CHAPTER 9 Collective Bargaining and Labour Relations

Question 1

Role of Unions and Labour Relations

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Labour Relations Decisions: 3 Levels

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

Types of Unions & Affiliations

Answer 3

Craft Unions
Industrial Unions
Union Locals
Labour Congresses

Question 4

Overall Decline in Union Membership

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

Impact on Company Performance

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Management Goals

Answer 6

• 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.

Question 7

Labor Union Goals

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

Societal Goals

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

Unfair Labour Practices

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Collective Bargaining

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Typical Collective Agreement Provisions

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

Bargaining Over New Contracts

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

When Bargaining Breaks Down

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Alternatives to Strikes & Lockouts

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Collective Agreement Administration

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Grievance procedure

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Labour-Management Cooperation

Answer 17

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