Chapter%2019%20Labor-%20Management%20Relations

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Chapter 19Labor- Management Relations
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Chapter Objectives

• 1. Describe the process behind union elections
  and collective bargaining.
• 2. Explain which strikes are legal and which
  strikes are illegal.
• 3. List unfair employer practices.
• 4. Identify unfair employee practices.
• 5. Define the rights of nonunion employees.

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Federal Labor Law

• Four major federal labor law statutes are

Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932
National Labor Relations Act
Labor-Management Relations Act
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
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Norris-LaGuardia Act

• Extended legal protection to peaceful strikes,
  picketing, and boycotts.
• Restricted the power of the courts to issue
  injunctions against unions engaged in peaceful
  strikes.

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Case 19.1 Burlington Santa Fe Railway Co. v.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 174

• Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company
  operates a hub in Seattle, Washington. After
  canceling their subcontract with Eagle Systems,
  the railway company transferred the work to
  Parsec, Inc. The International Brotherhood of
  Teamsters Local 174 represented the fifty-three
  Eagle employees who lost their jobs and the
  employees of other subcontractors. Burlington
  refused to persuade Parsec to hire former Eagle
  employees. Local 174 also threatened to picket
  if Burlington did not agree to hire only
  subcontractors represented by Local 174.
  Burlington filed suit alleging violations of
  federal labor laws and sought an injunction. The
  court granted the injunction, which was
  dismissed.
• Generally, how would the relationship between
  labor and management be affected if unions did
  not have the right to picket?

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National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act)

• Established the rights of employees to engage in
  collective bargaining and to strike.
• Created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
  to oversee union elections and prevent employers
  from engaging in unfair labor practices (such as
  refusing to recognize and negotiate with a
  certified union or interfering in union
  activities).

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Case 19.2 NLRB v. Town Country Electric, Inc.

• Town Country refused to interview job
  applicants who were union salts. The
  applicants filed a complaint with the NLRB
  alleging that the company had discriminated
  against them. The issue turned on whether job
  applicants paid by a union to organize a company
  were employees.
• The NLRB ruled in the applicants favor and the
  company appealed to the appellate court which
  reversed. The applicants appealed to the U.S.
  Supreme Court.
• How would the relationship between labor and
  management be affected if job applicants did not
  have rights under the NLRA?

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Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947
(Taft-Hartley Act)

• Extended to employers protections already enjoyed
  by employees.
• Provided a list of activities prohibited to
  unions (secondary boycotts, use of coercion or
  discrimination to influence employees decisions
  to participate or refrain from union activities)
  and allowed employers to propagandize against
  unions before any NLRB election.
• Prohibited closed shops (which require that all
  workers belong to a union as a condition of
  employment), allowed states to pass right-to-work
  laws, and provided for an eighty-day cooling-off
  period.

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Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of
1959 (Landrum-Griffin Act)

• Regulated internal union business procedures and
  union elections.
• Imposed restrictions on the types of persons who
  may serve as union officers and outlawed
  hot-cargo agreements.

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The National Labor Relations Act (1935)

• The pervading purpose of the NLRA was to protect
  interstate commerce by securing for employees the
  rights established under Section 7 of the act.
• Another purpose of the act was to promote fair
  and just settlement of disputes by peaceful
  processes.
• Why was the act initially opposed by employers?

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The Decision to Form a Union

• The key starting point for labor relations law is
  the decision by a companys employees to form a
  union, which is usually referred to in the law as
  their bargaining representative.
• If the workers decide that they want the added
  power of collective union representation, they
  must follow certain steps to have a union
  certified.

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Preliminary Organizing

• Before beginning an organizing effort, a union
  will attempt to assess worker support for
  unionization by obtaining signed authorization
  cards from the employees.
• It can then ask the employer to recognize the
  union, or it can submit the cards with a petition
  to the National Labor Relations Board.

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Appropriate Bargaining Unit

• In determining whether workers constitute an
  appropriate bargaining unit, the NLRB considers
  whether the skills, tasks, and jobs of the
  workers are sufficiently similar so they can all
  be adequately served by a single negotiating
  position.

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Moving toward Certification

• Certification by the NLRB means that the union
  is the exclusive representative of a bargaining
  unit and that the employer must recognize the
  union and bargain in good faith with it over
  issues affecting all employees who are within the
  bargaining unit.

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Union Elections

• Labor law provides for an election to determine
  whether employees choose to be represented by a
  union and, if so, which union.
• If the election is a fair one, and if the
  proposed union receives majority support, the
  board certifies the union as the bargaining
  representative.

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Union Election Campaign

• The NLRB is charged with monitoring union
  elections.
• During an election campaign, an employer may
  legally limit union activities as long as it can
  offer legitimate business justifications for
  those limitations.
• In regulating the unions presence on the
  business premises, the employer must treat the
  union in the same way it would treat any other
  entity having on-site contact with its workers.
• The NLRB is particularly sensitive to any threats
  in an employers communications to workers, such
  as declarations that a union victory will result
  in the closing of the plant.
• The NLRB will also closely monitor sudden policy
  changes regarding compensation, hours, or working
  conditions that the employer makes before the
  election.

