HUman resource managemenr 2e s keiman chapter12

12-2a Unions Today cont.• National unions  Represent workers throughout the country in a particular craft or in a specific industry.. 12-2a Unions Today cont.• The American Federation o

Chapter 12

Understanding Unions and

Their Impact on HRM

Chapter Outline

• 12-1 Gaining Competitive Advantage

• 12-2 HRM Issues and Practices

• 12-3 The Manager’s Guide

12-1a Opening Case: Gaining Competitive Advantage at the Saturn Corporation

• Problem: Regain lost market share in the American

Automotive industry.

• Solution: Establish a cooperative relationship

between management and labor

• How cooperative relationship enhanced competitive

advantage

 Promotes teamwork and encourages open communication.

 Allows team members to participate in decision making.

 Consensus process for decision-making.

 Improved quality; enhanced interdepartmental coordination.

12-1b Linking Unions to Competitive

Advantage

• Unions: Labor organizations in which employees

participate and which exist for the purpose of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor

disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment,

or conditions of work.

• Employers can contain HR-related costs by

maintaining a union-free environment.

12-1b Linking Unions to Competitive

Advantage (cont.)

• Unionized firms are often more productive than

similar nonunion companies.

• When relations are positive between management

and the union, unionization is associated with higher firm productivity.

• When relations are negative, unionization is

associated with lower firm productivity.

• Unionized firms are typically not as profitable as

similar nonunion companies.

12-2a Unions Today

• Local unions

 Directly represent the interests of its members

 Members pay dues to the local for the representation it provides

 Identify and negotiate plant issues and administer

collective bargaining agreements or contracts

12-2a Unions Today (cont.)

• National unions

 Represent workers throughout the country in a

particular craft or in a specific industry

 Negotiate major labor contracts with large employers

 Organize new local unions among unrepresented

workers

 Most local unions are chartered from parent national unions

 Charters provide locals with professional services

offered by the national union; they also constraint the behavior of locals

 Locals pay dues to the national union for the staff and

12-2a Unions Today (cont.)

• The American Federation of Labor and Congress of

Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

 Promotes cooperation among national unions in order

to pursue organized labor’s common objectives

 Has no power to intervene in the internal affairs of

unions

 Represents organized labor in political forums

- Provides lobbyists for legislative bodies.

- Supports pro-union candidates for elected public office.

12-2a Unions Today (cont.)

• Union membership patterns

 The percentage of employed wage and salary workers represented by unions has reduced from 31.4 percent

in 1960 to 13 percent in 2008

 Unions continue to represent a large number of

workers in the government, manufacturing, and transportation/public utilities industries

12-2a Unions Today (cont.)

• Decline in union membership

 Shift in employment from manufacturing to service occupations

 Employers generally oppose unions and have always taken an aggressive stance against them

 Employers find permanent replacements for striking employees

12-2b Labor Law

• Early judicial decisions

 Allowed employers to issue yellow-dog contracts, workers’ promises that they would not organize, support, or join a union if the company hired them

• Key legislative actions pertaining to unions:

 The Railway Labor Act

 The Norris-LaGuardia Act

 The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)

 Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)

 Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (Landrum-Griffin Act)

12-2b Labor Law (cont.)

• The Railway Labor Act

12-2b Labor Law (cont.)

• The Norris-LaGuardia Act

12-2b Labor Law (cont.)

• The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)

 Passed in 1935

 Gave workers in most industries the right to form

unions and bargain collectively without being subject

to coercion by their employers

 Established the certification election process to

determine whether a majority of workers in a company want union representation

 Created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to

12-2b Labor Law (cont.)

• Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)

 Passed in 1947; it amended the NLRA

 Tried to restore balance of power between employers and unions

 Made it possible for union members to rid themselves

of their union by means of a decertification election

 Gave the U.S president the right to intervene in

national emergency strikes

 Allowed states to pass legislation outlawing “closed shops,” companies that require union membership as

a condition of employment

12-2b Labor Law (cont.)

• Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act

(Landrum-Griffin Act)

 Passed in 1959

 Regulated the internal affairs of unions

 Required unions to submit reports of all financial

expenditures to discourage officers from using union funds for personal matters

12-2c Becoming Unionized

• Benefits of joining a union

 Higher salaries; better benefits

 Ability to speak one’s mind without fear of reprisal

 Better job security

 Protection against unfair treatment

 Gaining a sense of identity/unity

• Two important reasons for joining unions are job

dissatisfaction and union instrumentality.

 Union instrumentality is the perceived ability of the union to provide important benefits to the worker

Figure 12-2 A Union Organizing Campaign

12-2c Becoming Unionized (cont.)

