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Development of labor unions
Challenges in collective bargaining
Challenges in collective bargaining
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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. …show more content…
Even with the primary focus being on work practices, I always noticed that the president of union never actually worked and would socialize with a select few employees. I would occasionally talk to the employees he ignored, but they would prevent the discussion from covering the union policies. Little did I know, I was committing one of Steingold’s non permitted actions (332). However, with a slight ethical impediment, I believe the president would insinuate fractional forms of intimidation to at least maintain his reign of the union. Steingold states “they do not have the right to threaten or intimidate other workers to gain support for a union” (333). Would intimidation for self-sustainment within the union be the same as intimidation for gaining support? I believe the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act indicates his intimidation as illegal. 29 U.S.C.
...t be done in work. This man is also upset because the point of unions is to increase the workers strength in bargaining with employers. The union clearly did not help in the case of the GM workers in Flint.
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).
Unions are voluntary associations joined by workers. The Combination Act of 1800, which hindered the growth of unions, states that every workman's goal, who are entering into any combination should not be obtaining an advance of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours, or influencing any other to quit his work. Any workman who did so shall be committed to jail (Doc 1). Although the Combination Act of 1800 prevented the growth of unions, Ralph Chaplin believes that a worker should join the union. He states that there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun, but the unions, which makes it strong (Doc 2). Since there's so many workers working in bad conditions, the labor laws came to action.
This type of strike would be similar to something unions would embrace today. Things changes when it seemed the Carnegie Steel was going to try and bring in replacement workers for those on strike. The company was within limits of the law if they brought non-union members in to work. The first official battle occurred on July 6 because it was discovered that 300 Pinkerton detectives were coming ashore from up the river to the Carnegie Mills. The union workers were then going to seize the mills and keep out all people working for Carnegie. They were going to take control of the facility in order to try and persuade management to agree to their terms. The union members were aware of replacements coming in and planned to stop them at all costs. At this point gunfire began from parties on either side; both the strikers and the detectives. It was never clearly recorded who took the first shot, but more union members were in trouble than anyone else. About 11 men died, two from the Pinkertons and 9 from the union. An incredibly large number of men on both sides were also injured from the battle. In the days following the battle, it was discussed between the AA and the company to end the rioting that had begun yet there were no signs of the strike stopping. Militia was called in and remained for a while, and troops were given warrants to arrest members of the strike for murder and other crimes. However, the
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 white-collar union organizer affiliates in the case consist of: an office worker and the Office Employee International Union organizer, Nancy Rogers (Sloane & Witney, 2010). Base on Sloane & Witney (2010), “white-collar workers have long felt superior to their blue-collar-worker counterparts and tended to believe that joining a union decreases their occupational prestige” (p.13). It is synonymous to the office worker’s explanation to Rogers on the company’s culture as management’s influence toward nonunion workers to reframe from joining unions has resulted in paying them greater salaries, impose the idea of unions are only for manual workers and inappropriate for white-collar people to join (Sloane & Witney, 2010).This case provided a reference t...
Employees had to endure poor pay and unsafe working conditions. As described by Raynor (2009), the company J.P. Stevens paid poverty wages and provided deplorable working conditions in the mills; workers lost fingers, had to inhale cotton dust, and some lost hearing because of the constant drone of the deafening machines. Norma Rae knew that she, her family, and her coworkers deserved more out of their employer for the work they were doing (Raynor, 2009). As Fossum (2012) points out, “employees are more likely to unionize as job dissatisfaction increases” (p. 9). This becomes the case in the movie; dissatisfaction continues to grow, and with some leadership, the union finally gets voted in. The miserable working conditions, and leadership, were clearly portrayed in the movie. One worker said at point he had a window at his station but it was sealed off to have that feeling of being closed in. The biggest concern/example seemed to happen when Norma Rae’s father was having problems feeling his arm but was told by the floor supervisor to continue working; he subsequently passed out and died. An important part to remember about union representation is that “dissatisfaction alone does not automatically mean a union organizining campaign will result or a representation election will be won” (Fossum, 2012, p. 10). As
It was only a matter of time before women received the right to vote in many belligerent countries. Strong forces are shaping the power and legal status of labor unions, too. The right of workers to organize is relatively new, about half a century. Employers fought to keep union organizers out of their plants, and armed force was often used against striking workers. The universal rallying of workers towards their flag at the beginning of the war led to wider acceptance of unions.
You are right about the political ties Robert, in fact it was the issue in Communication Workers of America v. Beck. In 1988, Harry Beck took his case to the Supreme Court. He did not agree with the union officials spending his hard earned money towards the promotion of political their agenda, with which he did not agree (The "Beck" Decision, and How it Affects You, n.d.). Can you believe that the union spent 79 percent of his money for purpose that was not normal union duties (The "Beck" Decision, and How it Affects You, n.d.)? Now fast-forward to the Bush and Clinton administrations, workers have regained very little of their freedom due to the fact that both administrations had very little interest in enforcing the law (Cassandra, 1998).
During an authorized plant inspection by Ruben Warshovsky, part of the unionization campaign, the union representative would stop and address employees ¡§Hello, I am Ruben Warshovsky from the United Textiles Workers Union of America,¡¨ or some other greeting identifying himself as a union representative while traveling through the plant. Management threatened to get an injunc...
They are appropriate in many situations to ensure the demands of the employees are properly addressed and potentially adhered to. Management and unions seek to avoid a strike. With an honest assessment of the internal resources and external forces that affect union strategy, the union should be able to identify concrete accomplishments that are within reach and those matters that would be nice but are probably unachievable (Missouri, 2015). An example is the NFL referees union that organized a strike in 2012. The strike materialized for two primary reasons. First, the referees were seeking benefits that they put at $16.5 million over the five years of a new contract (Mills, 2012). Secondly, the NFL felt as if they could use replacement referees until the referees union
My first reason supporting the motion that workers should be allowed to strike is in order to bring to the fore poor safety conditions. For instance, in the nuclear power industry, any breaches of safety can have tragic consequences. If the employees are exposed to nuclear material, this could lead to serious illnesses such as cancer, leukaemia and radiation sickness. Radioactive material could also affect residents of the surrounding area, as in the case of the Chernobyl disaster. In the light of poor safety conditions, workers striking can be justified by the fact that the government and public would be informed.
This paper presents a case study regarding Omega Inc., which has a contract sales force for its products. The contractors are employed by independently operated franchised dealers and do not work directly for Omega. Recently, Omega provided a training program for the sales force designed to improve sales performance and the franchisees instituted a performance management system to measure goal accomplishment. There are six primary steps in a performance management system and this paper will review five of the six steps as each relates to the subsequent step.
The Mackay doctrine has become increasingly controversial in recent years, leading to repeated attempts to enact federal legislation banning the use of permanent striker replacements. The current version of this bill, entitled the Workplace Fairness Act, was passed by the House but has not yet come up for a vote in the Senate” Graham and Schnell (1994) I believe union will continue to diminish as society continue to improve its labor laws.
The laws and regulations surrounding Industrial Relations since the 1900’s have, at each reform, placed tighter constraints on the amount of power unions are able to exert. The reforms have also radically increased managerial prerogative, through an increased use of individual bargaining, contracts and restrictions imposed on unions (Bray and Waring, 2006). Bray and W...