As the Office Manager at Teamsters Local No 324, my role was to ensure that new members returned their applications for membership within 30 days of employment in order for them to continue working. Their applications contained all their personal information including social security numbers and date of birth. The same information for their spouse and additional designated beneficiaries was also included on their application for their life insurance policy. I was accountable to make sure this information was kept confidential and filed appropriately. I also did all the paperwork for any life insurance payouts. These forms contained social security numbers and dates of birth for both the member and their beneficiaries. Additionally, I assisted
Employee manuals are an important document for employees and employers alike. This document provides the fundamental information that a company may wish to convey to its new employees and as a refresher for old employees. It is a general rule that all businesses with fifteen or more full-time or part-time employees should have an employee manual (Pestronk). Once a business has fulfilled the minimum requirement of fifteen employees “it becomes subject to the equal-employment opportunity provisions of the federal civil rights laws,” and consequently th...
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).
In the 20th century, the labor unions destroyed the free market by restraining business for the wealthy with regulations such as businesses closing down, rioters destroying good, and embargoing businesses. This prevented businesses from being successful.
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...
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
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...
Our client, the Union should not be responsible for the deaths and unruly behavior that belonged to the Pinkertons, as well as Henry Frick and Andrew Carnegie. These men were simply trying to attend work with a higher wage attached, as they had been working very hard long shifts, up to even twenty-four hour periods. Mr. Frick and Mr. Carnegie were not only working behind closed doors and hiding information from the public but were certainly living lavishly while these steelworkers were busting through every morning in order to gain what they needed to survive.
“Unions are about collective leverage, the power of numbers versus the power of capital” - Canadian entrepreneur, Kevin O’Leary. The American workplace has not always provided protections for employees. Until the early 20th century business owners held all of the power in the employee/employer relationship. Workers were subjected to extremely long hours, low wages and dangerous working conditions, with no recourse or protections. Organized labor over the last century challenged the position and power of employers and lobbied the government to create laws and policies that would protect workers and create safer working environments for employees. The majority of policies that today’s average employee takes for granted, such as the eight
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...
The Department of Labor believed that Eileen Foster a whistleblower at Countrywide Financial was improperly terminated by Bank of America Corp. Foster was a vice president in charge of investigating fraud at Countrywide Financial who took her job seriously. A Countrywide employee in Boston contacted Eileen Foster with evidence of widespread loan fraud, foster investigated and confirmed the employee’s report and eventually shut down six Countrywide offices in Massachusetts. As a government investigator for this case, I feel that the employee did the right thing by contacting Foster (Fraedrich, Ferrell, & Jackson, 2011).
Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).
Thieblot, A. J. (2006). Perspectives on Union Corruption: Lessons from the Databases. Journal of Labor Research, 27(4), 513-536. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12122-006-1018-8
Money is the foremost incentive why infinite people work around the world. There are unequal classifications of jobs that contain more physical labor or deskwork. Some work as rescuers, businessmen, consultants, a student, doctors, or even garbage men. No matter where an individual works, they will always encounter three types of workers: Hard-Workers, Slackers, and Mediocres.
Verma, A. and McKersie, R.B. (1987) 'Employee Involvement: The Implications of Noninvolvement by Unions', Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol. 40, no. 4, July, pp. 556-568.
Labor relations emerged as response towards combating the economic unrest that accompanied the 1930 Great depression. At this period, massive unemployment, decreasing salary and wages, and over competition for jobs despite poor working conditions, was being experience; especially in the US. In turn employees were aggravated and therefore resorted to labor strike that often escalated to violence. To avoid such incident that could potentially harm further an ailing economy, the US government set precedent by passing their first related Labor relationship act, also referred to as the Wagner act. This act excluded public sector and some employees in the informal sector, farm workers to be specific. However, the progressive change in business and labor environment, necessitated changes in the labor laws to ensure they are more inclusive (Haywood & Sijtsma, 2000).