Chapter 12

Human Resource Management
10th Edition
Chapter 12
LABOR UNIONS & COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING
© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-1

HRM in Action: Change to Win
Coalition
• New union federation consisting of seven unions
that broke from AFL-CIO and formally launched
rival labor federation representing about 6 million
workers in 2005
• Led by Service Employees International Union
• Also included are Teamsters, United Food and
Commercial Workers, Unite Here, Carpenters’
Union, Laborers’ International Union of North
America, and United Farm Workers
Union Objectives
• To secure and, if possible, improve living
standards and economic status of members.
• To enhance and, if possible, guarantee individual
security against threats and contingencies that
might result from market fluctuations,
technological change, or management
decisions.
• To influence power relations in social system in
ways that favors and does not threaten union
gains and goals.

Union Objectives (Cont.)
• To advance welfare of all who work
for a living, whether union members
or not.
• To create mechanisms to guard
against use of arbitrary and
capricious policies and practices in
workplace.

Union Growth Strategies
• Strategically Located Union Members
• Organizing Several Big Companies at Once
• Pulling Union Through
• Political Involvement
• Union Salting
• Flooding Community
• Public Awareness Campaigns
• Building Organizing Funds
• Befriending Laid-off Workers
• Organizing through Card Check
Strategically Located Union
Members
• Importance of jobs held by
union members significantly
affects union power
• Few strategically located
union members may exert
disproportionate amount of
power
• Truckers or dock workers
can affect entire country
Organizing Several Big Companies
at Once
• Service Employees International Union
(SEIU) in Houston organized janitors at
several big companies at once
• Negotiated big industry-wide contract
• Eliminates each company’s fear of being
undercut by competitors if it allows higher
wages
• Companies stay neutral
Pulling the Union Through
• Put pressure on end user of
company’s product
• Strike against four Johnson
Controls factories that make
interior parts for some of
country’s best-selling vehicles
• GM and Chrysler played active
behind-the-scenes role by
pressuring JCI to settle dispute
Political Involvement
• Political arm of AFL-CIO is Committee on
Political Education (COPE)
• Union recommends and assists
candidates who will best serve its interests
• With friends in government, union in
stronger position
• Give money to candidates who pledge to
help pass pro-labor legislation
Union Salting
• Process of training union

organizers to apply for jobs at
company and, once hired, work
to unionize
• Supreme Court has ruled
employers cannot discriminate
against union salts

Flooding the Community
• Process of union inundating communities
with organizers to target particular
business
• Unions typically choose companies in
which nonunionized employees have
asked for help in organizing
• Target weak managers’ departments as
way to appeal to dissatisfied employees

Public Awareness Campaigns
• Labor maneuvers that do not coincide with
strike or organizing campaign to pressure
employer for better wages, benefits, and the like
• Alternative to strikes because more employers
are willing to replace striking workers
• Employers have less recourse against labor
campaigns involving joint political and
community groups that support union goals

Building Organizing Funds
• AFL-CIO asks its affiliates to

increase organizing funds
• Increase funding to organizing
institute, which trains organizers,
and launches advertising campaign
to create wider public support for
unions
Befriending Laid-Off Workers
• AFL-CIO hopes castoffs from

Enron, WorldCom, and
others will become
advocates for organizing
• Fear and stress break down
relationships between
management and workers

Organizing through Card Check
• Organizing approach where employees
sign card of support if they want
unionization
• If 50% of work force plus one worker sign
card, it is considered a union victory
• Expedited ways of polling workers on
union representation but no secret-ballot
election takes place

Why Employees Join Unions
• Dissatisfaction with
management
• Social outlet
• Opportunity for
leadership
• Forced unionization
• Peer pressure

Dissatisfaction with Management
• Compensation
• Job Security
• Management
Attitude

Social outlet
• Many people have strong social needs
• Take advantage of union-sponsored
recreational and social activities that
members and their families find fulfilling
• People who develop close personal
relationships will likely stand together in
difficult times

Opportunity for leadership
• Some individuals aspire to leadership
roles
• Employees with leadership aspirations can
often satisfy those aspirations through
union membership
• Union also has a hierarchy of leadership
that begins with the union steward

Forced Unionization
• In 28 states without right-to-work

laws, legal for employer to agree
with union that new employee
must join union after certain period
of time (generally 30 days) or be
terminated
• Referred to as union shop
agreement
Right-to-Work Laws
• Prohibit management and unions from
entering into agreements requiring union
membership as condition of employment
• State statutes or constitutional provisions
that ban practice of requiring union
membership or financial support as
condition of employment
• 22 states, located primarily in South and
West, have adopted such laws
Peer Pressure
• Some will join a union because they are
urged to do so by other members of the
workgroup
• May constantly remind an employee that
he or she is not a member of the union
• In extreme cases, union members have
threatened nonmembers with physical
violence and sometimes have carried out
these threats
Union Structure
• Local union
• National (or international)
union
• American Federation of Labor
and Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO)
• Change to Win Coalition

Local Union
• Basic element in
structure of
American labor
movement
• Deals with
employer on
day-to-day basis

Craft and Industrial Unions
• Craft union - Such as Carpenters and

Joiners, is typically composed of
members of particular trade or skill in
specific locality
• Industrial union - Consists of all
workers in particular plant or group of
plants (example, United Auto Workers)

National Union
• Composed of local unions, which it
charters
• Local union, not individual worker, holds
membership in national union
• Service Employees International Union is
largest and fastest growing national union
(1.8 million members)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters
has about 1.4 million members
American Federation of Labor and
Congress of Industrial Organizations
(AFL-CIO)
• Represents labor
interests at highest level
• Does not engage in
collective bargaining
• Financed by member
national unions
• Has little formal power or
control
• Central trade union
federation in U.S.

