Deck 15: Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining

Question 1

Was the company obligated to accept the union's majority status claim on the basis of the authorization cards submitted by the union?

Answer 1

Case summary:
The employer owns and manages an apartment building and townhouse complex where a number of janitorial employees were employed. The union organization of the firm held a meeting with these employees and obtained signed authorization card from six out of the proposed unit of 11 employees. When union organizer Mr. OS announced that union wants to have recognition and bargaining rights, maintenance supervisor of the firm, Mr. LM inquired about any such meeting with several employees including the ones from janitorial services. LM repeatedly asked employees about the meeting of the workers, the potential of forming a labor union, signing of authorization cards etc. Later, LM was fired from the firm and Mr. LN replaced him. At the day of election, LN was heard saying that if employees win the election and forms a union, then they have to leave the apartment complex offered to them by the employer's side. The election was won by the firm with 6 to 4, as a result, the employees filed a case against the employer charging unfair labor practices like threatening of employees.
In this case, the employees formed a union and submitted a signed authorization cards to the employer asking for the recognition of the labor union in the firm. The workers also demanded bargaining rights for the union with the recognition of it by the employer.
The company was not obligated to accept the union's majority status claim on the basis of the authorization cards submitted by the union because the employer has not given consent for the formation of the union, and in this case, union could only be formed with a legal election. In this, only if the union wins the election, then only the employer will recognize it and offer it with bargaining and other rights as provided under NLRB (National Labor Relations Board). However, in the absence of employer's consent and also in the absence of union's verification from NLRB's side, it could be concluded that the company was not obligated to accept the union's majority status claim on the basis of the authorization cards submitted by the union. The union could only get recognition by winning election which will offer it support from NLRB's side.

Question 2

If the company is found to have violated the act, what would be the appropriate remedy; a bargaining order or a new election?

Answer 2

Case summary:
The employer owns and manages an apartment building and townhouse complex where a number of janitorial employees were employed. The union organization of the firm held a meeting with these employees and obtained signed authorization card from six out of the proposed unit of 11 employees. When union organizer Mr. OS announced that union wants to have recognition and bargaining rights, maintenance supervisor of the firm, Mr. LM inquired about any such meeting with several employees including the ones from janitorial services. LM repeatedly asked employees about the meeting of the workers, the potential of forming a labor union, signing of authorization cards etc. Later, LM was fired from the firm and Mr. LN replaced him. At the day of election, LN was heard saying that if employees win the election and forms a union, then they have to leave the apartment complex offered to them by the employer's side. The election was won by the firm with 6 to 4, as a result, the employees filed a case against the employer charging unfair labor practices like threatening of employees.
In this case, if the company is found to have violated the Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA), then in this situation, the appropriate remedy for this violation could be a new election. This is because if the company had intimidated the employees by threatening them to lose their rent-free apartments if they voted in favor of the union, then this could be considered as a violation of LMRA. The results of the election could not be considered as fair and transparent if the employees were forced and were threatened by the company's side.
In this situation, a new election could be an appropriate remedy because with this, the free will of the employees could be used in deciding whether they wish to form a labor union party in the firm or not. However, if employees are directly offered bargaining power without a proper election, then this might not provide assured information whether employees want to have labor union in the firm or not. Even the firm will suffer with this direct authorization of bargaining power to the union. This is the reason why there should be an organization of a new election in case if the is found to have violated the Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA).

Question 3

Objective
To enable students to collect, evaluate, and present information about labor unions.
Set Up the Exercise
1. Assign individuals or small teams of students to research American and international unions so that an up-to-date comparison can be made among labor organizations. Have each team make a brief presentation of their findings to the class. Characteristics to be researched include membership demographics, size, affiliation with national or other labor organizations or confederations, recent organizing campaigns, and strikes and lockouts.
2. Have the students begin their research using the following Internet site: http://aflcio.org/unionand/internat.htm.

Answer 3

not answer

Question 4

What is a labor union? Define the term labor relations.

