Outline

OutlineHistory of Unions in the USNational Labor Relations ActScope of Bargaining IssuesBargainingImpasse in NegotiationsContract AdministrationUnions in the Government Sector

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History of Unions in the USUnion: workers join together to solve the workers’

workplace problems, to build better workplaces for themselves, & to have a formal voiceUnions are based on the following suppositions:

Companies are big & powerful Compared to the powerful company, each worker is weak when

alone Power imbalance: “If you don’t like it, go ahead and quit”

Unions equalize the power imbalance: there’s strength in numbersCollective bargaining: instead of each worker bargaining

individually with the company, workers join together in a union to bargain collectively with the companyBargain for better terms & conditions of employment

Better pay, better benefits, better hours, better working conditions

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History of Unions in the USLabor relations: the relationship between management

& workers, especially workers represented by unionsIndustrial & labor relations: the relationship between

management & workers Includes: human resource management, organizational

behavior, organization theory, labor economics, & collective bargaining

Characteristics of early unions in the USLocal skilled workers formed craft unions

Craft union: a union that represents workers who share the same skill, trade, craft, or occupation Examples: carpenters, cigarmakers, cordwainers

Organized as fraternal societies Members refer to each other as “brothers”

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History of Unions in the USAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL)

Federation of craft unions formed in 1886 Each craft union focused on a specific craft

Samuel Gompers: president 1886–1924 (except 1894, when a socialist won the presidency of the AFL) No other single individual has had a greater, longer-

lasting, influence on unions in the US Opposed socialism Wanted craft unions to focus on the terms & conditions

of employment “What is it that you want?” — “More!”

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History of Unions in the USCongress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

Federation of industrial unions formed in 1935 in a split with the AFL Industrial union: a union that represents workers who

are in a particular industry (regardless of the particular skill or craft of each worker) Examples: mining industry, steel industry, auto industry

John Lewis (from the United Mine Workers) was an early leader of the CIO

Targeted the mass production industries for the formation of industrial unions: steel, auto, tire & rubber

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History of Unions in the USAFL-CIO

The AFL & the CIO merged in 1955http://www.aflcio.org/ The AFL-CIO is a federation of unions

Each union is responsible for its members Some are craft unions Some are industrial unions

2008: AFL-CIO has 56 unions with 10.5 million members http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/unions/ Before summer 2005, the AFL-CIO had 60 unions with 13

million members In summer 2005, a group of unions split off from the AFL-

CIO to form a new group named “Change to Win” AFL-CIO was left with 53 unions with 9 million members

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History of Unions in the USChange to Win (CtW)

New federation of unions formed in summer 2005 after a split with the AFL-CIO

http://www.changetowin.org/ 7 unions with 6 million members

http://www.changetowin.org/about-us.html International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Service Employees International Union (SEIU) United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America

(UBC) United Farm Workers of America (UFW) United Food and Commercial Workers International

Union (UFCW) UNITE HERE (mostly hotel, restaurant, & textile workers)

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History of Unions in the USDuring the 1800’s and into the early 1900’s,

companies & courts were hostile to unionsCourts often saw unions as criminal conspiraciesViolence during union organizing campaigns

Dispute over representation: a union claims to represent workers in a company & management disputes it Workers would strike to pressure the company to

recognize that the union represents the workers Result too often was violence

Public became increasing unhappy with the violence Laws began to be passed to channel disputes over

union representation from violence in the streets into peaceful methods of resolution

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History of Unions in the USLaws were passed at the federal level giving

employees of companies the legal right to unionsRailway Labor Act (1926)

Gave railroad workers the clear legal right to unions Airline workers added in 1934

National Labor Relations Act (1935) Gave many other workers the legal right to unions

Laws were also passed at the federal & state levels giving public employees the legal right to unions

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National Labor Relations ActLegislative history

Original NLRA also called the Wagner Act (1935)Amended by the Taft-Hartley Act (1947) & others

Covers virtually everyone except:Railroad & airline workers (because they are covered

by the Railway Labor Act)Government employees (because they are covered by

other laws at the state & federal levels that deal explicitly with government employees)

Supervisors (because they are not allowed to have unions)

Employees of some very small employersIndividuals employed by a parent or spouse

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National Labor Relations ActNational Labor Relations Board (NLRB): the US

federal government agency that administers the NLRAhttp://www.nlrb.gov

Worker rights under the NLRA:To form unions & to join unions

The workers themselves have the legal right to decide whether they want to be represented by a union

