Part 1

Question 1

Collective Bargaining

Answer 1

Negotiation for the needs of the wider group
- Key players: employees, unions, employer

Question 1

Employment Relations

Answer 1

Refers to the interaction, connection, issues and concerns shared between an employee and an employer

Question 2

Industrial Relations changed to term…

Answer 2

Employment Relations

Question 3

Change in terms was done because

Answer 3

Employment relations shift the focus from just disputes between unions and employers to a focus on the needs of the employee- highlighting them as the main focus of the relations

Question 4

Eg of trade unions

Answer 4

Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA)
The Police Federation,
The Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA), Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ)
and the umbrella Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU)

Question 5

Interests of Workers

Answer 5

The pursuit of higher pay
Job security
Career Progression
Training

Question 6

Employer Interests

Answer 6

 the pursuit of profitability by attempting to secure greater productivity from employees
 efficiency

Question 7

Further, the employee relationship is often characterised by the conflict of worker and employer interests which may result in industrial disputes.

Answer 7

True

Question 8

Scenario- Employed to work in Jamaica, you can work remotely one day a week, but went somewhere else to work as well. This is a _______

Answer 8

Breach of contract

Question 9

Two ways in which employment relationship is formalized

Answer 9

Employment Contract: specifies the duties of the workers in return for payment.

The worker submits himself /herself
to the authority of the employer.
- Blyton and Turnbull express it:
“The employment relationship is necessarily on
AUTHORITY RELATIONSHIP between, the super and subordinate where the employee agrees to accept and follow the REASONABLE” instructions of those in positions of authority

Question 10

The employment relationship is characterised by

Answer 10

continuous dynamic open - ended nature whereby
employers, e.g., are in a position through the exercise of
their managerial perogative or their rights to determine
and redefine employee obligations and duties in
relations to job content and work effort.

Question 11

It is also characterised by

Answer 11

power relationship between
employer and worker

Question 12

In essence, the employment relationship
comprises two aspects:

Answer 12

FIRSTLY, workers organise themselves
collectively by joining TU’s since collectively
workers have greater power than individuals.

SECONDLY, there is the power of the employer ( power, in this context, means the extent to which one party to a relationship can compel the other party to do something he /she otherwise would not do voluntarily) over the worker whereby the former seeks to achieve the
compliance to the organisation of the latter.

Question 13

The arbitrary exercise of power by the
employer may engender employee resistance
and result in________

Answer 13

Conflict

Question 14

A traditional approach to employment and
industrial relations has been to regard it as

Answer 14

s “the
study of the rules governing employment, and
the ways in which the rules are changed
interpreted and administered

Question 15

Trades unions, management, employers’ associations
and the government are all concerned with regulating
the terms and within the work context. Allan Flanders, Industrial Relations: What is wrong
with the System, London Faber 1965 argued that work
is governed by a mass of rules and regulations covering :

Answer 15

 criteria for recruitment
 effort
 performance
 pay
 hour
 holidays and
 numerous other details of employment

Question 16

According to this traditional approach the primary
focus of industrial relations tended to be upon:

Answer 16

the
institutions which take part in
 rule making
 the processes of interaction between the parties
 the rules which result there -from

Question 17

Ultimately it is managers who attempt to enforce the
rules, and the extent to which the rules are applied
depends upon the procedures such as those
governing

Answer 17

 discipline or
 equal opportunities;
 whether a union is recognized for purposes of
representing employees and
 the enforcement of legislation governing
employment protection.

Question 18

Employment and industrial relations operate at FOUR main
levels

Answer 18

FIRSTLY, The level of the workplace, office or factory- Conversation between individual employee and employer. Usually about pay

SECONDLY, That of the organisation.- At this level, the larger unionised private sector organisation conduct important negotiations concerning contract implementation and hours of work for their manual and non-manual employee

THE THIRD LEVEL is the industry or national level.- In the sugar industry, for example the Sugar Producers’
Federation, registered under the Trade Union Act,
represents employer interests in its relations with the
trades unions, negotiates and concludes agreements
relating to wages, hours and other conditions of
employments.

The FOURTH LEVEL is what we may call SOCIETAL. A great deal of industrial relations is concerned with how wider societal factors such as
 class
 property ownership
 political ideologies
 economic variables

Question 19

To use broadly the concept expoused by Gospel and Palmer op.cit .p.3. and somewhat modified.

Answer 19

“The employment relationship is an economic legal, social psychological and
political relationship in which employees
devote their time and expertise to the
interests of the employer in return for a range
of personal financial and non- financial
rewards.”

Question 20

The final aspect is concerned with issues in
industrial relations. There are mainly two
such issues

Answer 20

 substantive issues
 procedural issues

Question 21

Substantive issues cover the details of the reward - effort
exchange and include:

Answer 21

 pay
 holidays
 overtime arrangements
 fringe benefits e.g.
pensions
 company equipment and resources
 training
 promotion

Question 22

PROCEDURAL ISSUES focus upon the question of HOW the substantive issues are decided and deal with the following questions.

Answer 22

 What people or groups control the
substantive issues and decisions?
 Are the decisions to be taken unilaterally by
the employer or jointly by the employer and
employees?
 What rules should the state lay down in
legislation
What procedures should jointly be
unilaterally determined? Should an
organization have to regulate to industrial
relations?

Question 23

With these broad considerations a
definition of employment relations may be
arrived at:

Answer 23

Employment relations is the study of the
regulation of the employment relationship between the employer and the employee,
both collectively and individually, and the
determination of substantive and procedural
issues at the industrial, organisational and
workforce level

Question 24

Two contrasting views have dominated
employee relations writing in the last 40
years since they were conceptualised by
Alan Fox

Answer 24

UNITARISM and PLURALISM

Question 25

UNITARISM

Answer 25

a way of thinking about the
organisation as “a team unified by a common purpose.”