Chapter Four

Construction Industry Units

- 1974 Health-Care Amendments - NLRB approved 8 basic health care units

Exclusive Representation

- Both a practice and principle of law - Gives real power to the union's bargaining positions - Simplifies the bargaining process - Facilitate consistent administration of the labor contract

Prohibited Conduct During an Election

- Campaign propaganda and misrepresentation - Threats and loss of benefits - Promise of grant benefit - Interrogation and polling of employees - Surveillance - Poll activity

Step Three: Union Recognition Strategy

- Card check recognition - Strike for a recognition - Call for an NLRB - sponsored election

National Labor Relations Board

- Certify elections - Determine bargaining units based on similar wages, hours, and working conditions - Accretion - Stipulated Unit

Appropriate Bargaining Unit Criteria

- Community of Interest - History of Bargaining - Employee Wishes - Employee Unionization - The Unit and Employer Organizational Structure - Public Interest - Accretion - Stipulated Units - Supervisors

Organizing the Workplace

- Distribution union material - Union buttons or insights - Bulletin boards, meeting hall, and mailboxes - Email solicitation - No-sliciatation policy

Factors Present in situations in which unions are decertified

- Employer recently treated employees better - Employer waged an aggressive antiunion campaign - Employer moves traditionally nonunion geographic areas - The union is perceived by a majority of its members as being unresponsive - Female, minority, and younger workers lose confidence in the union because of its declining public image and aging leaders

Voluntary Recognition "Card Check: or strike

- Employer recognizes the union without an election - May result from union pressure tactics

Union Avoidance Strategies by Management

- In many workplaces, managements' goal is simply to keep the union out - The strategy is to convince the workers that unionization will do them more harm than good - Management may attempt to ensure workers that their present pay and benefits are competitive and may show data to prove it

Not allowed during an organizational campaign

- Mass picketing - Violence - Threats - Secondary Picketing

National Union

- May negotiate a master agreement - Local unions negotiate separate agreement covering local issue - Members often join because of union shop agreement - Administered by elected officials (typically full-time employees)

Secret Ballot Election

- NLRB ensures that representation election is fair and honest, gives employer "free choice" - Election may be invalidated due to actions of the employer, employees, or third parties

Investigation

- NLRB regional director determine whether to conduct an election - Checks appropriateness of bargaining unit - Employer must provide list of eligible employees' names, addresses to petitioning union

Certification of Election Results

- NLRB satisfied that results reflect employees "free choice" - Certification - variety of benefits to union - Exclusive representation rights - For 1 year, no other union can challenge representation rights

Federations of AFL - CIO

- Not a union itself - composed of national and international unions (umbrella) - Assists in mediation and resolution of disputes between affiliated unions

Terms of Employment Generally Include

- Price of labor (wages and benefits) - Work Rules - Hours of Work - Job Classification - Effort Required - Enforcement and Administrative Procedures - Management and Union Rights

Craft Union

1. Members organized on the basis of craft or skill 2. Stringent apprenticeship programs 3. Business Agents (full-time admin, contract admin, hiring hall) 4. Stewards (eyes and ears of the business agent)

Industrial Union

1. Organizes all workers at one workplace, regardless of job 2. Local unions typically affiliated with national union

A union can picket a primary employer but only for

30 days before being required to file a petition for an election with the NLRB

Union Organizer

A full-time salaried staff member of a union who generally represents a national union who organizes work places to increase union membership

Multi Employer Units

A group of related employers and representatives of their workers

Organizing Drive

A movement initiated by dissatisfied employees or a union organizer to submit a representation petition on the NLRB and win a representation election, thus providing union certification and collective bargaining

Change to Win

A new union federation of national unions dedicated to growing their membership through strategic organizational campaign and improving the living standards of workers

One Employer Multiple Locations

A petitioned for single facility unit is presumed to be an approbate bargaining unit if the unit has a separate identity

Secret Ballot Election

A private confidential vote by employees, overseen by the NLRB, which allows employees to cast their vote for or against union representatives confidently without pressure

Remaining Unit

An employee group separate from the primary production and maintenance units in their job duties, such as professional, technical, guard, and clerical

Voluntary Recognition

An employer recognizes a union as the bargaining agent of the employees without requiring a secret ballot election

Steward

An on-the-job union representative carries out the responsibilities of the union in the plant at the departmental level

Example of departmental

Bakery union, deli union, cashier union

De-authorization Election

Bargaining unit members decide if they desire to nullify the union shop provision in their agreement, which must be passed by a majority of the bargaining unit member; employees won't be required to join the union

