Management 351 Class 3

1
Management 351 Class 3

• Chapters 15
• Reminders
• Change/confirm paper length 4-6 pages
• Rework schedule
• Matewan is now extra credit
• Date changes
• Room change requested denied!
• Job available

2
Unions Competitive Advantage

• Impact on competitive advantage may be either
  positive or negative depending on the situation
• Productivity and profitability
• Union companies are more productive
• Jobs satisfaction and turnover
• Job satisfaction is lower among unionized workers
  than non unionized workers

3
Union Membership Patterns

• 16.4 MM (15.8 of US Workers) in 1992
• In 1960 it was 31.4
• Most represented employees are in
• Government
• Manufacturing
• Transportation
• Public Utilities

4
Decline in Union Membership

• Shift from manufacturing to service industries
• Aggressive employer tactics
• Union substitution and Union suppression
• Employers have found non-union replacement
  workers during strikes
• 1938 Supreme Court ruling employers can hire
  permanent replacements if strike is over economic
  issues.

5
Overview of Unions

• Union history is a series of balancing actions
• Courts generally sided with management
• Government generally supported unions
• Much of the history is the push from one or the
  other having more power

6
Overview of Unions

• 1786 First authenticated strike
• 1806 Following strike for higher wages the
  Cordwainers were tried for conspiracy -- are
  unions a 'legal combination' to raise wages and
  injure others?
• 1827 First union craftsmen from different trades
  is formed in Philadelphia.

7
Overview of Unions

• 1852 National Typographical Union -- first
  national union w/workers from a single trade
  (still in operation)
• 1869 The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of
  Labor was organized in Philadelphia
• 1877 Federal troops used to quell a railroad
  strike

8
Overview of Unions

• 1886 AFL organized
• Samual Gompers
• Loose federation of national and int'l craft
  unions
• Exclusively 'skilled' labor such as carpenters,
  cigar makers, printers and plumbers.
• Did not impinge on autonomy of locals
• Did not embrace radical political/economic reform
• Favored improved working conditions and
  collective bargaining

9
Overview of Unions

• 1908 Under restraint of trade provisions of the
  Sherman Anti-Trust Act, a boycott by the United
  Hatters was ruled illegal.
• 1914 The Clayton Act passed to limit the use of
  injunctions against unions
• 1917 Supreme Court upholds the legality of a
  'yellow dog' contract (workers' promise that they
  would not unionize)

10
Overview of Unions

• 1921 Supreme Court rules that nothing in the
  Clayton Act legalized secondary boycotts or
  protected unions from injunctions brought against
  them for restraint of trade
• 1926 Railway Labor Act prohibits employers
  interference in union organizing of railroad
  workers and requires collective bargaining
• Marked greater acceptance of unions and
  collective bargaining.

11
Overview of Unions

• 1932 Norris-La Guardia Act
• Injunctions only issued if companies can show
  'substantial and irreparable injury
• Outlawed yellow dog contracts

12
Overview of Unions

• 1935 National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
  established the NLRB and guarantees the rights of
  workers to organize
• Gave workers the right to form unions and bargain
  collectively without employer coercion
• Interfering with self-organization
• Discriminating against employees for engaging in
  union activities
• Refusing to bargain with employee representatives

13
NLRA Mandates

• Established certification elections
• Established the NLRB
• Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)
  (1947) amended the NLRA. Restored balance
  between companies and unions.
• Established unfair union practices

14
Unfair Union Practices

• Established ability to decertify and unfair
  practices (coercing employees)
• Pressuring employers to discriminate against
  non-union members
• Refusing to bargain in good faith
• Forcing employers to pay for unneeded services
• Gave President the right to intervene in case of
  national emergency (Reagan)

15
Overview of Unions

• 1937 After three-month strike (Flint, Michigan)
  GM agrees to recognize and bargain with the UAW
• 1938 CIO is formed
• John L. Lewis
• Focused on 'unskilled' workers from automobile,
  coal mining, steel, etc.

16
Overview of Unions

• 1947 Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley
  Act) establishes procedures for handling strikes
  that create national emergencies and unfair labor
  practices (page 503)
• Restraining or coercing employees
• Influencing employers to discriminate against non
  union employees
• Refusing to bargain in good faith
• Pushing boycotts of companies in dispute
• Union shop clauses outlawed
• Featherbedding

17
Union shops and Right-to-Work Laws

• Union shop clause requires that employees join a
  union w/in 30-60 days of hire
• Made closed shops illegal
• Right-to-work laws state law that makes it
  illegal for unions to include a union shop clause
  in a contract
• Right-to-work states may NOT require union
  membership but dues may be paid (agency shop
  clause)

18
Overview of Unions

• 1955 AFL and CIO combine
• Membership is voluntary
• Locals can affiliate w/out any loss of autonomy
• Provides a national forum to pursue a single
  agenda

19
Additional Labor Laws

• The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
  (Landrum-Griffin Act) (1959) regulated the
  internal affairs of unions (to fight corruption)
• Nomination procedures for offices
• Elections guidelines
• Disciplining members guidelines
• Required submittal of detailed financial reports

20
Union Structure

• Local Unions
• Identify and negotiate plant (local) issues in
  national bargaining agreements
• Administer collective bargaining agreements or
  contracts
• National Unions
• Basically cover the country in a craft or
  industry.
• Charter most local unions
• Provide locals with professional services
  (bargaining, grievance administration, etc.)
• Constrain unilateral action at the local level

21
Why Unions Happen

• Why Workers Unionize
• Job dissatisfaction
• Union Instrumentality (unions seen as a tool to
  get things that the workers want)
• When people feel powerless on their own
• When unions are seen as a way to level the
  playing field with employers
• Predisposition to support unions

22
How Unions Happen

• Petition Phase
• Workers express an interest by signing
  authorization cards
• At least 30 of workers must sign the cards to
  trigger NLRB involvement (generally 50 is
  needed)
• Union 'requests' that the employer recognize it

23
How Unions Happen(Phases 2 and 3)

• Election Phase
• NLRB conducts representation hearings to
  determine appropriate bargaining unit
• Campaigning (union and employer)
• The election
• Certification Phase
• Simple majority wins

24
Collective Bargaining

• Different types
• Single union or pattern bargaining (all employers
  -- coal and automotive)
• Group bargaining (one employer and many unions --
  newspapers)

25
Collective Bargaining

• Three types of bargaining items
• Illegal those things that are set by law
• Mandatory must be bargained upon if raised by
  either party
• Voluntary or Permissive only bargained if both
  parties agree
• See chart of mandatory and voluntary bargaining
  items on page 521

26
Good Faith Bargaining

• Failure to bargain in good faith is an unfair
  labor practice
• "To meet at reasonable times and confer in good
  faith with respect to wages, hours and other
  terms and conditions of employment'
• Surface bargaining
• Complicating schedules
• Refusing to provide information
• Offering no alternatives or counterproposals

27
Decertification of a Union

• Workers become disenchanted (30 of workers)
• Workers may petition for election of another
  union
• Employers may initiate
• If unable to negotiate an agreement w/in one year
  of certification, and
• The employer reasonably doubts that the union
  represents the employee's interests