• Petition phase

 Workers express initial interest in union representation

by signing authorization cards that empower a union to represent them in collective bargaining with the

employer

 At least 30 percent of eligible workers must sign

authorization cards for there to be a sufficient

‘‘showing of interest’’ to trigger NLRB involvement in the certification process

 Culminates when the union asks the employer for

recognition as the bargaining representative of the workers

12-2c Becoming Unionized (cont.)

• Election phase

 Step 1: The NLRB conducts representation hearings to determine the appropriate bargaining unit

- The bargaining unit consists of those jobs or positions in

which two or more employees share common employment interests and working conditions.

 Step 2: Campaigning by both the union and the

employer

 Step 3: Election

12-2c Becoming Unionized (cont.)

• Certification phase

 NLRB certifies the results

 Assuming there is no misconduct , a simple majority

by either party is required to win the election

 The employer or the union may file objections to the election within 5 days

 If the NLRB finds evidence of gross misconduct on the part of the employer during the campaign, it may issue

a bargaining order

12-2d The Collective Bargaining

Agreement

• Collective bargaining

 Negotiations between representatives of employers

and employees to reach mutual agreement about employment terms

 This mutual agreement is called a collective bargaining agreement, which covers all members of the

bargaining unit, regardless of whether they are members of the union

 Can take many forms; no one form is considered more effective

12-2d The Collective Bargaining

Agreement (cont.)

• Negotiating a collective bargaining agreement

 Preparing for collective bargaining

- Information must be gathered about relevant contract settlements

- Both parties must estimate the costs of their initial offers

- In the case of ongoing contractual relationships, both parties must examine their experience in attempting to administer the current contract

12-2d The Collective Bargaining

Agreement (cont.)

 Establishing a bargaining agenda: The three

categories of bargaining items are:

- Illegal bargaining items: Matters about which bargaining

is not permitted by law.

- Mandatory bargaining items: Issues that must be

negotiated if either party brings these matters to the table.

- Voluntary or permissive bargaining items: Become part

of the negotiations only if both parties agree to discuss them.

12-2d The Collective Bargaining

Agreement (cont.)

 Choosing a bargaining strategy

- Each party must decide on its priorities among

bargaining items.

- Also establish a range of bargaining objectives for each

item to be negotiated:

• The realistic bargaining objective

• The optimistic bargaining objective

• The pessimistic bargaining objective

12-2d The Collective Bargaining

Agreement (cont.)

 Engaging in good faith bargaining

- Obliges both parties to meet at reasonable times and

confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

- The NLRB evaluates the totality of conduct by a party

during the negotiations before determining whether it is bargaining in good or bad faith.

- Bad faith bargaining may include such tactics as complicating the scheduling of bargaining sessions or refusing to provide pertinent information.

 In cooperative bargaining, management and the union often work together for everyone’s benefit

12-2d The Collective Bargaining

Agreement (cont.)

• Administering a collective bargaining agreement

 Grievance system: Contractual provisions that provide due process for claims of contract violations

 Grievance, which can be filed by either employees or employers, is an allegation that contract rights have been violated

 Grievance systems

- Provide a forum in which disagreements concerning violations of contract rights can be adjudicated.

Figure 12-4 Steps in a Grievance System

12-3a Unions and the Manager’s Job

• Managing in a union setting

 Must adhere to the provisions of the collective

12-3a Unions and the Manager’s Job

(cont.)

• Managing in a nonunion setting

 Must fairly allocate rewards and punishment, and

cultivate a climate that stresses open communication

 These practices can help a firm improve employee

morale and productivity and thus enhance competitive advantage

12-3b How the HRM Department Can Help

• HRM practices in a union setting

 Negotiate and consult with union officials about matters such as:

- The assignment of workers to jobs.

- A range of compensation issues.

- The administration of the collective bargaining

agreement.

 Comply with the labor contract

12-3b How the HRM Department Can

Help (cont.)

• HRM practices in a nonunion setting

 Help devise strategies to prevent unionization

 Utilize equitable HRM practices so that employees do not see any need for union representation

 Utilize labor relations consultants to direct companies’ efforts to prevent unions from gaining bargaining rights and guide efforts to decertify existing unions

12-3c HRM Skill-Building for Managers

• Approaches to handling interpersonal conflicts

 Competition: Manager sees this as a win–lose

situation, and the aim is to win

 Collaboration: Manager attempts to resolve the conflict

by searching for a solution that mutually benefits all parties concerned

 Compromise: Parties search for an alternative to the original decision; no solution is found that completely satisfies all parties; each must give up something

12-3c HRM Skill-Building for Managers

(cont.)

1. Make an appointment to discuss the problem unless the problem is urgent and must be addressed

4. Set ground rules, if necessary

5. Redirect from accusations to specific behaviors

6. Agree with some aspect of the complaint without

accepting all of its ramifications