Question | Answer |
History of U.S. Labor Unions | Began before the Declaration of Independence - Early unions were loose-knit, local organizations - Served primarily as friendship groups or benevolent societies - Were typically short-lived - Gradually grew strong enough to get results to their demands |
Labor union: | group of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in the important areas of wages, hours, and working conditions |
American Federation of Labor (AFL): | organization that united individual craft unions under a common affiliation in 1886 - By 1920, three out of four organized workers were AFL members |
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO): | grouping of industrial unions |
Union membership peaked during... | ...the 1940s and 1950s |
Union membership as a percentage of the workforce steadily declined during ... | ...the second half of the last century except among government employees |
Two of every five government... | ...Two of every five government |
National union: | union organization made up of many local unions |
Local union: | organization operating as a branch of a national union, representing union members in a given geographic area |
International union: | union with members outside of the U.S. |
Federation: | grouping of many national and international unions to serve mediation and political functions |
Closed shop: | employment policy, illegal in the U.S., requiring a firm to hire only current union members |
Union shop: | employment policy requiring nonunion workers to join a union that represents a firm’s workers within a specified period after being hired |
Agency shop: | employment policy that allowing workers to reject union membership but requiring them to pay fees equal to union dues |
Open shop: | employment policy making union membership and dues voluntary for all workers |
Right-to-work laws: | prohibit union shops and outlaw compulsory union membership |
Taft- Hartly Act | outlawed unfair practices like: Refusal to bargain with employer - Striking without 60 days notice - Most secondary boycotts - Featherbedding (demanding pay for workers who do not work) |
Boycott: | effort to prevent people from purchasing a firm’s goods or services |
Collective bargaining: | negotiation between management and union representatives concerning wages and working conditions for an entire group of workers |
How Employee’s Form a Union: | Must conduct an organizing drive to collect the signatures of at least 30 percent of employees on special authorization cards - Union then petitions the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election |
Bargaining Patterns | Vary for different industries and different occupational categories - Most collective bargaining involves single-plant, single-employer agreements - A multiplant, single-employer agreement applies to all plant operated by an employer |
Coalition bargaining | involves negotiations between a coalition of several unions that represent the employees of one company |
industrywide bargaining | a single, national union engages in collective bargaining with several employers in a particular industry |
Issues covered in a bargaining agreements include | wages, work hours, benefits, union activities and responsibilities, grievance procedures and arbitration, and employee rights and seniority |
Bargaining zone: | range of collective bargaining between conditions that induce a union to strike and those that induce management to close the plant |
Union Contracts... | ...Typically cover a 2 or 3 year period...Once ratified by the union membership, contract becomes a legally binding agreement that covers all labor-management relations during the period specified |
Wage Adjustments in Labor Contract... | ...Contracts often provide for wage adjustments during the life of the contract...designed to protect the real incomes of workers during periods of inflation by increasing wages in proportion to increases in the CPI |
Consumer Price Index (CPI): | indicator for the cost of living that tracks the cost of such expenses as housing, clothing, food, and automobiles |
Givebacks: | wage and benefit concessions to help employers remain competitive and continue to provide jobs for union members |
Mediation: | process which brings in a third party, called a mediator, to make recommendations for settling differences |
Arbitration: | bringing in an impartial third party called an arbitrator to render a binding decision in the dispute |
Grievance: | employee or union complaint that management is violating some provision of the union contract |
Strike (walkout): | temporary work stoppage by employees until a dispute is been settled or a contract signed |
Picketing: | workers marching at a plant entrance to protest some management practice |
Lockout: | in fact, a management strike to bring pressure on union members by closing the firm |
Strikebreakers: | nonunion workers who cross picket lines to fill the jobs of striking workers |
Injunction: | court order prohibiting some practice – to prevent excessive picketing or certain unfair union practices |
Employers’ associations: | employers group that cooperates and presents a united front in dealing with labor unions |
THE TREND TOWARD UNION-MANAGEMENT CO-OPERATION | Hostile and antagonistic attitudes that have sometimes characterized labor-management relationships are changing - Companies should treat employees as valuable human resources and adopt policies designed to empower them |
EMPLOYEE-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS IN NONUNION ORGANIZATIONS | Nonunion companies often offer compensation and benefits comparable to those of unionized firms to avert unionization - Satisfied workers may thus conclude that a union is unnecessary |
Grievance Programs for Non-union Employees | Can file: Lawsuits against their firms - Charges with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission - Charges with a state human rights commission |