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Management Election Campaign

• Management may also campaign among its workers
  against the union.
• The employer may not make threats of reprisals if
  employees vote to unionize.
• If the employer issues threats or engages in
  other unfair labor practices and then wins the
  election, the NLRB may invalidate the results.

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Collective Bargaining

• Once a union is elected, its representatives will
  engage in collective bargaining with the
  employer.
• Each side tries to use its economic power to
  persuade or pressure the other side to grant
  concessions.

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Unions in Great Britain

• In Great Britain a union that has been recognized
  by an employer for collective bargaining purposes
  has the following rights
• a right to receive information related to
  collective bargaining issues
• a right to time off
• the right to appoint a representative to handle
  safety matters
• the right to be consulted before an employer
  relocates its place of business
• Do you think employees have rights that should
  apply in all countries around the world under all
  circumstances?

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Subjects of Bargaining

• Topics such as wages, hours of work, and other
  conditions of employment are discussed during
  collective bargaining sessions.
• Other topics, such as college scholarships for
  the children of union members, may also be
  brought up for consideration.
• Some demands, such as a demand for featherbedding
  or for a closed shop, are illegal.

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Good Faith Bargaining

• If the parties reach an impasse, the union may
  call a strike against the employer to bring
  additional economic pressure to bear.
• This is one way in which the union can offset the
  superior bargaining power possessed by management.

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Case 19.3 Stroehmann Bakeries v. NLRB

• When the collective bargaining agreement of the
  shippers at Stroehmann Bakeries expired, the
  company proposed cutting half the positions. The
  union asked Stroehmann for extensive financial
  information which the company refused and then
  declared an impasse. Ten days later, Stroehmann
  eliminated the shippers jobs.
• The NLRB ordered the company to reinstate the
  shippers and the company appealed. What did the
  court rule?
• Why might a union (or an employee) make
  voluminous requests for information and refuse
  to bargain if the requests are not met?

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Strikes

• The right to strike is protected by the U.S.
  Constitution.
• During a strike, an employer is no longer
  obligated to pay union members, and union members
  are no longer required to show up for work.

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Illegal Strikes

• An otherwise lawful strike may become illegal
  because of the conduct of the strikers.
• Two types of illegal strikes include

Secondary Boycotts
Wildcat Strikes
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Secondary Boycotts

• Strikers are not permitted to engage in a
  secondary boycott by picketing the suppliers of
  an employer.
• Similarly, striking employees are not permitted
  to coerce the employers customers into agreeing
  not to do business with it.

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Wildcat Strikes

• A wildcat strike occurs when a small group of
  union members engages in a strike against the
  employer without the permission of the union.

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Replacement Workers

• An employer may hire permanent replacement
  employees in the event of an economic strike.
• If the strike is called by the union to protest
  the employers unwillingness to engage in good
  faith negotiations, the employer must rehire the
  striking workers after the strike is settled,
  even if it has since replaced them with other
  workers.

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Lockouts

• Employers may respond to threatened employee
  strikes by shutting down the plant altogether to
  prevent employees from working.
• Lockouts are used when the employer believes a
  strike is imminent.

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Case 19.4 Canteen Corp. v. NLRB

• When Canteen Corp. took over a food service, it
  agreed to negotiate a new contract with the
  union. Without informing the union, Canteen told
  employees their wages would be cut. When the
  employees resigned, Canteen recruited employees
  from other sources and refused to negotiate with
  the union on the ground that it no longer
  represented the employees.
• The NLRB ordered Canteen to reinstate the
  employees and the company appealed.
• Why should an employer be forced to honor a
  collective bargaining agreement between a union
  and the employers predecessor?

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Rights of Non-Union Employees

• The National Labor Relations Act protects
  concerted action on the part of nonunion
  employees.
• Protected concerted action includes walkouts and
  other activities regarding wages, hours,
  workplace safety, or other terms or conditions of
  employment.

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Case 19.5 In re Simmons Industries, Inc.

• Simmons formed a TQM committee which included
  managers and employees from a cross-section of
  plants. When a union failed to organize the
  employees, it filed a complaint alleging that the
  TQM committee was a labor organization
  dominated by management in violation of the NLRA.
• How might an employer give employees a forum to
  voice their dissatisfaction with certain
  conditions without forming an illegal employee
  committee?

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For Review

• 1. What federal statutes govern labor unions and
  collective bargaining?
• 2. How does the way in which a union election is
  conducted protect the rights of employees and
  employers?
• 3. What type of strikes are illegal?
• 4. What activities are prohibited as unfair
  employer practices?
• 5. What are the rights of nonunion employees?