To use unions to bargain collectively The workers have the legal right to cooperate together in

seeking better terms & conditions of employment Such cooperation is not a criminal conspiracy

To engage in strikes to secure better terms & conditions of employment

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National Labor Relations ActUnion representation: do workers want to be on their

own, or do they want to join together in a union, to seek better terms & conditions of employment?Workers get to decide for themselves if they want:

Either everyone for themselves in trying to get a better deal Or everyone works together for a better deal

A union begins a union organizing campaign at a company Maybe some employees approached the union & expressed an

interest in having a union represent them Maybe the union identified the company as a potential target

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National Labor Relations Act

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National Labor Relations ActUnion representation (more)

When the union has signed Authorization Cards from a significant percentage of the employees, the union will ask company management for voluntary recognition Voluntary recognition: management might examine the

Authorization Cards & choose to voluntarily recognize the union as the representative of the employees & begin negotiations

Management might refuse to examine the Authorization Cards & choose to refuse to recognize the union as the representative of the employees In this case, there is a dispute over representation

Before the NLRA (1935), such disputes were often settled by strikes that too often resulted in violence

Since 1935, the NLRA says to resolve the dispute over whether workers want to be represented by a union by putting it to a vote among the workers

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Representation Elections: 2 types: Certification Elections (“Certs”)

If company management refuses to recognize the union, the union takes the Authorization Cards to the NLRB & petitions for a Certification Election

Showing of sufficient interest: at least 30% of the employees must have signed the Authorization Cards before the NLRB will conduct a vote

Types of Certification Elections: Consent Election: parties agree on date, location, & who

is eligible to vote; limited rights of appeal Stipulated Election: parties agree on date, location, &

who is eligible to vote; parties preserve their rights of appeal

Board-Directed Election: parties can’t agree, so the NLRB decides the election details

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Representation Elections (more) Certification Elections (more)

Appropriate bargaining unit: the workers who are eligible to vote in the union Representation Election If the workers in the appropriate bargaining unit vote in

favor of union representation, then the union will represent all the workers in the appropriate bargaining unit

Example: Production (80), Maintenance (20), Warehouse (10), & Office (40)

If decided by the NLRB (in a Board-Directed Election), they look for workers who share a “community of interest”

Example: Production (80) + Maintenance (20) = 100

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Representation Elections (more) Certification Elections (more)

Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs): activities that would interfere with rights under the law Examples: spy on union meetings, question

employees about their union beliefs, fire union supporters

NLRB can issue cease & desist orders to stop ULPs

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Representation Elections (more) Decertification Elections (“Decerts”)

Workers petition the NLRB for an election to decertify the union

Outcome decided by a simple majority vote of the valid ballots cast among the workers in the appropriate bargaining unit If the union loses, it is decertified as the exclusive

representative of the workers If the union wins, it retains its certification as the

exclusive representative of the workers Once there is a certified union, good-faith negotiations

begin on mandatory bargaining issues

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Scope of Bargaining Issues

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Scope of Bargaining IssuesTypes of bargaining issues (more)

Permissive issues: issues over which the parties are permitted to negotiate if both sides agree to negotiate over the issues No duty to bargain in good faith for permissive issues

If one side wants to negotiate a permissive issue & the other side refuses, then that’s the end of negotiating that issue

Disputes over permissive issues may not be pressed to impasse

Examples of permissive issues: amount of union dues, prices of the company’s products or services, internal union procedures

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Scope of Bargaining IssuesTypes of bargaining issues (more)

Prohibited (illegal) issues: issues over which the parties cannot legally negotiate Examples of prohibited (illegal) issues:

Illegal discrimination in hiring Closed shop agreements (a type of union security

agreement)One mandatory issue that most unions want

to negotiate is the inclusion of a “union security agreement” in the contract

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Scope of Bargaining Issues Union security agreements: negotiated contract clauses designed to protect the

union from free-riders (workers who benefit from the union but who don’t pay) Closed shop: company agrees to hire only union members

Prohibited by the NLRA “Pre-hire agreements” are allowed by the NLRA in the construction industry

Pre-hire agreements: company agrees to hire workers from a union hiring hall Union shop: company can hire anyone, but the new hires must join the union

within so many days (typically 30 days) Actual union membership is technically not required

Financial core membership is required: workers don’t have to join, but have to pay dues Beck rights: non-members only have to pay “fair share” dues, not full dues

Fair share dues: the amount of union dues that goes to pay for the union activities that are required by law (e.g., costs associated with exclusive representation in negotiating & administering the contract; costs associate with the duty of fair representation; etc.)

