Understanding Unions and Their Impact on HRM

1
Understanding Unions and Their Impact on HRM
2
Unions

• Labor organizations of any kindin which
  employees participate and which exist for the
  purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with
  employers concerning grievances, labor disputes,
  wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or
  conditions of work.
• Containing HR costs
• Employers can contain HR-related costs by
  maintaining a union-free environment.
• Costs of operating a unionized environment are
  considerably higher due to higher salaries and
  more generous benefit plans.

3
Unions and Competitive Advantage

• Enhancing productivity
• Unionized firms are often more productive than
  similar nonunion companies.
• Unionized firms are typically not as profitable
  as similar nonunion companies.
• Increases in productivity rarely offset the
  increased HR-related costs.

4
Union Types

• Local unions
• Where workers and their representatives interact
  most frequently and, consequently, it is the
  focus of everyday union-management relations.
• Members must pay dues to the local for the
  representation it provides.
• Local unions play two roles
• Identify and negotiate plant (local) issues in
  national collective bargaining agreements.
• Administer collective bargaining agreements or
  contracts.

5
Union Types cont.

• National unions
• Represent workers throughout the country in a
  particular craft or in a specific industry
• Negotiate major labor contracts with large
  employers
• Organize new local unions among unrepresented
  workers
• Local unions usually chartered from parent
  national unions

6
Union Types cont.

• The AFL-CIO
• American Federation of Labor and Congress of
  Industrial Organizations
• Promotes cooperation among national unions in
  order to pursue organized labors common
  objectives
• Represents organized labor in political forums
• Provides lobbyists for legislative bodies
• Supports pro-union candidates for elected public
  office

7
Union Membership

• Union membership patterns
• Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that
• 31.4 of employed wage and salary workers were
  represented by unions in 1960
• This number dropped to 14 in 1999
• Unions continue to represent a large number of
  workers in the following industries
• Government
• Manufacturing
• Transportation/public utilities

8
Union Membership

• Decline in union membership
• Shift in employment away from manufacturing, a
  traditional union stronghold, to service
  occupations, a sector where unions have had
  little appeal
• Account for less than 25 percent of the decline
• Employers generally oppose unions and have always
  taken an aggressive stance against them.
• Employers find permanent replacements for
  striking employees.
• According to a 1938 Supreme Court ruling,
  employers may hire permanent replacements for
  striking workers if striking because of economic
  issues such as pay, benefits, or better
  conditions of work.

9
Labor Law

• Key legislative actions pertaining to unions
• The Railway Labor Act
• The Norris-LaGuardia Act
• The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
• Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)
• Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
  (Landrum-Griffin Act)

10
Labor Law (cont.)

• The Railway Labor Act
• Passed in 1926
• Provided a federal guarantee of railroad
  employees rights to choose a bargaining agent
• Compelled the railroads to bargain with the
  employees representative
• Established federal machinery to resolve labor
  disputes

11
Labor Law (cont.)

• The Norris-LaGuardia Act
• Passed in 1932
• Limiting judges powers to issue injunctions that
  restrained worker job actions
• Declared yellow-dog contracts unlawful
• Workers promise that they would not organize,
  support, or join a union if the company hired
  them

12
Labor Law (cont.)

• The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
• Passed in 1935
• Gave workers in most industries the right to form
  unions and bargain collectively without being
  subject to coercion by their employers
• Established the certification election process
• Determined whether a majority of workers in a
  company wanted union representation
• Created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
• Supervised certification elections and enforced
  the law

13
Labor Law (cont.)

• Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)
• Passed in 1947
• Amended the National Labor Relations Act
• Established a decertification process
• Gave the U.S. president the right to intervene in
  national emergency strikes
• Allowed states to pass legislation outlawing
  closed shops
• Companies that require union membership as a
  condition of employment

