Union-Management Relations
A cabal of union toystore workers are engaged in collective bargaining with their employer, ToyCo. If the negotiating parties total 200 people, how many votes are required for ratification of an agreement?
101
Loren is gathering signatures from his coworkers, trying to get enough interest in unionizing. How many of the employees need to sign union authorization cards for Loren's initiative to proceed to election?
30%
When employees gather to form a union, what portion of employees must sign union authorization cards to petition the NLRB for election?
30%
The National Labor Relations Act outlines what constitutes allowable behavior for both employers and union organizers during an organizing campaign. Which of the following statements reflects an allowable employer practice?
Employers are allowed to support current positions—for example, to provide information that supports fair pay. Providing managers with brief statements that demonstrate the employer is providing fair wages and/or benefits is an allowable practice.
Executive Order 11491 created these two new entities:
Federal Labor Relations Council (Council), charged with program oversight and Federal Service Impasses Panel, charged with assisting parties in resolving bargaining impasses.
Question In the United States in 2018, people of what political affiliation approved of unions at the highest rate?
Gallup polls from 2018 indicated 80% of Democrats supported unions.
Which of the following statements best summarizes the Supreme Court's decision in Janus v. AFSCME:
It eliminated agency or "fair share" fees and the requirement that those who don't want to be union members have to opt out. The Supreme Court ruled that employees cannot be compelled to pay agency fees and that union members must affirmatively opt into membership (rather than the default being membership).
All of the following legislation is related to labor reform, EXCEPT:
National Futures Association
What did the Wagner Act establish?
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to protect workers' rights.
Which of these political candidates is the Janus decision most likely to negatively impact?
Saul, a diesel engineer
Executive Orders 10988 and 11491 establish the right of federal employees to unionize. What statute made these Orders more durable?
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 builds on E.O. 10988 and 11491, establishing a statute that guarantees federal employees the right to unionize, which, unlike an executive order, cannot be revoked at presidential discretion.
Which of the following acts or executive orders had the greatest impact on union administration and democratization?
The Landrum-Griffin Act. The 1959 Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) — commonly referred to as The Landrum-Griffin Act—make union officials accountable for union funds and other business, established a labor organization member Bill of Rights, including the right to bring a civil action if these rights have been violated.
Which labor law was the first to guarantee workers rights to organize, join unions, and engage in collective bargaining?
The Railway Labor Act
Which law sparked movements for "right-to-work" laws in many states?
The Taft-Hartley Act
What act established the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)
The Taft-Hartley Act The FMCS, an independent government agency charged with "preventing or minimizing the impact of labor-management disputes on the free flow of commerce by providing mediation, conciliation and voluntary arbitration."
The president of the United States is granted power to intervene in labor-management disputes that affect national security under what act?
The Taft-Hartley Act amends the Wagner Act to protect unions in labor disputes, and grants the president power to intervene when national health or safety is at risk.
Which of the following statements accurately describes an aspect of the Taft-Hartley Act?
The Taft-Hartley Act gives the president the right to intervene in labor-management disputes. The Taft-Hartley Act gives the president the right to investigate and seek an injunction to block or prevent continuation of strikes or lockouts that impact national security, including economic impacts.
What is another name for the National Labor Relations Act, passed in 1935?
The Wagner Act
The Wagner and Taft-Hartley Acts established the rules of organized labor and management relations. Which of the following descriptions is an accurate description of the associated act?
The Wagner Act is pro-labor—essentially, a union bill of rights.
This is the process by which parties arrive at a contract:
The collective bargaining process has five steps: preparation, contract negotiation, proposed contract agreement, union ratification, contract administration.
A successful organizing campaign consists of five steps, including two separate votes. Which of the following statements accurately reflects the percent of votes required to proceed at the authorization card and representation certification election steps?
The union must receive the support of 30% of eligible employees at the authorization step and a majority (50% + 1) of eligible employees in the representation certification election step.
The collective bargaining process is the process by which management and union representatives arrive at a contract agreement. This process includes:
The union presenting management with a list of demands.
What is the purpose of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)?
To prevent or minimize impact of labor-management disputes on commerce
Question According to the AFL-CIO, "The main purpose of labor unions is to give workers the power to negotiate for more favorable working conditions and other benefits through collective bargaining." Which of the following points are documented benefits of union membership?
Union employees generally earn more (30%) than non-union workers in comparable jobs.
In a career field where a large proportion of workers are unionized, what is worker satisfaction likely to look like?
Worker satisfaction is negatively correlated with union membership.
The dissenting opinion, in support of unions against Janus, argued that if individuals did not pay agency fees, they essentially got what unfair benefit?
a "free ride" as eliminating fair share fees encourages free riding.
As a result of the Janus v. AFSCME ruling, public sector unions are prohibited from charging agency fees, and the process of joining a union requires:
affirmative opt-in for membership
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
an overhaul of the civil service policy and practice that reflected the experience of prior Executive Orders. It is also significant in that it entrenched public employee rights in a statute rather than an Executive Order, that could simply be revoked by a President.
In the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that what union practice violates workers' First Amendment right to free speech?
charging agency fees to union non-members
What kind of economic impact did supporting politicians expect the Wagner Act to have?
economic prosperity
What is the purpose of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO)?
eradicating organized crime in the United States The RICO Act sets the precedent for using special commissions and investigations to uncover organized crime activity in unions.
Executive Orders 10988 and 11491
establish the rights of federal employees to unionize Executive Order 10988 signed by President Kennedy in 1962, gave government employees the right to join, form, or assist labor organizations and established a tiered system of recognition, including exclusive representation, formal recognition, and informal recognition. Executive Order 11491 signed by President Nixon broadened federal employee rights by establishing a federal framework for governing labor-management relations, defined unfair labor practices, and authorized the use of binding arbitration in some disputes.
Union membership benefits workers in all of the following ways, EXCEPT:
increased job satisfaction
Workers in the gig economy are currently classified as what type of worker, which does not have the protections of Federal labor laws?
independent contractors
Analyzing organizational weaknesses and implementing risk and response protocols can help prevent what?
mishaps
Jill and her coworkers are interested in unionizing. What is the proper sequence of steps they should follow in their pursuit?
preparation, campaigning, petition for election, election
Who does the Wagner Act apply to?
private sector employees to address relations between union members and employers.
Who does the Janus v. AFSCME decision apply to?
public sector unions
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
pursues federal criminal prosecution and civil RICO litigation in cases involving labor-management relations, internal labor union affairs, and the operation of employee pension and health care plans in the private sector.
If an employer declares an impasse, which the union disputes, claiming the employer did not bargain in good faith, who determines the outcome of the negotiation?
the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
TIPS is an easy acronym that managers and supervisors can use to remember what practices are considered unfair labor practices. What does TIPS stand for?
threaten, interrogate, promise, spy
All of the following reasons were cited as rationale for passing the Wagner Act, EXCEPT:
to establish a "cooling off" period
Which of these is NOT one of the purposes of the Railway Labor Act?
to freeze rates of pay for the railroad industry
The National Labor Relations Act forbids employers from all of the following actions EXCEPT?
training management on how to negotiate with employees
The Janus v. AFSCME decision upset the legal precedent of the 1977 Abood case, which differentiated between what types of fees?
union membership dues and "fair share" or agency fees The stare decisis set by Abood v. Detroit Board of Education established a distinction between union membership dues and those fees a non-member could pay for representation in bargaining and arbitration, called agency or fair share fees.
