Labor Relations © Nancy Brown Johnson,

Learning Outcomes  Students will be able to explain the underlying premise of the US labor movement.  Students will be able to provide an overview of US labor laws.  Students will be able to explain the reasons for the decline in the US labor movement

History: Early Union Attempts  Utopian Schemes  Legislation: Populist Movements  Radical Movements: Syndicalists

Knights of Labor  Abolish wage system using education  Did not believe in strikes  Organized workers by geography  Strikes gained them members

American Federation of Labor (AFL)  No reformist goals-accepted capitalism  Collective bargaining  Strikes  Craft union autonomy  No legislative attempts  Business Unionism

Early Legal Environment  Common Law  Criminal Conspiracy Doctrine  Ends/Means Test  ends to raise wages  means was the strike  Injunction  Yellow-dog contract

Norris-LaGuardia  1932  Restricted use of the Injunction  Made yellow-dog contracts unenforceable  Neutral

Congress for Industrial Organization (CIO)  Industrial v. craft  Kicked out of AFL  Successfully organized auto, steel, rubber

National Labor Relations Act NLRA (1935)  Also Wagner Act  Pro-labor  Provided for union election  Created Employer Unfair Labor Practices  Create National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce

Employer Unfair Labor Practices  Cannot threaten, restrain, or coerce employees in attempting to unionize  Must bargain in good faith  Employer must not discriminate based upon union activity  No company unions

Taft-Hartley (1947)  “Slave labor bill”  Established union unfair labor practices  Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service (FMCS)  Precluded secondary activity  Right-to-work laws

Landrum-Griffin (1959)  Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act  Union Financial Reporting  Employee Bill of Rights  Union Representative Elections

Public Sector Laws  Federal - Civil Service Reform Act 1978  federal workers could join unions  cannot negotiate wages  cannot strike  State and Local  enacted on state by state basis  usually precludes right to strike

Union Membership  Peaked in 1955 at 35%  Today approximately 12.4%  Public sector workers 37.4 percent  Education, training, and library occupations 38.1 percent

Reasons for the Decline  Global Economy  Deregulation  Move from Manufacturing to Services  Laws Providing Employment Protection  More Aggressive Management Tactics

Why People Vote for Unions  Dissatisfied with wages & working conditions  Believe union can improve (instrumentality)  No other choice

Union Effects  Exit/Voice Hypothesis  Voice - complain  Exit - leave

Union Effects  Voice  unions encourage voice  decreases turnover  increases productivity  Monopoly  unions raise wages  cause labor market inefficiencies

Contract Negotiation Process  Distributive bargaining (win-lose)  Integrative bargaining (win-win)  Attitudinal Structuring  Intra-organizational bargaining

Union Bargaining Power  Product Demand is strong  Product Perishability is high  Capital intensive  Replacement workers not available  Single production sites or  Facilities are not very integrated  Lack of product substitutes

Impasse-Resolution Procedures: Strike Alternatives  Mediation  Arbitration  Grievance Procedures

Grievance Procedures 1 Oral: supervisor. 2 Written: higher level manager-steward and management representative meet. 3 Written Appeal: top level / labor relations staff. 4 Arbitration: final & binding decision.

Measuring Labor Relations Effectiveness  Strikes  Wages and Benefits  Productivity  Profits