Unions 1 3 example essay topic

Collective Bargaining: a process in which representatives of Labor & Mgmt negotiate the terms & conditions of employment. Structure: Single Employer Bargaining: a single employer involved w / a single union (can also bargain w / more than 1 unit). Boutique is a specialized Taylor agreement b / w employer & unit (usually seen in oligopolistic type market) Pattern Bargaining: Pick a target firm & then form an agreement (Pay, benefits, etc.) called a pattern (i.e. 6% over 2 years). Ex: The Caterpillar Company - United Automobiles Union (DEER) the Union wanted a pattern, company did not so they went on strike, ended up going back to work w / no agreement, and then went on strike again. They ended up accepting less than the pattern. Bridgestone & United rubber are another example.

They stroke because company would not allow 'em to pattern bargain. Union did not survive strike, now combined w / steel workers unions. Multi-Employer Bargaining: Employer meets w / all units & comes up w / the same agreement (i.e. all athletes, all grocery workers, etc.) They form an employers association & the representative of that negotiates. Book: a behavior theory of Labor Negotiations - Richard Walton & Robert McKenzie. It revolutionized thinking about negotiations.

This book was done in both perspectives instead of just one side. There are 4 aspects of negotiation: 1. Distributive Bargaining: involves $ typically & how $ distributed. Fixed sum is usually how $ is distributed.

Union wants a bigger piece of the pie & company wants to hold onto that piece of that pie. Labor & Mgmt view each other as adversaries. Union asks for everything & a lot of it. Mgmt says take away, loss of privileges a little more subtle approach. 2. Integrative Bargaining: The 2 groups get together & problem solve on ways to make the pie bigger.

They get along w / each other & must be creative. Their view is productivity can never be high enough. In the 1980's Chrysler Corp. had a lot of problems & were setting records for losing $. They only had big cars that were gas-guzzlers (headed for bankruptcy). Chief Executive, Iakoka wanted to buy a little time so that they would be ok. Company wanted Gov. to bail 'em out w / working capital to get the company going again.

Gov. did not lend the $, but offered loan variability. The bank would lend the $, but the Gov. would back the company & the loan. The deal was the company had to cut labor cost, which it did quickly. 3.

Attitudinal Structuring: Highly important. Attitudes good then agreements are easier. Some are power operations. Cooperation comes out ahead of un cooperation. It's a give & take process. 4.

Intraoraganizational Bargaining: Labor bargains w / labor & mgm t bargains w / mgm t to solve problems b 4 bargaining begins. Power in Bargaining: 1. Induce other person to agree w / u by positive incentives. Negative Fashion: Union = strike, picket, etc.

Mgmt = lockouts, threats relocation, and negative media. Negative tends to dominate in Business (manufacturing) 2. Positive make work place safer, healthier. You catch more bees w / honey then u do w / vinegar.

3. Exploring possibilities for a win / win situation. Disputes & Dispute Settlements: 1. Impasse Resolution Procedures: a. Mediation (most common method): involves neutral third party. Many parties don't even know what the argument is about, mediator gets together separately w / each party and attempt to determine what the problem is, along with where each side stands.

Mediators must be trusted, tend to be good listeners. In the end, the mediator can suggest things that can be done. i. Where do mediators come from? 1. Set up by Taft Hartley Act, most have had careers in Labor & Mgmt. At least half mediators are women.

Deal w / big companies & interstate commerce 2. State of CA mediators & Conciliation Service: smaller companies, plus state & local gov. 3. Private mediators: Fairly uncommon, have to be paid for because they are uniquely qualified or respected. ii. Not always successful, compromise b / w the mediator & parties.

Works about 70% of the time. b. Voluntary Interest Arbitration: People voluntary submit the issue to arbitration. It isn't used very often - Stronger party will not wanna go to arbitration because they want to keep upper hand. Arbitration is not the best idea, not easy for someone to come in & make the best decision. c. Complusory Interest Arbitration: used primarily for the firefighter or police disputes (law requires). It is a substitute for a strike.

27 states have compulsory arbitration statues. i. Conventional Method: 3 ways to approach this: Split the difference, chilling effect - parties move farther apart than staying close together, dependence / narcotic effect. ii. Final Offer Method: Arbitrator must choose one offer or another offer 1. Package Arrangement: Arbitrator chooses the whole package of union side or the employer side. 2. Issue by issue: instead of the whole package, they pick each one Grievance: Any work related dispute or issue - those matters which involve company policy, or collective bargaining agreement.

As company gets bigger you get departmentalization. The easy way to deal w / it is to have a grievance procedure w / o interrupting productivity a. it is a bottom to top upward flow of communication. a way to keep unions out. In collective bargaining agreement, this is the way that grievances should be done 1. the informal step employee & supervisor (most problems solved here) 2. Put into writing - 1st level supervisor involved 3. Chief & 2nd level supervisor 4. Union President & Plant office mgr.