Craft Unions have

Business agent and Steward

Stipulated Unit

Company and union agree on who is in that unit

Craft Units

Composed exclusively of workers having recognized skill; distinct from other in the unit by virtue of the skilled, non-reprpitve nature to its work

Departmental Units

Composed of the members of one department in a larger organization

Separate Units

Created after examining differences in skills, training, degree of common supervision, interchange with employees outside the department and performance rating system

Community of Interest

Criteria used by the NLRB to evaluate a group of employees and determine whether they constitute an appropriate bargaining unit, including: similarity of jobs, wages, and benefits, degree of contact and proximity

Example of Craft

Electricians or carpenters

Residual Unit

Employees left unrepresented after the bulk of the employees are organized, such as janitors and sales people

What Managers can do to discourage unionization

F- Facts O- Opinion R- Rules E- Experience

RM Petition

Filed by employer to determine support for representation in collective bargaining

RD Petition

Filed by employer, employee, or union to determine whether a recognized union still has employee support (decertification)

Representation Petition

Filed on behalf of an employee (s) union to determine support for representation in collective bargaining (certification)

Remaining Units

Groups that are separate from primary production and maintenance units

Local Unions

Handle day-to-day operations of collective bargaining agreement

Typically unskilled workers

Industrial Union

A secret ballot election

Is conducted by the NLRB to determine a majority opinion

The National Union provides assistance to the

Local Union

RunOff Election

May be used if more than one union is seeking representation rights if none of the choice received a majority of the votes; the choices receiving the most votes are again voted on until one receives the majority of the vote cast

Salting

Members are encouraged by their union to seek employment at a nonunion company, once hired they promote unionization, the union may supplement their regular pay to provide equity with a "union" wage

Public Sector Unions

Most have roots in professional organizations that developed prior to widespread public sector collective bargaining

Gissel Doctrine

NLRB may issue a bargaining order in response to employer's unfair labor practices - Traditional remedies deemed inadequate to eradicate effects of employer tactics - Union authorization cards considered a more reliable indicator os employee sentiment about union representation

Independent Unions

Not designed along either the craft or the industrial unit model, preferring to open their membership to employees of a specific professional occupation

Residual Units

Odd collections of workers with common work situations or proximity of work sites

Local Officers

Officers of local unions are usually elected positions for fixed terms

Craft Unions

One Craft, One Union (perform jobs of one particular skill)

Industrial Unions

One shop, One Union

Appropriate Unit

Only employees having substantial mutuality of interest in wages, hours, and working conditions

Local officers positions often include

Preisdent, Vice President, secretary/treasure, steward, business manager (or agent)

The Target Employer is the

Primary Employer

Representation in the Public Sector

Public sector employers may not be able to prohibit non employee union agents' access to the workplace because the workplace is a public area

National (International Unions)

Relationship with subordinate local unions determined by each union's constitutions, bylaws, and charter; officers elected to act in concert with policies established by the convention, provided to the local unions

After a bargaining unit is identified, the employees of that unit have the right to

Select their bargaining representative, usually a labor union

Union Organizing Strategies

Step One: Build an organizing committee Step Two: Determine the issues Step Three: Choose a union recognition strategy Step Four: Union Recognition Status

Representational Elections

Step One: Representation Election Step Two: Investigation Step Three: Secret Ballot Election Step Four: Certification of Election Result

What managers are no allowed to do

T- Threaten I- Interrogate P- Promise S- Spy

Showing of Interest

The demonstration of employee support, usually in the form of petitions or authorization cards, that a union is required to compile before a representation election can be considered

Certification

The determination by the National Labor Relations Board that a union represents the employees' free choice and there that the union can become the official bargaining agent for the bargaining unit

Neutrality/Check Recognition

The employer and union agree in advance that the parties will use a card check by a neutral third party as a means of determining majority support and the employer will voluntarily recognize the union if the card check shows majority support for the union

Business Agent

The full-time administrator of a local union paid to handle the negotiation and administration of the union contract as well as the daily operation of the union hiring hall

Appropriate Bargaining Unit

The group of employees determined by the NLRB to be an appropriate unit for collective bargaining purposes

Bargaining Unit has

The majority and the minority

Bargaining Unit

The particular group of employees represented by the union in collective bargaining

Accretion

The practice of allowing the addition of new employees and jobs existing bargaining units provide their work satisfies the criteria of the orignial unit

Decertification Elections

The process of removing a union as the certified representative of employees within a bargaining unit

Federation of Unions

The uniting of many national unions to increase union power and recognition, the federation serves as a national spokesperson for its members although it is not a union itself