The Structure of the AFL-CIO
Convention Meets biennially
Executive Council General Board

President, Secretary-Treasurer, Executive Council members
and 33 Vice Presidents and principal officer of each
Meets at least three times a year international union affiliate
Meets on call of
Executive Officers Federation President or
President and Secretary-Treasurer Executive Council
Department or National Headquarters Standing Committees
Organization and
Field Services Staff Departments
Regional Directors
Trade and Industrial

Departments
Building, Food, Metal, Affiliated National and
International Unions Affiliated State Bodies
and Maritime Trades,
Industrial Union,
Public and Railway Local Unions of National and
Local Bodies
Employees, Union International Unions
Label Local unions affiliated directly
© 2008
withby Prentice Hall
AFL-CIO 12-28
Local Dept. Councils
Remember the Change to Win
Coalition
• New union federation consisting of seven unions
that broke from AFL-CIO and formally launched
rival labor federation representing about 6 million
workers in 2005
• Led by Service Employees International Union
• Also included are Teamsters, United Food and
Commercial Workers, Unite Here, Carpenters’
Union, Laborers’ International Union of North
America, and United Farm Workers

Collective Bargaining Defined
Performance of mutual obligation of employer
and representative of employees to meet at
reasonable times and confer in good faith with
respect to wages, hours, and other terms and
conditions of employment, or the negotiation of
an agreement, or any question arising there
under, and execution of written contract
incorporating any agreement reached if
requested by either party, but such obligation
does not compel either party to agree to
proposal or require making of a concession.
Bargaining Unit
Consists of employees
(not necessarily union
members) recognized by
employer or certified by
administrative agency as
appropriate for
representation by labor
organization for purposes
of collective bargaining
Steps for Forming a Bargaining Unit
External Environment
Internal Environment
Signing of Petition Election

Election
Authorization for and
Campaign
Cards Election Certification

Signing Authorization Cards
• Document indicating employee wants to
be represented by labor organization in
• Is there sufficient interest on part of
employees to justify unit?
• Evidence of interest when at least 30% of
employees in workgroup sign
authorization cards
• Usually need 50% to proceed
Petition for Election
• After authorization
cards have been
signed, petition for
election made to
regional NLRB office
• NLRB will ordinarily
direct that election be
held within 30 days

Election Campaign
• Both union and management usually

promote causes actively
• Cannot threaten loss of jobs or benefits
• Cannot misstate important facts
• Illegal to incite racial or religious prejudice

Election and Certification
• NLRB monitors secret-ballot election
• Board issues certification of results to
participants
• If majority of employees vote for union,
NLRB will certify

Collective Bargaining
• Fundamental to
management-organized
labor relations in United
States
• Process does not require
either party to make
concessions; only
compels them to bargain
in good faith
Forms of Bargaining Structures
• One company dealing

with a single union
• Several companies
dealing with single union
• Several unions dealing
with single company
• Several companies
dealing with several
unions
Collective Bargaining Process
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
Preparing for Negotiation
Bargaining Issues
Preparing for Negotiation
Yes
Negotiation Breakdowns? Overcoming Breakdowns
No
Reaching the Agreement
Ratifying the Agreement
Administration of the Agreement

Psychological Aspects of
Collective Bargaining
• Difficult because
process is adversarial
situation and must be
dealt with as such
• Psychological aspects
vitally important
Bargaining Issues
• Mandatory bargaining issues -

Wages, hours, etc.
• Permissive bargaining issues -
May be raised but neither side
may insist that they be
bargained over
• Prohibited bargaining issues -
Statutorily outlawed

Bargaining Issues
Document that results from collective bargaining
process is labor agreement or contract
• Recognition
• Management Rights
• Union Security
• Compensation and Benefits
• Grievance Procedure
• Employee Security

Recognition
• Appears at beginning of labor

agreement
• Identifies union that is
recognized as bargaining
representative
• Describes bargaining unit

Management Rights
Section that is often

(but not always)
written into labor
agreement which
spells out rights of
management

Union Security
• Closed Shop - Arrangement whereby
union membership is prerequisite to
employment
• Union Shop - Requires all employees
become members of union after specified
period
• Maintenance of Membership - Must
continue memberships until termination of
agreement
Union Security (Cont.)
• Agency Shop - Nonunion members pay union
equivalent of membership dues as kind of tax
• Exclusive Bargaining Shop - Company must
deal with union that has achieved recognition,
but employees not obligated to join
• Open Shop - Equal terms for union members
and nonmembers
• Dues Checkoff - Company agrees to withhold
union dues

