1. Chapter 42 Labor Relations Law

2. The right of workers to form, join, and assist labor unions is a statutorily protected right in the United States.
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3. Federal Labor Union Statutes
Norris-LaGuardia Act
National Labor Relations Act
Labor-Management Relations Act
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
Railway Labor Act
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4. Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932
Stipulates that it is legal for employees to organize.
Removes the federal courts’ power to enjoin peaceful union activity.
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5. National Labor Relations Act of 1935
Also known as the Wagner Act or NLRA.
Establishes the right of employees to:
form, join, and assist labor organizations
bargain collectively with employers
engage in concerted activity to promote these rights
Places an affirmative duty on employers to bargain and deal in good faith with unions.
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6. Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947
Amended the Wagner Act.
Also known as the Taft-Hartley Act.
Expands the activities that labor unions can engage in.
Gives employers the right to engage in free-speech efforts against unions prior to a union election.
Gives the President the right to seek an injunction against a strike that would create a national emergency.
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7. Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959
Also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act.
Regulates internal union affairs and establishes the rights of union members.
Requires regularly scheduled elections for union officials by secret ballot
Prohibits ex-convicts and communists from holding union office
Makes union officials accountable for union funds and property
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8. Railway Labor Act of 1926 (amended in 1934)
Covers employees of railroad and airline carriers.
This act permits:
self-organization of employees
prohibits interference with this right
provides for the adjustment of grievances
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9. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Administrative agency created by the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act.
Oversees union elections
Prevents employers and unions from engaging in illegal and unfair labor practices
Enforces and interprets certain federal labor laws.
NLRB decisions are enforceable in court.
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10. Organizing a Union
Section 7 of the NLRA – gives employees the right to join together to form a union.
Appropriate Bargaining Unit – the group that the union is seeking to represent.
Must be defined before the union can petition for an election.
Managers and professional employees may not belong to unions formed by employees whom they manage.
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11. Types of Union Elections
30 percent of the employees in the bargaining unit must indicate interest in joining or forming a union.
NLRB is petitioned, investigates and sets election date.
Contested election
Consent election
Decertification election
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12. Union Elections (continued)
If a simple majority of the employees of the appropriate bargaining unit vote to join a union,
the union is certified as the bargaining agent of all the employees,
even those who did not vote for the union.
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13. Union Solicitation on Company Property
An employer may restrict union solicitation activities by employees to nonworking areas during employees’ free time.
Off-duty employees may be barred from union solicitation on company premises.
Non-employee union organizers or officers may be prohibited from soliciting on behalf of the union anywhere on company property.
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14. Union Solicitation on Company Property (continued)
Inaccessibility Exception
A rule that permits employees and union officials to engage in union solicitation on company property if the employees are beyond reach of reasonable union efforts to communicate with them.
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15. Illegal Interference with an Election
Section 8(a) of the NLRA – makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with, coerce, or restrain employees from exercising their statutory right to form and join a union.
Section 8(b) of the NLRA – prohibits unions from engaging in unfair labor practices that interfere with a union election.
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16. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988
Covers employers with 100 or more employees.
Requires employers to give their employees 60 days’ notice before engaging in certain plant closings or layoffs.
If the employees are represented by a union, the notice must be given to the union.
If they are not, the notice must be given to the employees individually.
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17. Collective Bargaining
The act of negotiating contract terms between an employer and the members of a union.
Collective Bargaining Agreement – the resulting contract from a collective bargaining procedure.
The employer and the union must bargain with each other in good faith.
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18. Subjects of Collective Bargaining
Compulsory Subjects
Wages
Hours
Other terms and conditions of employment
Illegal Subjects
Closed shops
Discrimination
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19. Subjects of Collective Bargaining (continued)
Permissive Subjects
Size and composition of the supervisory force
Location of plants
Corporate reorganizations
Any other subjects that are not compulsory or illegal
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20. Union Security Agreements
Union Shop
Employee must join the union within a certain number of days after being hired.
Employees who do not join must be discharged by the employer upon notice from the union.
Union members pay union dues to the union.
Union shops are lawful.
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21. Union Security Agreements (continued)
Agency Shop
Employees do not have to become union members.
They do have to pay an agency fee (an amount equal to union dues) to the union.
Agency shops are lawful.
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22. Check-Off Provision
Upon proper notification by the union, union shop and agency shop employers are required to:
Deduct union dues and agency fees from employees’ wages, and
Forward these dues to the union.
This is called a check-off provision.
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23. State Right-to-Work Laws
Section 14(b) of the Taft Hartley Act – allows states to enact right-to-work laws that outlaw union or agency shops.
Individual employees cannot be forced to join a union or pay union dues and fees even though a union has been elected by other employees.
21 states have enacted right-to-work laws.
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24. Strikes
The NLRA gives union management the right to recommend that the union call a strike if a collective bargaining agreement cannot be reached.
A majority vote of the union’s members must agree to the action before there can be a strike.
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25. Employer Lockout
Act of the employer to prevent employees from entering the work premises when the employer reasonably anticipates a strike.
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26. Crossover Worker
Individual members of a union do not have to honor the strike.
They may:
Choose not to strike, or
Return to work after joining the strikers for a time
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27. Replacement Workers
Workers who are hired to take the place of striking workers.
They can be hired on either a temporary or permanent basis.
If replacement workers are given permanent status, they do not have to be dismissed when the strike is over.
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28. Illegal Strikes Several types of strikes have been held to be illegal.
They are not protected by federal labor law.
Illegal strikers may be discharged by the employer with no rights to reinstatement.
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29. Illegal strikes are: Violent Strikes Sit-Down Strikes
Partial or Intermittent Strikes
Wildcat Strikes
Strikes during the 60-day Cooling-Off Period
Strikes in Violation of a No-Strike Clause
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30. Picketing
The actions of strikers walking in front of the employer’s premises carrying signs announcing their strike.
The right to picket is implied from the NLRA.
An employer may seek an injunction against unlawful picketing.
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31. Picketing (continued)
Picketing is lawful unless it
It is accompanied by violence
Obstructs customers from entering the employer’s place of business
Prevents non-striking employees from entering the employer’s premises
Prevents pickups and deliveries at the employer’s place of business
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32. Secondary Boycott Picketing
A type of picketing where unions try to bring pressure against an employer by picketing his or her suppliers or customers.
Such picketing is lawful only if it is product picketing.
It is illegal if it is directed against the neutral employer instead of the struck employer’s product.
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33. Internal Union Affairs
Unions may adopt internal union rules to regulate the operation of the union, acquire and maintain union membership, etc.
Title I of the Landrum-Griffin Act – referred to as labor’s bill of rights. Gives each union member equal rights and privileges to:
Nominate candidates for union office
Vote in elections
Participate in membership meetings
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34. Internal Union Affairs (continued)
A union may discipline members for:
Walking off the job in a non-sanctioned strike
Working for wages below union scale
Spying for an employer
Any other unauthorized activity that has an adverse economic impact on the union
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