MGT 430 – 2015Class 18 - Chapter 14

Collective Bargaining

Organizing Process

Signing authorization cards

Petition for election

Election campaign

Election and certification

Figure 14.5: Authorization Card Example

Process &Legal Framework of Organizing

Determine membership in the proposed bargaining unit

An election may be held if at least 30% of employees in the bargaining unit sign authorization cards.

Secret ballot election will be held. The union is certified by NLRB if a simple majority of employees vote for it.

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- agricultural laborers, independent contractors, supervisors, and managers.

The Employee Free Choice Act- pending in Congress

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Signing Authorization Cards

• A document indicating that an employee wants to be represented by a labor organization in collective bargaining

• Is there sufficient interest on the part of employees to justify the unit?

• Evidence of interest when at least 30 % of employees in a work group sign an authorization card

Election and Certification

• NLRB monitors secret-ballot election on set date• Board will issue a certification of results to

participants• Majority of employees (50% + 1) who vote for

union.• NLRB will certify.• Process does not require either party to make

concessions; it only compels them to bargain in good faith.

Table 14.1: What Supervisors Should and Should Not Do to Discourage Unions

Union Strategies

• Organizers call or visit employees at home to talk about issues like pay and job security.

• Offer workers associate union membership.

• Conduct corporate campaigns.

• Negotiate employer neutrality and card-check provisions into a contract.

Union Decertification

• Taft-Hartley Act made it possible for employees to decertify a union

• Essentially the reverse process that employees must follow to be recognized as an official bargaining unit

• Employees have used decertification petitions with increasing frequency and success

Collective Bargaining

In collective bargaining a union negotiates on behalf of its members with management representatives to arrive at a contract defining:

Recognition Financial requirements (Dues) Management Rights Union Security Compensation and Benefits Grievance Procedure Employee Security

Table 14.2: Typical

Provisions in Collective Bargaining Contracts

Table 14.2: Typical

Provisions in Collective Bargaining

Contracts Cont.

Test Your Knowledge: Which is an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP)?

1. Enforcing disciplinary policies only to those who have expressed interest in a union

2. Showing employees articles about negative aspects of unions that occurred elsewhere

3. Email employees asking them to respond with how they plan to vote in the union election

4. Tell employees the disadvantages of having a union5. Enforcing disciplinary policies when deserved to a pro-

union employee6. Promise employees an additional week of vacation if they

vote against the union

Bargaining Over New Contracts

Distributive Bargaining

Integrative Bargaining

Attitudinal Bargaining

Intraorganizational Bargaining

When Bargaining Breaks Down

• Strike: a collective decision by union members not to work until certain demands or conditions are met.

• Workers withhold their labor

•Mediation•Fact Finder•Arbitration

Strikes Alternatives to Strikes

Figure 14.6: Strikes Involving 1,000 or More Workers

Alternatives to Strikes

Mediation

• Conflict resolution procedure in which a mediator hears views of both sides and facilitates negotiation process but has no formal authority to dictate a resolution.

Fact Finder• Third party to

collective bargaining who reports reasons for a dispute, views and arguments of both sides, and possibly a recommended settlement, which parties may decline.

Arbitration

• Conflict resolution procedure in which an arbitrator or arbitration board determines a binding settlement.

Contract Administration

• Carrying out agreement’s terms and resolving conflicts over interpretation or violation of the agreement.

• Process for resolving union-management conflicts over interpretation or violation of a collective bargaining agreement.

• Grievances always start with the union steward

Contract Administration Grievance Procedure

Figure 14.7: Steps in an Employee- Initiated Grievance Procedure

Labor-Management Cooperation

Employee involvement in decision making

Self-managing employee teams

Labor-management problem-solving teams

Broadly defined jobs

Sharing of financial gains and business information with employees