Human resource management gaining a competitive advantage 2014 chapter 14

The Labor Relations FrameworkCompetitive Challenges - Legal - Stakeholder needs - High-performance work systems Union Structure and... – The National Labor Relations Act NLRA, 1935 sough

The Labor Relations Framework

Competitive Challenges

- Legal

- Stakeholder needs

- High-performance work systems

Union Structure and

Goals and Strategies

• Society

– Labor unions' major benefit to society throughout history has been the balancing of power and the institutionalization of industrial conflict in the least costly way

– The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA, 1935) sought to provide a legal framework conducive to collective bargaining.

Union Structure, Administration, and Membership

• National and International Unions

– Not a union but rather an association that seeks

to advance the shared interest of its member unions at the national level.

Union Security

Checkoff Provision Right-to-

Maintenance

Agency Shop

Union Membership and

Bargaining Power

• Reasons for the consistent decline of

union membership in the U.S include:

– Structural Changes in the Economy

– Increased Employer Resistance

– Substitution with HRM

– Substitution by Government Regulation

– Worker Views

– Union Actions

Legal Framework

• The 1935 NLRA enshrined collective bargaining as the preferred mechanism for settling labor-management disputes

• Section 7 of the NLRA: employees have the "right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through

representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted

activities for the purpose of collective bargaining."

Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs)

• The NLRA prohibits certain activities by both

employers and labor unions:

– Employers cannot interfere with, restrain, or

coerce employees in exercising their Section 7 rights.

– Employers cannot dominate or interfere with a

union.

– Employers may not discriminate against an

individual for exercising his or her right to join or assist a union.

– Employers may not discriminate against

employees for providing testimony relevant to enforcement of the NLRA

– Employers cannot refuse to bargain collectively with a certified union.

Unfair Labor Practices - Unions

• Originally the NLRA did not list

any union unfair labor

practices These were added

by the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act.

• The 1959 Landrum-Griffin Act

further regulated unions’

actions and their internal

affairs

– i.e financial disclosure and

conduct of elections

• The National Labor Relations Board

(NLRB) has the primary responsibility for enforcing the NLRA.

– The NLRB is a five-member board appointed

by the president Additionally, there are 33 regional offices

– The NLRB has two major functions:

• To conduct and certify representation elections.

• To prevent unfair labor practices.

– ULP charges are filed at and investigated by the regional offices

Why Do Employees Join

versus what they believe they should receive?

– If such a gap exists, is it sufficiently large enough to motivate employees

to remedy the situation?

The Process and Legal

employees vote for it

• A decertification election may be held if no other election has been held within the year or if no contract is in force

• Certain categories of employees cannot be

included in bargaining units

Organizing Campaigns

• The NLRB may set aside the results of an

election if the employer has created an

atmosphere of confusion or fear of reprisals

• Associate union membership is a form of

union membership in which the union receives dues in exchange for services but does not

provide representation in collective bargaining

• Corporate campaigns seek to bring public,

financial, or political pressure on employers

during the organizing and negotiating process

The Negotiation Process

Distributive Bargaining

- win/win

Attitudinal Structuring

- relationship and trust

Preparing Managers for

Negotiations

• Seven steps:

– Establish interdepartmental contract

objectives

– Review the old contract

– Prepare and analyze data

– Anticipate union demands

– Establish the costs of various possible

contract provisions

– Make preparations for a strike

– Determine the strategy and logistics

Negotiation Stages and Tactics

• The early stages may include many

individuals, as union proposals are

presented

• During the middle stages, each side

makes decisions regarding priorities,

theirs and the other parties'

• In the final stage, momentum may build

toward settlement or pressure may build

as an impasse becomes more apparent

May involve interaction with negotiators

or facilitators

Management’s Willingness to

Take a Strike

• The following factors help determine

whether management is able to take a

strike:

– Product Demand

– Product Perishability

– Technology

– Availability of Replacement Workers

– Multiple Production Sites and Staggered

Contracts– Integrated Facilities

Alternatives to Strikes

• Mediation - Has no formal

authority to force a solution;

acts as a facilitator for the parties.

• Fact finder - Investigates and

reports on the reasons for the dispute and both sides'

positions.

• Arbitration - A process through

which a neutral party makes a final and binding decision

Grievance Procedure

• The negotiation process typically occurs every three years

• Negotiation processes and administration

processes are linked

• The effectiveness of grievance procedures may

be judged on three criteria:

– How well are day-to-day problems resolved?

– How well does the process adjust to changing

circumstances?

– In multi-unit contracts, how well does the process

handle local contract issues?

• Duty of fair representation

Grievance Procedure

• Arbitration is a final and binding step.

• Criteria arbitrators use to reach decisions

include:

– Did the employee know the rule and the

consequences of violating it?

– Was the rule applied in a consistent and

New Labor Management

Strategies

• There are signs of a transformation

from an adversarial approach to a less

adversarial and more constructive

approach to union-management

relations

– The transformation includes

increasing worker involvement and participation and reorganizing work

to increase flexibility

• Union leaders have frequently

resisted such change, fearing an

erosion of their influence

Labor Relations Outcomes

• Strikes

• Wages and Benefits

– In 2006, private-sector unionized workers received, on average, wages that were 24 percent higher than

nonunion counterparts.

• Productivity

– Some argue that unions increase productivity, while

other argue that they decrease productivity.

– Studies have concluded that union workers are more

productive than nonunion workers although the

explanation is unclear.

• Profits and Stock Performance

– These may suffer under unionization if costs are raised

The International Context

• The United States has both the largest number of union members and the

lowest unionization rate of any Western European country or Japan

• The growing globalization of markets will continue to put pressure on labor costs and productivity

• The United States differs from Western Europe in the degree of formal worker participation in decision-making

The Public Sector

• During the 1960s and 1970s,

unionization in the public sector

increased dramatically

• As of 2006, 36 percent of government

employees were covered by a union

contract, and 42 percent of all

government employees were covered by

a collective bargaining contract

• Strikes are illegal at the federal level and

in many states for government workers.