Bargaining Unit

1
Bargaining Unit

• Group of workers within a plant, firm, occupation
  or industry that, on the basis of commonality of
  interest or production process is determined by
  the NLRB to be the appropriate unit for
  collective bargaining purposes

2
Establishing a bargaining unit

• Doctrine of Exclusive Representation
• Union is the exclusive representative of all
  employees in the bargaining unit
• Firm must deal with employees as a groupcannot
  divide and conquer cannot enter separate
  agreements with subsets of workers
• Individual employees can bypass the union in
  bringing grievances before the employer, but
  resolution cannot be inconsistent with the
  contract
• Exclusivity lasts minimum of one year, maximum of
  three
• Union membership outside of a bargaining unit has
  very little power

3
Establishing a bargaining unit

• Doctrine of Exclusive Representation
• Union must provide services to all employees in
  the bargaining unit

4
Establishing a bargaining unit

• Importance of the definition of a bargaining unit
• Broader representations means more power for
  union better ability to disrupt production
• More diverse means more difficult/expensive to
  provide services
• Gerrymandering Firm wants to add groups that
  are less likely to vote for the union union
  wants the opposite.
• Standardized bargaining unit leads to pattern
  bargainingcan set wage standards for the
  industry, even for the nonunion sector

5
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Community of interest doctrine similarity of
  job function, earnings, benefits, hours, required
  skills, and supervision production activities in
  close proximity, considerable interaction (KEY)
• History of bargaining If unit had been
  organized before, was the unit effective? (LESS
  COMMON)

6
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Employee interests If two or more
  configurations are equally plausible, NLRB may
  use the secret ballot to assess employee
  preferences. Globe Machinery and Stamping, Co.
  (1937)
• Company organizational structure NLRB has
  decided that bargaining units must be defined on
  a case-by-case basis. Workers who otherwise may
  not be combined, but who all report to the same
  supervisor or work in the same production process
  may be combined. (Bendix, 1937)
• Bendix (1977) NLRB denied petition for craft
  unions to from a separate group because of past
  plant-wide bargaining history and joint
  production activities.

7
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Union and Firm propose a mutually satisfactory
  unit (Stipulated unit)
• NLRB must accept if consistent with NLRA
• Industry, occupation or firm tradition
• Public Interest

8
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Craft Workers
• Purpose Craft or skilled may be poorly treated
  when majority are unskilled (cross-subsidy of
  less-skilled)
• Petition for craft severance when interest
  diverge from the bargaining unit (used sparingly)
• Decision depends on (Mallinckrodt Chemical Works,
  1966)
• firm bargaining history,
• industry tradition,
• potential for disrupting existing collective
  bargaining agreements
• Extent of homogeneity, identity among crafts

9
Union Nonunion wage differential by skill level
WU/WN
1.0
Skill Level
10
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Professionals
• Option of staying in larger group or splitting
  off (used routinely)
• Sec 2(12) of NLRA
• Work is intellectual and varied,
• Consistent exercise of discretion and judgment,
• Requiring advanced specialized knowledge
  requiring advanced study
• Can be determined at time of certification
  election

11
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Plant Guards and Security Personnel
• Section 9 (b)(3) cannot be in the same
  bargaining unit as other workers
• Must be represented by a separate union
• Rationale conflict of interest during strikes
• Unfair to plant guards?

12
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining
unit(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Supervisors, Managers, and Confidential Employees
• Not granted rights under Taft-Hartley amendments
  (conflicts with freedom of association)
• Conflict of interest

13
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Supervisors
• Sect. 2(11) Supervisor has authority to hire,
  transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote,
  discharge, assign, reward, or discipline,
  ifexerciserequires the use of independent
  judgement.

14
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining
unit(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Managers
• Not granted rights under NLRA. NLRB vs Bell
  Aerospace (1974) all managers excluded, whether
  supervisory or not.
• Managers those who formulate and effectuate
  managerial policies..
• Community of interest with executives of the firm

15
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining
unit(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Confidential Employees
• Not granted rights if engaged in personnel or
  labor relations matters.
• Conflict of interest regarding handling of
  privileged financial or personnel information

16
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining
unit(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Agricultural Laborers
• 1975 California statute allows certification,
  strikes during harvest.
• Part-time vs Casual Employees
• Regular (at least 15 days of 90 seasonal with
  expectation of rehire) part-time employees that
  share community of interest included
• Casual as needed, intermittent, no expectation
  of rehire are excluded
• Temp service? Probably excluded as nonemployees,
  casual, or independent contractors

17
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Independent Contractors
• Excluded
• Defined by Right to control
• Do a job for a price, decide how the work will be
  done, purchase materials, hire others, and depend
  on profits for income
• Covered if under salary, take direction, do not
  purchase inputs,
• Comparable definition presumably applicable to
  temporary employees

18
NLRB criteria for selecting a bargaining unit
(Based on 200,000 existing bargaining units)

• Special groups
• Health Care Institutions
• Nonprofits excluded initially, added in 1974
• Presumptively appropriate units (alternative to
  case-by-case assessment)
• Physicians Registered nurses All other
  professionals including LPNs technicians
  Clerical Skilled maintenance guards other
  nonprofessional
• Employers fight thesefragmented votes
• Are physicians supervisors? Are RNs supervisors?

19
Unit Types

• Distinguished by
• Size and Scope
• Heterogeneity of membership
• Centralized vs Decentralized

20
Unit Types

• Craft Units
• Narrow, homogeneous, either centralized or
  decentralized
• Department Units
• Narrow, heterogeneous, decentralized
• Industrial Units
• Broad, heterogeneous, decentralized at the firm
  level or centralized

21
Type of Unions
Federation AFL-CIO
LIUNA
UAW
UFCW
Local
Local
Local
Local
Local
Local
22
Make up of Local Union
President
Staff
Stewards
23
Unit Types Single Employer, Single Location

• Narrow scope, heterogeneous, decentralized

Management
Sales
Production
Maintenance
U N I O N
24
Unit Types Single Employer, Multiple Locations

• Broad scope, heterogeneous, centralized

U N I O N
Plant 1
Production
Maintenance
Management
Plant 2
Production
Maintenance
Plant 3
Production
Maintenance
25
Unit Types Multiple Employers

• Broad scope, heterogeneous workers, but firms
  must be similar to one another, most centralized

U N I O N
A S S O C I A T I O N
Firm 1
Management 1
Production
Maintenance
Management 2
Firm 2
Production
Maintenance
Firm 3
Management 3
Production
Maintenance
26
Unit Types

• Coordinated Bargaining Europe
• Multiple Unions and Firms

27
When firms grow Accretion

• If a firm adds employees into jobs that fit into
  a bargaqining unit, these workers are
  automatically added
• New job titlesfirm and union could agree, or
  NLRB may rule
• New plantsfirm and union could agree, or NLRB
  may rule

28
When firms merge or are acquired Successorships

• Successor employer is not obligated by
  predecessors agreements
• Successor is not obligated to hire workers from
  predecessor. If successor does hire employees
  from predecessor, cannot discriminate by union
  interest
• If majority of successor employees were covered
  under predecessor, and production processes dont
  change, then successor is obligated to bargain.
• Successor can offer new terms and conditions of
  employment
• Alter ego employersbankrupt firm reopens with
  same management and same lines of business are
  obligated by prior agreements