Question 5

Objective
To permit individuals to become involved in labor-management contract negotiations in a role-playing session.
Set Up the Exercise
1. Form an even number of groups of four to eight people. Half of the groups will be union teams and the other half will be management teams.
2. Read the description of the Dana Lou Corporation of Hamilton, Ohio.
3. Review and discuss in groups the four bargaining issues and the data collected on competitors (15 minutes).
4. The instructor will provide the union teams with the union negotiator's instructions and the management teams with the management negotiator's instructions.
5. Groups face off against each other (one management team versus one union team). The negotiator represents the team's position.
Individuals should answer the exercise questions after step 2 of the negotiations.
Dana Lou Corporation
Dana Lou Corporation is a medium-sized company with about 1,100 employees in Hamilton, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. It competes in the electronic repair parts industry and is slightly larger than most of its main competitors. The firm's success (profitability and growth) has been attributed to a dedicated workforce that takes great pride in its work.
In 1964, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) organized the plant. Since then, labor-management relations have been good, and there were only two days lost to a strike, in 1972. Labor and management both feel that the cooperation between them is much better than that found in other firms of the same size in the area.
The current labor-management contract expires in three weeks. Representatives from the union and management have been negotiating a number of bargaining issues for the last three days, but there seems to be little agreement.
Bargaining Issues
1. Republic National Medical and Dental Insurance Protection
a. Present contract: Inspectors' rate is $5.95 per hour; the rate for inspector apprentices is $4.30.
b. New contract issues: CWA wants Dana Lou to pay the full premium; management wants to hold the line.
In terms of costs, the data look like this:

2. Preventive health director, staff, and participation
a. Present contract: Dana Lou has two part-time physicians and two full-time nurses (cost is $66,000 per year).
b. New contract issues: CWA wants a full-time fitness director, a full-time physician, counselors for alcohol and drug abuse problems, and partial payment of employees' use of YMCA and YWCA exercise facilities (estimated increase over present arrangement, $108,000).
3. Vacation benefits
a. Present contract: One week with full pay for the first year; two weeks for employees with 2 to 10 years of service, and three weeks for employees with over 10 years.
b. New contract issues: CWA wants all employees with 15 or more years of service to have four weeks of full paid vacation. Management wants to change in the present program.
4. Wage increases for skilled quality inspectors
a. Present contract: Inspectors' rate is $10.05 per hour; the rate for inspector apprentices is $6.40.
b. New contract issues: CWA wants an increase of $0.50 per hour for the plant's 95 inspectors and a $0.40 per hour increase for the plant's 25 inspector apprentices. Management wants to hold the line on salary increases because it believes that layoffs will have to occur. The union's proposal would cost Dana Lou 95 times $0.50 = $47.50 and 25 times $0.40 + $10.00 or $57.50 total per hour.
Negotiations
1. One member from each of the two groups facing each other will negotiate the four issues. The rest of the group must remain quiet during the negotiations. The negotiators should role-play for exactly 20 minutes. At the end of this time, they should record the agreement points reached.
Final Agreements
Medical and dental protection ___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Preventive health director, staff, and participation
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Vacation benefits
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Wage increases
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
2. Each individual is to analyze the negotiations. How successful were the negotiators?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Would you have negotiated differently? How?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Were the negotiators prepared?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
A Learning Note
This exercise will illustrate how difficult discussing issues can be when people have a fixed attitude or position.

Question 6

Identify and describe the key labor organizations that helped establish labor relations in the United States.

Question 7

Explain the impact of the Railway Labor Act and the Wagner Act on the growth of trade unions.

Question 8

The union structure in the United States consists of four levels. Identify and describe each.

Question 9

What conditions in the workplace are most likely to trigger a union organizing campaign?
Describe the representation campaign from authorization cards through certification of the union. How can unions be decertified?

Question 10

Compare and contrast labor organizations in the public sector to those in the private sector.

Question 11

What is collective bargaining? What major functions does this process perform in organizations?

Question 12

What is a bargaining unit? How does the NLRB determine if it is appropriate?

Question 13

Describe the current trends in union membership and union organizing.

Question 14

Evaluate the various claims made by the union and counterclaims made by the company regarding the charges of unfair labor practices. Which of the arguments are most persuasive?

Question 15

Was the statement by Nord to Snow on the date of the representational election a threat or a legitimate prediction and personal opinion protected by the free speech provisions of the act?