbitration:
Most formal intervention
Determines a binding settlement
Collective Agreement Administration
Goes on day after day, year after year and includes:
- Carrying out the terms of the agreement
- Resolving interpretation conflicts or violation of the collective agreement
Grievance procedure:
- Process for resolving union-management conflicts over interpretation or violation of collective agreement
- May ultimately result in arbitration
Grievance procedure
The grievance may be settled during any of the four steps. In Step 1, the employee talks to their immediate supervisor/manager about the problem. If this conversation is unsatisfactory, the employee may involve the union steward in further discussion.
If the problem was not resolved and does seem to be an agreement violation, the union moves to Step 2, putting the grievance in writing and submitting it to the next level of management. The union steward meets with the management representative to try to resolve the problem.
If Step 2 fails to resolve the problem, the union appeals the grievance to top management and representatives of the labour relations staff. The union may involve more local or national officers in discussions at this stage (see Step 3 in Figure 9.6). The decision resulting from the appeal is put into writing.
If the grievance is still not resolved, the union may decide (Step 4) to appeal the grievance to an arbitrator. If the grievance involves a discharged employee, the process may begin at Step 2 or 3, however, and the time limits between steps may be shorter. Grievances filed by the union on behalf of a group may begin at Step 1 or Step 2.
The majority of grievances are settled during the earlier steps of the process.
Labour-Management Cooperation
Wider acceptance that greater cooperation is beneficial vs. adversarial
May feature:
- Employee involvement in decision making
- Self-managing employee teams
- Joint labour-management committees
- Sharing of financial and business information
- Reducing the language complexity
