Unit 8

Question 1

• Arbitration

Answer 1

o the use of an arbitrator to settle a dispute.

Question 2

• collective agreement

Answer 2

o A collective agreement is a written contract between the employer and a union that outlines many of the terms and conditions of employment for employees in a bargaining unit. The terms and conditions are reached through collective bargaining between the employer and the union.

Question 3

• collective bargaining

Answer 3

o Collective bargaining is the process in which working people, through their unions, negotiate contracts with their employers to determine their terms of employment, including pay, benefits, hours, leave, job health and safety policies, ways to balance work and family, and more.

Question 4

• distributive bargaining

Answer 4

o Distributive bargaining is a competitive bargaining strategy in which one party gains only if the other party loses something. It is used as a negotiation strategy to distribute fixed resources such as money, resources, assets, etc. between both the parties.grievance arbitration

Question 5

• labour relations

Answer 5

o the relationship between the management of a company or organization and its workforce.

Question 6

• Lockout

Answer 6

o the exclusion of employees by their employer from their place of work until certain terms are agreed to.

Question 7

• Mediation

Answer 7

o intervention in a dispute in order to resolve it; arbitration.

Question 8

• Ratification

Answer 8

o the action of signing or giving formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid.

Question 9

• Seniority

Answer 9

o the fact or state of being older or higher in position or status than someone else.

Question 10

• Strike

Answer 10

o a refusal to work organized by a body of employees as a form of protest, typically in an attempt to gain a concession or concessions from their employer.

Question 11

• unfair labour practice

Answer 11

o An unfair labour practice means any unfair act or omission that arises between an employer and an employee, involving: The unfair conduct of the employer relating to the promotion, demotion or training of an employee or relating to the provision of benefits to an employee.

Question 12

• Union

Answer 12

o the action or fact of joining or being joined, especially in a political context.

Question 13

• union avoidance

Answer 13

o Union avoidance is a strategy that organizations adopt when they want to stop unionization. It is often used to prevent transferring their authority or changing their core policies to appease the union. Your primary goal is to minimize the influence that labor unions have on your employees

Question 14

1. Why do workers join unions? Do you agree with these reasons? Why or why not?

Answer 14

1. Rather, they are more interested in equality and transparency. Young people tend to see the value of tackling problems from a collective level, rather than just as individuals. In this regard, employees see unions as a way to achieve results they cannot achieve acting individually
2. These studies generally conclude that employees unionize as a result of economic need, and because of a general dissatisfaction with managerial practices, and thereby seek to have a voice in the setting of working conditions and/or to fulfill social and status needs.

Question 15

2. What are the key features of the laws governing unionization and collective bargaining in Canada?

Answer 15

1. The Industrial Relations Disputes and Investigation Act (1948) specified the right of workers to join unions, allowed unions to be certified as bargaining agents by a labour relations board, required management to recognize a certified union as the exclusive bargaining agent for a group of employees, required both unions and management to negotiate in good faith, outlined unfair labour practices by both unions and management, and created a two-stage compulsory conciliation process that was mandatory before strikes or lockouts became legal
2. The federal government later incorporated these rights into a more comprehensive piece of legislation known as the Canada Labour Code. At the same time, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) was established to administer and enforce the code. More specifically, the CIRB was designed as an independent board to establish, monitor, and encourage a more harmonious industrial relations climate within organizations and industries that are federally regulated. The CIRB deals with disputes between parties and facilitates solutions and agreements
3. Similarly, each province has a labour relations board that administers labour law and provincial labour law statutes, such as Ontario’s Labour Relations Act.

Question 16

3. What is an example of an unfair labour practice? And why have governments specifically prohibited such practices?

Answer 16

1. Unions also have a duty to act in accordance with labour legislation. Unions are prohibited from interfering with the formation of an employer’s organization. They cannot intimidate or coerce employees to become or remain members of a union. Nor can they force employers to dismiss, discipline, or discriminate against nonunion employees. They must provide fair representation for all employees in the bargaining unit, whether in collective bargaining or in grievance procedure cases. Unions cannot engage in activities such as strikes before the expiration of the union contract.

Question 17

4. What outcomes are workers and employers each seeking to achieve in collective bargaining?

Answer 17

1. Both employer and union negotiators are sensitive to current bargaining patterns within the industry, general cost-of-living trends, and geographic wage differentials. Managers establish goals that seek to retain control over operations and to minimize costs.

Question 18

5. What are two ways in which a collective agreement restricts the ability of employers to manage the workforce?

Answer 18

1. The collective bargaining process includes not only the actual negotiations but also the power tactics used to support negotiating demands. When negotiations become deadlocked, bargaining becomes a power struggle to force from either side the concessions needed to break the deadlock. The union’s power in collective bargaining comes from its ability to picket, strike, or boycott the employer. The employer’s power during negotiations comes from its ability to lock out employees or to operate during a strike by using managerial or replacement employees.

Question 19

6. What is the thinking behind workers striking or employers locking out workers when bargaining has reached impasse?

Answer 19

1. Besides being used in bargaining impasses, lockouts may be used by employers to combat union slowdowns, damage to their property, or violence within the organization that may occur in connection with a labour dispute.
2. Employers may still be reluctant to resort to a lockout, however, because of their concern that denying work to regular employees (employees who are not members of the union who may be locked out; they may or may not be members of another union) might hurt the organization’s image.
3. Another prevalent bargaining strategy is for the employer to continue operations by using managers and supervisors to staff employee jobs.

Question 20

7. What is the purpose of the grievance process? What does a typical grievance process look like?

Answer 20

1. When differences arise between labour and management, they are normally resolved through the grievance procedure. Grievance procedures are negotiated and thus reflect the needs and desires of the parties. The typical grievance procedure consists of three, four, or five steps—each step having specific filing and reply times. Higher-level managers and union officials become involved in disputes at the higher steps of the grievance procedure. The final step of the grievance procedure may be arbitration. Arbitrators render a final decision to problems not resolved at lower grievance steps.