Right-to-work laws: laws in some states that outlaw union shop agreements Agency shop: membership is not required, but workers must pay fair share dues Maintenance of membership shop: members must maintain their membership &

pay dues, but non-members don’t have to join & don’t have to pay dues Open shop: no contractual requirements to protect the union from free-riders

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BargainingTypes of bargaining (Walton & McKersie):

Distributive bargaining: negotiating on issues where the goals of the parties are in conflict Zero-sum game: what one side wins, the other side loses

Integrative bargaining: negotiating on issues where the parties have common goals Positive-sum game: both sides can win

Attitudinal structuring: negotiating activities to influence the attitudes of the parties Examples of attitudes: cooperation, hostility, trust, respect,

etc.Intra-organizational bargaining: negotiating to resolve

differences among the members of the same side There may be differences in opinions & goals among the

managers & among the union & the workers

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BargainingBargaining power: your bargaining power refers

to your ability to get agreement on your own termsBargaining power is relative

Bargaining power is not absolute One side will have relatively more bargaining power than

the other sideBargaining power is constantly shifting during

negotiations Bargaining power is not static As the parties engage in negotiations, the relative

bargaining power of the parties will be changing

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BargainingBargaining power (more)

Union’s bargaining power depends on: The cost to the company of disagreeing to the union’s

demands relative to cost to the company of agreeing to the union’s demands Which is cheaper for the company: to agree with the

union’s demands or to disagree with the union’s demands? If it is very expensive for the company to disagree with

the union’s demands (e.g., it’ll trigger a very expensive strike) while it is not expensive for the company to agree to the union’s demands (e.g., the union’s demands can be easily & cheaply accommodated), then it is more likely that the company will agree to the union’s demands the union has bargaining power at that point in time

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Bargaining Union Bargaining Power

Union Tactics to Increase Its Bargaining Power

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Union says “We’ll raise your costs if we don’t get what we want” Withdraw cooperation with

management Threaten a strike Time a strike to maximize the

cost to the company Build support for a strike

among key workers who are hard to replace

Picket during a strike Union says “We’ll lower your

costs if we get what we want” Make a concession

BargainingBargaining power (more)

Company’s bargaining power depends on: The cost to the union of disagreeing to the company’s

demands relative to cost to the union of agreeing to the company’s demands Which is cheaper for the union: to agree with the

company’s demands or to disagree with the company’s demands? If it is very expensive for the union to disagree with the

company’s demands (e.g., it’ll trigger massive layoffs) while it is not expensive for the union to agree to the company’s demands (e.g., the company’s demands can be easily accommodated), then it is more likely that the union will agree to the company’s demands the company has bargaining power at that point in time

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Bargaining Company Bargaining Power

Company Tactics to Increase Its Bargaining Power

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Management says “We’ll raise your costs if we don’t get what we want” Threaten layoffs or a plant

closing Plan to continue operations

during a strike using supervisors or replacement workers

Encourage customers to stockpile inventory in anticipation of a strike

Threaten a lockout Management says “We’ll lower

your costs if we get what we want” Make a concession

Bargaining Union Bargaining Power

Company Bargaining Power

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BargainingCommitment tactics (Schelling; Walton & McKersie):

tactics designed to make it look like you are committed to your position while hiding room to make future concessions without losing face or credibilityGoal: make the other side think that if they want an

agreement that they’ll have to be the side that makes the next concession

Method: make it look like you can’t make a concession Say or do something that makes your opponent think that your

hands are tied on an issue & you can’t make a concession May involve a threat or a promise

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BargainingCommitment tactics (more)

Method (more) Language is critical — imagine a union negotiator that

says: “Your demands for give-backs on medical insurance and pay

are completely unacceptable. I just don’t see how we can agree to your demands on these two issues. The union members will never accept those two give-backs and there’s nothing I can do to change that fact. If you keep demanding give-backs on medical insurance and pay, the worker’s would rather go out on strike than agree to such a lopsided, unfair deal!”

While that statement appears firm, it leaves room for future concessions: “In light of your side’s concession on pay, I now see how my side can make a concession on medical insurance”

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Impasse in NegotiationsImpasse: the parties are unable to reach agreementResolving impasses

Continuing negotiations: the parties continue to have a duty to bargain in good faith The parties can’t just give up

Mediation: a neutral third party (mediator) helps the union & management reach an agreement The mediator schedules meetings, separates the parties if

that’d help, carries messages between the parties, makes suggestions, etc.

