Employee and Labor Relations

Question 1

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

Answer 1

Refers to the different ways people can resolve disputes without a trial. Common ADR processes include mediation, arbitration, and neutral evaluation. These processes are generally confidential, less formal, and less stressful than traditional court proceedings.

Question 2

Arbitration

Answer 2

A procedure in which a dispute is submitted, by agreement of the parties, to one or more arbitrators who make a binding decision on the dispute

Question 3

Constructive Discipline

Answer 3

Form of corrective discipline that implements increasingly severe penalties for employees

Question 4

Grievance Procedure

Answer 4

Orderly way to resolve differences of opinion. A grievance is generally defined as a claim by an employee that he or she is adversely affected by the misinterpretation or misapplication of a written company policy or collectively bargained agreement.

Question 5

Industrial Actions

Answer 5

Various forms of collective employee actions taken to protest work conditions or employer actions. For example, a strike or work ban

Question 6

Labor Union

Answer 6

An organized association of workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests.

Question 7

Lockout

Answer 7

Action of an employer to shut down operations to prevent employees from working.

Question 8

Mediation or Conciliation

Answer 8

An alternative form of dispute resolution and is supported by an unbiased third-party mediator.

Question 9

Picketing

Answer 9

Positioning of employees at a place of work targeted for the action for the purpose of protest

Question 10

Policy

Answer 10

Broad statement that reflects an organization’s philosophy, objectives, or standards concerning a particular set of management or employee activities.

Question 11

Project Labor Agreement (PLA)

Answer 11

PLAs are pre-hire collective bargaining agreements negotiated between one or more construction unions and one or more construction employers

Question 12

Secondary Action

Answer 12

Attempt by a union to influence an employer by putting pressure on another employer, for example, a supplier

Question 13

Sit-down Strike

Answer 13

Refusal by workers to work; also refusal by workers to leave their workstations making it impossible to use replacement workers

Question 14

Sympathy Strike

Answer 14

Action taken in support of another union that is striking an employer

Question 15

Trade Union

Answer 15

Group of workers who coordinate their activities to achieve common goals in their relationship with an employer or group of employees; also called labor union

Question 16

Unfair Labor Practice (ULP)

Answer 16

Violation of employee rights; act prohibited under labor relations statutes.
Examples include: Threatening an employee that her career would not go much further if she proceeded with her grievance. Transferring an employee to an undesirable job because she filed a ULP charge.

Question 17

Whistleblowing

Answer 17

Whistleblowing is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent.

Question 18

Work-to-rule

Answer 18

A form of protest in which employees do exactly what is stated in their contracts, and nothing more, in order to slow down production