Thanks again for the drinks Friday. We need to do it again soon.
I wanted to follow-up on our discussion about union decertification and antitrust suits. Please forgive me if you already are aware of this.
Under the Clayton Act §6, antitrust immunity applies to both union conduct (strikes) and employer conduct (lockouts). The nonstatutory labor exemption exempts collective bargaining from antitrust scrutiny. Essentially, if unionized labor law applies and, if not, antitrust law is fair game. However, this antitrust immunity only applies until "sufficiently distant in time and in circumstances from collectively bargaining process," which occurs at either union decertification or an extremely long impasse.
In Powell v. NFL, 678 F.Supp. 777
Tensions between union supporters and management began mounting in the years preceding the strike. In April of 1994, the International Union led a three-week strike against major tracking companies in the freight hauling industry in attempts to stop management from creating $9 per hour part-time positions. This would only foreshadow battles to come between management and union. Later, in 1995, teamsters mounted an unprecedented national union campaign in attempts to defeat the labor-management “cooperation” scheme that UPS management tried to establish in order to weaken the union before contract talks (Witt, Wilson). This strike was distinguished from other strikes of recent years in that it was an offensive strike, not a defensive one. It was a struggle in which the union was prepared, fought over issues which it defined, and one which relied overwhelmingly on the efforts of the members themselves (http://www.igc.org/dbacon/Strikes/07ups.htm).
The paper will discuss minicases on ‘The White-Collar Union Organizer’ and ‘The Frustrated Labor Historians’ by Arthur A. Sloane and Fred Witney (2010), to understand the issues unions undergo in the marketplace. There is no predetermined statistical number reported of union memberships in this country. However, “the United Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) excludes almost 2 million U.S wages and salary employees, over half of whom are employed in the public sector, who are represented at their workplaces by a union but are not union members. Not being required to join a union as a condition of continued employment, these employees have for a variety of reasons chosen not to do so. Nor do the BLS estimates include union members who are currently unemployed” (Sloane & Witney, 2010, p.5). Given this important information, the examination of these minicases will provide answers to the problems unions face in organizational settings.
The case study of GMFC provides an example of a company attempting to avoid unionization of its workers. GMFC is expanding by building a new U.S. plant which will manufacture motorized recreational equipment. The company plans to hire about 500 production workers to assemble mechanical components, fabricate fiberglass body parts, and assemble the final products. In order to avoid the expected union campaign by the United Automobile Workers (UAW) to organize its workers, GMFC must implement specific strategies to keep the new plant union-free. GMFC’s planning committee offers suggestions with regards to the plant’s size, location, staffing, wages and benefits, and other employee relations issues in order to defend the company against the negative effects of unionization and increase...
In the past, many employers had simply ignored any union organization. The employers would simply ignore any rights put in place by unions, and even go so far as to fire union employees and union sympathizers. Employers would use spies to find out who was sympathetic to unions, and then circulate the names to other employers. These “blacklists” were used to fire employees and for other employers to decide whether or not a person ...
As Dr. Hayden has mentioned, there have been fewer instances of unions being used within organizations. Though my current and past employer both had active unions representing the employees, I haven’t had any direct experience with collective bargaining or grievances. At Bemis Inc. the presence of the union was far greater than that of NSWC Crane. My Bemis supervisor did not support the union and had been negatively affected by it within the first year of hire. The many union members who went on strike caused a mass internal confliction of untrained individuals having to perform hazardous manufacturing positions. Steingold mentions employers are not permitted to dismiss or otherwise punish workers who support the unionization (332). Therefore, temporary workers to replace those on strike would have caused further grievance claims from the employees on strike. The combination of lacking personnel and training created unsafe working conditions.