The mediator does not have the binding authority to impose a settlement

Mediators can be obtained from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) http://www.fmcs.gov/

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Impasse in NegotiationsResolving impasses (more)

Interest arbitration: a neutral third party (interest arbitrator) has the authority to fashion a settlement Types of interest arbitration:

Fact-finding: non-binding interest arbitration: the arbitrator can fashion a suggested settlement, but cannot force the parties to accept it

Binding interest arbitration: the arbitrator has the authority to fashion a settlement that the parties are required to accept Conventional interest arbitration: the arbitrator can fashion any

settlement that the arbitrator believes to be reasonable Final offer interest arbitration by package: the arbitrator must

pick the entire final offer package of one side or the other Final offer interest arbitration by issue: the arbitrator must pick

the final offer of one side or the other on each issue-by-issue Interest arbitration is rarely used in the US private sector More common in the US public sector, especially if the

government employees don’t have the legal right to strike

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Impasse in Negotiations

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Impasse in NegotiationsNational Emergency Strikes: strikes that threaten the health &

safety of the general public President of US appoints a board of inquiry Board reports to the President President directs the Attorney General to seek an injunction to

enjoin the strike or lockout for a “cooling off” period of up to 80 days FMCS offers mediation Board of inquiry monitors progress of the negotiations

After 60 days, if no agreement, the board reports the final offers of both sides

After 15 days, the NLRB conducts a vote among the workers on management’s last offer

After 5 days, the NLRB reports the vote (60 + 15 + 5 = 80 days) If still no agreement, the injunction is lifted, the strike can

resume, & the President reports to Congress for possible Congressional action

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Contract AdministrationGrievance: a rights dispute in which the parties

disagree during the life of the contract about the meaning, interpretation, or application of the contractOnce the parties have negotiated the contract, they

need to administer the contract The parties might disagree on what the contract requires

in particular cases — a “grievance”Grievance procedure: the procedures spelled out in

the contract for how grievances are to be resolvedThe parties can negotiate and include clauses in the

contract that specify how grievances are to be resolved during the life of the contract

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Contract AdministrationExample of a grievance procedure:

Step 1: employee reports the grievance to the union steward, who meets with the employee’s supervisor to try to resolve the grievance

Step 2: if no resolution at Step 1, next the grievance is written down & a meeting occurs with the employee, the union steward, the chief union steward, the employee’s supervisor, & the supervisor’s manager

Step 3: if no resolution at Step 2, next is a meeting of everyone from Step 2 plus the local union president, someone from the company’s HR department, & someone from local top management

Step 4: if no resolution at Step 3, next is a meeting of everyone from Step 3 plus representatives from the national union & from corporate top management

Step 5: if no resolution at Step 4, last step is grievance arbitration

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Contract AdministrationGrievance arbitration: a neutral third party

(grievance arbitrator) is brought in to interpret the contractArbitration hearing: the arbitrator listens to the

arguments & evidence of both sides to the grievanceArbitration award: the arbitrator decides the

grievance in a written decision Arbitrator cannot change or amend the contract Arbitrator clarifies & applies the contract

Arbitrator typically considers past practices If the contract says so (and it usually does), the decision of

the arbitrator is final and binding No appeals: courts typically will not review arbitration

awards

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Unions in the Government SectorUnions in the US federal government

Relevant law: Civil Service Reform Act (1978) Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA): federal

agency responsible for administering labor-management relations for employees of the federal government http://www.flra.gov/

Certain federal employees have a right to unions Scope of bargaining issues tends to be narrow

Cannot bargain over pay & most benefits (set by Congress)

Strikes by federal employees are illegal Impasses in negotiations are resolved by the FMCS, by

arbitration, & by the Federal Services Impasse Panel

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Unions in the Government SectorUnions in state & local governments

Handled by the laws of each state Minnesota law: Public Employees Labor Relations Act

(PELRA) Text of PELRA:

https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/statutes/?id=179A Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS): state

agency that administers PELRA http://www.bms.state.mn.us/

Minnesota Department of Employee Relations (DOER): state agency that acts as the employer for state employees in Minnesota http://www.doer.state.mn.us/

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OutlineHistory of Unions in the USNational Labor Relations ActScope of Bargaining IssuesBargainingImpasse in NegotiationsContract AdministrationUnions in the Government Sector

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Documents

Outline