Define the term “collective bargaining” and list and describe four issues that are mandatory components of a collective bargaining agreement. Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between the employer and a group of employees in which terms and conditions of employment are decided. Employees are usually represented in bargaining by a union.
The major subjects of bargaining are as follows, compensation, personnel policies and procedures, employee rights and responsibilities, employer rights and responsibilities, union rights and responsibilities, and dispute resolution and ongoing decision making.In the United States when the collective bargaining process results in agreement by both parties, the provisions of that agreement are written into a legally enforceable union contract or bargaining agreement (Budd, 2013, p. 11). The union contract or bargaining agreement usually last from one to five years with a three year duration being the most common. (Budd, 2013 , p.
235). A current example of collective bargaining is the situation between administrators at Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan and faculty members represented by the American Association of University Professors.Bargaining contracts were set to expire on 31 July 2012 and the issue at hand was tenured professors. School administrators are proposing to expand the faculty evaluation process not do away with tenure altogether.
Allan Gilmour who is the WSU President sent an email to staff saying, “Faculty tenure is an important aspect of academic freedom, and we support it. But it cannot be a place to hide for those whose performance or behavior is poor (Abbey-Lambertz, 2012).Union representatives are saying administration is trying to do away with the protection tenure gives professors altogether. Professor Charles Parrish, union president told The Huffington Post, “This is an astonishing power grab by the administration” (Abbey-Lambertz, 2012). One of the major sticking points is the grievance process the administrators have presented.
Union representatives are not happy due to the fact that they cannot protect the due process of an individual until after the individual is already fired. As you can see this is a hot topic for both parties involved.The four issues that are potential components of a collective bargaining agreement are compensation, personnel policies and procedures, dispute resolution and ongoing decision making, and employer rights and responsibilities (Budd, 2013, p. 11). Compensation includes such things as wages, benefits, vacations and holidays and shift premiums (Budd, 2013, p.
11). Personnel policies and procedures cover layoff, promotion and transfer policies (Budd, 2013, p. 11).Dispute resolution or the grievance process is one area that is often debated heavily as you can see from the above new article covering the WSU negotiations (Budd, 2013, p. 12).
Employer rights and responsibilities include management rights; just cause discipline and discharge, subcontracting and safety standards. (Budd, 2013, p. 11) A good example of compensation as a component of a collective bargaining agreement is the situation between the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Associations.The biggest sticking point now is owners’ want to slash the players’ hockey-related revenues from 57 percent to 46 percent (Associated Press, 2012). The collective bargaining agreement would have expired on September 15 2012.
The Associated Press, "NHL, players association set to resume labor talks. " Yahoo Sports. 17 Jul 2012: n. page.
Web. 27 Apr. 2013. <http://sports. yahoo.
com/news/nhl-players association-set-resume-175139355--nhl. html> 2. List and discuss three U. S. laws that support collective bargaining, and three examples of employer unfair labor practices. Three U.
S. laws that support collective bargaining are the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, and Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act promotes and protects workers’ abilities to unionize in the private sector.It establishes the procedures for collective bargaining and the representation of employees.
The NLRA also protects employees from employer interference with their selection of representation and use of collective bargaining rights. Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representative of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection”(Budd, 2013, p. 124). The Act also establishes guidelines on good faith bargaining and it created the National Labor Relations Board. The Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, also known as the Taft-Hartley Act amend much of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.The Taft Hartley Act allowed the president to appoint a board of inquiry to investigate union disputes when he believes a strike would endanger national health or safety, and obtain an 80 day injunction to stop the continuation a strike.
It declares all closed shops illegal. It permits union shops only after a majority of the employees vote for them. It forbids jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts. It ends the check off system whereby the employer collects union dues and it also forbids unions from contributing to political campaigns. Union actions are also restricted in the act by the addition of six union unfair labor practices.The Labor-Management Relations Act along with the NLRA are still the basis of U.
S. labor law today (Budd, 2010, p. 121). The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act was enacted in response to allegations of union corruption. This act focused on internal union affairs, establishing such standards as democratic elections of union officers. The act also prevented members of the Communist party and former convicts from holding union office for a period of five years after resigning there Communist party membership or being released from prison.
Union members are also protected by the creation of a bill of rights for union members that guarantees all union members equal rights of participation in internal union affairs, including voting and expressing views (Budd, 2013, p. 131). Three examples of unfair labor practices are failing to bargain in good faith, changing wages, benefits, or other terms of employment without negotiating first, and refusing to hire because of past union sympathies or membership (Budd, 2013, p. 123).An example of changing terms of employment without negotiating first is when The Times Union of Albany laid off 11 employees in the fall of 2009.
The newspaper violated federal labor law by laying off the employees without properly bargaining with the Newspaper Guild of Albany. The newspaper further violated the Build contract by not using the specified employee selection process laid out in the contract. Seniority was supposed to be the deciding factor, but the paper used a grading system filled out by supervisor that took numerous attributes into account including productivity and attitude. nlrb. gov, 2012) After selecting and the laying off of the effected personnel the newspaper notified the Guild of its actions and offered to bargain over the selection criteria.The Guild then charged that by removing the employees and making it clear that they were targeted for layoff, managers sent a message that their decision had been made and that bargaining over the selection criteria would be pointless.
The National Labor Relations Board ruled in May 2011 that the Times Union violated federal law and was an unfair labor practice. (nlrb. gov, 2012) nlrb. ov, .
"Albany newspaper settles with Guild following Board decision; three laid-off employees reinstated, all receive back pay. "An example of refusing to hire someone because of past union sympathies or membership is when Portland French School refused to renew teacher’s contracts because of their expression of union support. On December 27, 2010 Judge William G. Kocol of the National Labor Relations Board affirmed the teachers’ right to unionize and ordered the school to change a number of unfair labor practices (Mayer, 2011).
School officials were ordered to remove written warnings from union organizer’s personnel files, renew a dismissed teacher’s contract and remove unlawful sections from the employee handbook. Many teachers that are employed by the school are foreign citizens in the U. S. on work visas and they feared their contracts would not be renewed if they were involved in the unionization efforts, such as the previously dismissed teacher (Mayer, 2011).