14
Labor Law (cont.)

• Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
  (Landrum-Griffin Act)
• Passed in 1959
• Passed after a series of publicized hearings
  dealing with corruption in organized labor
• Regulated the internal affairs of unions
• Required unions to submit reports of all
  financial expenditures to discourage officers
  from using union funds for personal matters

15
Becoming Unionized

• Why do workers join unions?
• Two important reasons
• Job dissatisfaction
• Union instrumentality
• The perceived ability of the union to provide
  important benefits to the worker
• Major benefits accrued by joining a union
• Higher salaries
• Better benefits
• Ability to speak ones mind without fear of
  reprisal
• Better job security
• Protection against unfair treatment
• Gaining a sense of identity/unity

16
Becoming Unionized (cont.)

• The union organizing campaign
• Petition phase
• Election phase
• Certification phase

17
Becoming Unionized (cont.)

• Petition phase
• Workers express initial interest in union
  representation by signing authorization cards.
• At least 30 of eligible workers must sign
  authorization cards for there to be a sufficient
  showing of interest to trigger NLRB
  involvement.
• Petition phase culminates when the union asks the
  employer for recognition as the bargaining
  representative of the workers.

18
Becoming Unionized (cont.)

• Election phase
• Step 1 The NLRB conducts representation hearings
  to determine the appropriate bargaining unit.
• Consists of those jobs or positions in which two
  or more employees share common employment
  interests and working conditions
• Step 2 Campaigning by both the union and the
  employer
• Step 3 Election
• Typically held on-site at the company

19
Becoming Unionized (cont.)

• Certification phase
• NLRB certifies the results
• A simple majority by either party is required to
  win the election.
• Assuming no misconduct
• The employer or the union may file objections to
  the election within 5 days.
• Objections may be related to conduct by either
  party that affects the outcome of the elections.

20
The Collective Bargaining Agreement

• Collective bargaining
• Negotiations between representatives of employers
  and employees to reach mutual agreement about
  employment terms.
• Collective bargaining agreement covers all
  members of the bargaining unit, regardless of
  whether they are members of the union.

21
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (cont.)

• Negotiating a collective bargaining agreement
• Preparing for collective bargaining
• Information must be gathered about relevant
  contract settlements.
• Both parties must estimate the costs of their
  initial offers.
• In the case of ongoing contractual relationships,
  both parties must examine their experience in
  attempting to administer the current contract.

22
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (cont.)

• Establishing a bargaining agenda
• Three categories of bargaining items
• Illegal bargaining items Matters about which
  bargaining is not permitted by law
• Mandatory bargaining items Issues that must be
  negotiated if either party brings these matters
  to the table
• Voluntary or permissive bargaining items Become
  part of the negotiations only if both parties
  agree to discuss them

23
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (cont.)

• Choosing a bargaining strategy
• Bargaining objectives for each item to be
  negotiated
• The realistic bargaining objective
• The optimistic bargaining objective
• The pessimistic bargaining objective
• Engaging in good faith bargaining
• Obliges both parties to meet at reasonable times
  and confer in good faith with respect to wages,
  hours, and other terms and conditions of
  employment.
• Cooperative bargaining
• Management and the union can often work together
  for everyones benefit.

24
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (cont.)

• Grievance system
• Contractual provisions that provide due process
  for claims of contract violations.
• Grievance
• Can be filed by either employees or employers
• An allegation that contract rights have been
  violated

25
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (cont.)

• Role of grievance system
• Provide a forum in which disagreements concerning
  violations of contract rights can be adjudicated
• Neither party must threaten or actually carry out
  some economic intimidation in order to resolve
  the matter.
• Influence the way workers view organized labor

26
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (cont.)

• How grievance systems operate
• Step 1 Informal stage
• An attempt to resolve the matter before it is
  written up and becomes an official grievance
• Step 2 Written grievance
• Step 3 Higher level bilateral discussion
• Step 4 Arbitration
• Calls for a neutral third party to settle matters
  that cannot be resolved by bilateral discussions
  between union and management representatives