5. Arbitration Typically grievances are 3-5 steps. Have to filled out after it happens (as little as 2 weeks, typically 30-60 days) Trilogy involved 3 cases (1 not covered), all involved United Steel workers, all decided by William O. Douglas. 1. Vaca vs. 's. Sites: Discharged from work, union filled grievance & didn't go to arbitration, figured they would lose against company.

Filled a suit that he was not represented. Courts decided that they don't have to take it to arbitration, but have to consider it in good faith. 2. Bowen vs. 's. American Postal Workers: Bowen involved in a fistfight @ the Postal Service, and got fired. Union didn't take to arbitration.

Bowen submitted to union proof of not involved in the fight, the union did nothing, so he submitted to the postal service & they put him back to work. Sued the union for failing to represent him correctly. Court felt that the union was negligent. Do things in good faith. General points: - 40% of cases involve discipline.

- Progressive discipline except for a certain extreme case, give the employee a chance to correct behavior. - Just cause - always found in collective bargaining. In arbitration people go back to work, in court they never do. Worker Security: Minimum wage: provides protection for people on the low scale of the pay rates. The more you raise minimum wage, the more unemployment increases.

1. Fair labor standard act (1938): 3 main provisions a. Minimum wage originally was $0.25/hour, now is $5.15/hour. States can have higher. b. Employees are paid x 1.5/hour if exceed 40 hours / week. c. Must be 18 to work in hazardous occupations (mill, factory, construction, mine), otherwise 16 years of age.

Kids 14-16 can work no more than 3 hours / day, not past 7 PMd. Numerous exceptions. - Exempt vs. 's. Nonexempt (Executives, Professionals, Admin employees are exempt): No limit working hours for exempt.

For non exempt, by Walsh-Healy Act (1936) is limited to 8 hours / day - applies to all Fed. Contract- Living wage is for those who work in that city (cities set up minimum wage) 2. Workers Compensation: The earlier Employee Defenses were: a. Contributory Negligence: employee contributed to accident (i.e. oil dripping) b.

Fellow Servant Doctrine: employee injured due to fellow worker negligence c. Assumption of Risk: take the risk when u take the job. The risk is part of ur employment. - Workers Compensation operates on the idea of strict liability. Doesn't matter who was negligent. Workers Compensation is state not federal.

Highest paid is $400/week if you are out of work. All hospitalization & medical bills are paid. Death benefits are paid to a family, 80-90 thousand for a family of four. - Worker Compensations doesn't cover if you are hurt off of the job.

(State Disability Insurance - SDI or TDI are for those) - $ comes from insurance, some are through private. It can also be done through the State Disability Fund. Liberty Mutual is the largest underwriter in the nation. - Problems w / Workers Compensations: a. Disparity in Payments: Funds can differ as much as 5 times, also not all types of incidents are paid in each state. b. Fraud-fake injuries or continuation of injuries: More claims are psychological nature than physical, these claims are 2 to 3 times more expensive then physical 3.

Social Security Act (1935) Created a program called Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance (OAS DHI) - didn't include Health until 1960's (Medicare). Another name is Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA). Almost everyone is covered except railroad workers, and certain others. Eligibility for benefits is based on how long u worked & how much u made. Both men & women can collect at age 62 (72% collect here). Age 65 has changed to 67 to receive full benefits.

The program is capped. 4. Unemployment Insurance Compensation: - The way Social Security is financed: Premium is based on risk and based on service provider. The older u get, the lower the car insurance rates are. You are charged a small fee for service provided (Agents, claim agents, executives, etc). What is left over is invested.

Those investments make $. - Unemployment Program under Social Security: Both Fed. & State (mostly State) The CA Agency is the Employment Development Dept. They do 2 things Distributes funds to those that are eligible o Help individuals finds jobs. - Each state has a different law. Coverage is almost everyone, except railroads & couple others- The individuals have to be laid off for economic reason.

39% nationally only unemployed and receiving benefits. Less than 1/2 do not get benefits. Temp. and part time are not eligible. - Individual must worked for a certain amount of time & fired for a cause. (not for those striking or fired) - There is a waiting period of a week be 4 benefits can begin. - Ideally 88% get money about 50% what they normally make. The highest weekly benefit is $447/week (in Massachusetts), lowest is $190/week (Mississippi).

The duration is determined by the states, maximum amount of time is 26 weeks. - Financing is based on tax paid by employer - Pay as you go system- Lastly the limitations are: people ran out of weeks, fake looking for jobs (most significant is fraud) Inflation & Unemployment: A.W. Phillips Curve - Shift in the curve, unemployment went up. So they both went up. People called it stagflation.