Since the terms and conditions of employment is a broad subject, the NLRB has regulated what subjects are considered mandatory in the collective bargaining process. The court have also general upheld the issue of mandatory subjects in the collective bargaining process be as broad as possible. This allow each individual issue to a violation of unfair practices to be decided on a case by case basis. Employers must also agree to meet with the labor union at a reasonable time as part of its duty to bargain in good faith. If there is a non mandatory or permissive issue determined by the NLRA then employers can refuse to meet and negotiate with the labor about these subjects. Permissive subjects do not have to be in the labor union contract so refusal to negotiate will not be considered an unfair labor practice by management. The Supreme Court has narrow the criteria of whether or not the subject is mandatory or not. The first test is whether or not the issue is obviously significant to the work environment (Petersen & Boller,
The issue of the strike has been a controversial subject over the years. Many consider that generally, strikes get out of the hands of workers, becoming violent, losing their true purpose. But a general strike is one of the instruments currently available to the public that serves to change the direction of policies, alter social equilibrium, remove consciences and unite citizens in the expression of discontent. The general strike is the most visible way that society has to protest, it is the way that citizens have to make themselves visible and demonstrate their degree of disagreement with the laws that are being approved. In general, for a strike to be legal, it must comply with the requirements set by law, it must be temporary and carried out by the majority of workers seeking to defend common interests.
The Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932 was one of the first major pieces of federal legislation establishing the rights of unions and union members. This act granted workers the right to organize and strike without fear of federal interference (CSU-Global, 2013). Norris-La Guardia limited the ability of the federal government and employers to engage in anti-union activities (Fossum, 2012). Workers were no longer required to sign “yellow dog contracts” which prevented them from joining unions and allowed dismissal due to union membership (Reed & Bogardus, 2012, p. 419). Although it legalized collective bargaining, the scope of Norris-La Guardia was somewhat limited because employers were not required to recognize labor unions established by employees (Fossum, 2012). Even so, passage of the Norris-La Guardia Act gave workers a foundation on which to as...
Unions have an extensive history of standing up for workers. They have advocated rights of steelworkers, coal miners, clothing factory employees, teachers, health care workers, and many others. The labor movement is based on the idea that organized workers as a group have more power than individuals would have on their own. The key purpose of any union is to negotiate contracts, making sure workers are respected and fairly compensated for their work. “In theory” unions are democratic organizations, resulting in varying inner authority. Workers look for security within a job a...
The Labour Relations Act, 1995 defines strike (cited by Swanepoel, 1999:261) as “the partial or complete concerted refusal to work, or the retardation or obstruction of work, by persons who are or have been employed by the same employer or by different employers, for the purposes of remedying a grievance
The movie Antitrust is a movie that does what many technology based movies do today. It exposes the truth about what we can really do with our increasingly advancing technology and how it can affect our lives immensely. In the story of Antitrust the plot evolves around what is called S.Y.N.A.P.S.E., which represents what will “Transform the way people communicate.” This new form of communication, due to S.Y.N.A.P.S.E., will be the first satellite delivered global communications system that links simultaneously every communication device in the world. The film addresses various sociological issues and deals with topics relevant to today’s society.
They initially agreed with our demands to not subcontract jobs, reimpliment a cost-of-living adjustment, improvements to the retirement benefits plan, a union shop clause and mandatory overtime not exceeding 10 hours. For the other three of our demands we were able to come to agreements that we felt favored the union. For the employers demands we were able to deny them of their request to have a six year contract, the right to subcontract, force employees to pay 20 percent of healthcare, allow supervisors to accrue seniority, and allow union members to leave the union after a contract. For two of their demands we worked out agreements that we feel favored the union and they had the favorable outcome for our last
Collective bargaining by definition mean is the process “of good faith” that takes place between an organisation’s management and a trade union (representing the organisation’s employees) for negotiating:
A lockout is the opposite of a strike. During a strike the employees walk off the job and during a lockout the employer prohibits the workers from doing their jobs. A lockout is a limitation put on the employees by the employer, by either suspending their work or closing the workplace down. The ultimate purpose of a lockout is to enforce the collective agreement terms on the bargaining table, on to the union. However, a lockout cannot take place during the time of a valid collective agreement, it can only happen during the negotiation period.
Based on the Labour Law, although employees are not working and are not entitled to pay wages, they are still considered employees and cannot be terminated simply because of being on strike. Employees who strike to protect an unfair labor practice cannot be fired or permanently replaced. When the strike is over, these employees must be reinstated to their jobs.