Interest rates are the key element to any economy. Interest rates are based on 2 things: the cost of living, and the declining value of $. If inflation goes to too high levels because Gov. spending so interest rates goes up & discourages expansion. - Unemployment & inflation give us a good idea of how we are doing. The Cause of Inflation: 1.

Demand Pull - excess $ made by the Gov. The price of Goods & Services go up. M x V = P x Q. This is too many dollars chasing too many goods. 2. Wage Push - 2 ways - Unions & big companies interact to push wages higher, cause firms to raise prices (Devil theory). 3.

Supply Shock - sudden decrease of a commodity. Oil is where we experience supply shock. The supply curve shifts up. Remedies for inflation: 1.

Monetary policy - (12 board members, Alan Greenspan - chairman) where the Gov. Federal Reserves board sells bonds to straighten out the inflation rates. 2. Fiscal policy - modest tax cut, putting $ into people's packet so they will spend. 3. Income policy - attempt to regulate wages & prices- Wage Price Freeze - is to freeze wages & prices for a certain amount of time- Mandatory Wage Price Control - wages & prices raised by so much a year, if you exceed that price then you will be fined or face imprisonment. (law passed by Gov.) - Voluntary Wage Price Control - Compliance is voluntary.

If you violate guidelines you cannot be punished- Presidential Persuasion - "Moral suasion" means president makes known some guidelines of price & wager control The only affective way to correct the problem of inflation is monetary policy. The others are used, because it makes the Gov. look like they are trying a program to fight inflation It is recommend to not do Wage / Price controls Laws 1. Employment Act of 1946 - puts Fed Gov. to facilitate employment opportunities for all those able within price & wage stabilization 2. Humphrey Hawkins Act of 1978 - reaffirms 19463. Work-Force Investment Act of 1998 - Gov. & tax dollar at work - reaffirm 1946 again. National Rate of Unemployment: 5.7% overall Nov. 2001, Adult Men 5.3%, Adult women 4.9%, CA is 6%.

Teenagers 15.9%, Whites 5.1%, Blacks 10.1%. The lowest rate is for married men. Causes of Unemployment: East Bay 3%, overall State unemployment is higher 1. Technical - replacement of employee by machine. People who have minimal skills. 2.

Foreign Competition - Foreign countries by American made products (Big) 3. Seasonal - Industries that depend on the changes 4. Strike - people who become unemployed because of strike. Nothing you can do to prevent it 5. Structural (product market) - something to do with product market-goods / services we buy.

Demand deficiency 6. Frictional (Labor market) - quit to look for new job. Transition from college student to career, military to civilian. 7. Cyclical - in a recession people become pessimistic & let people go 8. Geographical - resources are gone, can't get them out.

9. Government Policy (suppose to reduce) - Gov. spends lots of $, they destroy jobs by closing navy bases because of costs. 10. Extreme Factors - i.e. Force Majeure (a major force an act of God) - events which take place outside org. - earthquake, tornado, flood, terrorism. Public Employment: - 1 in 7 people work for the Gov. 40% public represented by unions & 1/3 of that are members. - CA - FA, CFA, Gray Davis put mandatory agency shop for public universities & teachers.

- Public - Fed, Dept of Defense, IRS, Fed Bureau of Labor, Commerce, Postal workers. Without the Postal workers & Military there are 2 1/2 million employees. - Cities - Police, firefighters, and Blue and White collar workers many are unionized Organizations that Public Employees Join: 1. Unions that represent employees in private industries (Teamsters, SEIU, UAW) 2. Unions that represent employees in public industries (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -AFSCME, International Association of Fire Fighters - I AFF 3. "Near Unions" professional associations of Gov. employees (National Education Association, American Nurses Association, Union of American Physicians & Dentist) Law: State & local about 1/2 states 1.

Right to unionize & bargain collectively 2. Unfair labor practices for employers & unions 3. Procedures for union representation elections 4. Administration by a state board (i.e. California Public Employment Relation Board) 5. Impasse Resolution procedures (i.e. mediation) 6. Allowance for grievance arbitration Strikes: Workers in private industries have the right to strike (Section 7 of NLR A) 1.

Strikes that imperil the national health or safety 2. A no strike clause in the collective bargaining agreement Public Employee Strikes: Law forbids strikes by Fed. & postal workers. Strikes by state & local Gov. employees are prohibited in most jurisdictions (State, Fed, Local, Areas) Only 12 states allow a limited right to strike: Oregon, CA, Idaho, Illinois, Wisconsin, Alaska, Ohio, Vermont, Montana, Hawaii..