Compensation and Benefits
• Wage rate schedule
• Overtime and premium
pay
• Jury pay
• Layoff or severance pay
• Holidays
• Vacation
• Family care
Grievance Procedure
• Means by which employees can voice
dissatisfaction with specific management
actions
• Procedures for disciplinary action by
management
• Termination procedure that must be
followed

Employee Security
Seniority - Length
of time employee
has been
associated with
company, division,
department, or job

Job-Related Factors
Many of rules
governing
employee
actions on job
are included

Negotiating the Agreement
• Begins with each side presenting

initial demands
• Suggests certain amount of give and
take
• Each side does not expect to obtain
all demands presented

Example of Negotiating Wage Increase
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
LABOR Bargaining
Additional Cents Zone
per Hour
Demanded
Labor’s Final Labor’s Labor’s
Offer (before Plan B Plan A
strike)
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
MANAGEMENT
Bargaining
Additional
Zone
Cents per Hour
Offered
Management’s Management’s Management’s Final
Plan A Plan B Offer (before plant
lockout)
Breakdowns in Negotiations
• Third party intervention

• Union strategies for
overcoming
breakdowns
• Management strategies
for overcoming
breakdowns
Third Party Intervention
• Mediation - Neutral party

comes in when impasse
has occurred
• Arbitration - Impartial
third party makes binding
decision to settle dispute
• Sources of mediators and
arbitrators - FMCS and
AAA
Types of Arbitration
• Rights arbitration - Disputes
over interpretation and
application of various
provisions of existing contract
• Interest arbitration - Disputes
over terms of proposed
agreements (Rarely used in
private sector)
Union Strategies for Overcoming
Negotiation Breakdowns - Strikes
• Strikes - Union members refuse to work to
pressure management in negotiations
• Halts production, resulting in lost
customers and revenue
• Fewer strikes today
• Timing is important
• Unions prefer to strike only as last resort

Trends & Innovations:
Virtual Strikes
• Proposed as means to avoid hurting

others
• When labor calls a strike then more than
labor and management are hurt
• In virtual strike only labor and
management suffers
• Worker wages, management salaries, and
company profits, go into separate account
Union Strategies for Overcoming
Negotiation Breakdowns - Boycotts
• Union members agree to refuse to use or

buy firm’s products
• Effect often lasts much longer than strike
• Shoppers change buying habits
• Example - Coors
• Secondary Boycott - Union practice to
encourage third parties to stop doing
business with company Illegal
Other Union Tactics
• Byline strike - Newspaper writers withhold
their names from stories
• Informational picketing - Union members
display placards and hand out leaflets,
usually outside their place of business,
depicting information union wants general
public to see

Management Strategies for
Overcoming Negotiation Breakdowns -
Lockout
• Lockout - Keep employees out; operate by
placing management and nonunion
workers in striking workers’ jobs
• Effective when management dealing with
weak union, when union treasury is
depleted, or when business has excessive
inventories
• Type of industry involved has considerable
effect on impact of this maneuver
Management Strategies for Overcoming
Negotiations Breakdowns – Continue
Operations Without Striking Workers
• Operate firm by placing management and
nonunion workers in striking workers’ jobs
• Type of industry involved
• At petroleum refinery or chemical plant,
this practice may be quite effective

Ratifying the Agreement
• May be more difficult for

union
• Until approved by majority
of union members,
proposed agreement is not
final
• Approval process for
management is easier

Administration of the Agreement
• Larger and perhaps more important part of
• Seldom viewed by public
• Agreement establishes union-
management relationship for duration of
contract

Collective Bargaining for
Federal Employees
• Executive Order 10988

established basic
framework for collective
bargaining in federal
government agencies.
• Did not allow bargaining
over wage issues

Union Decertification
• Essentially reverse of process that

employees must follow to be recognized
as official bargaining unit
• Employees have used decertification
petitions with increasing frequency and
success

Decertification Procedure
• Rules established by NLRB
• At least 30% must petition for election
• Petition submitted 60-90 days prior to
expiration of current contract
• Schedule decertification election
• If majority of votes against union,
employees will be union free
Management and Decertification
• If management wants union decertified,

must be active rather than passive
• Effective first-line supervisors
• Effective communication
• Trust and openness
• Effective compensation programs
• Effective employee and labor relations

Unions Today
• Fall of Big Labor has

been dramatic
• Unionized share of
private sector workforce
is 7.8 percent in 2005

Percentage of the Private Workforce That is
Unionized
Percentage of Workforce
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
8
0 0
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1994 2002 2005
Year
A Global Perspective: The ICFTU
Says Union Organizing Can Be
Dangerous
• Thousands of trade unionists have been

arrested, jailed, tortured, fired, intimidated,
and murdered or disappeared, across the
world


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Chapter 12

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Human Resource Management

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-1

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-3

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-4

• Process of training union

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-10

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-11

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-12

• AFL-CIO asks its affiliates to

• AFL-CIO hopes castoffs from

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-14

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-15

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-16

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-17

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-18

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-19

• In 28 states without right-to-work

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-23

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-24

• Craft union - Such as Carpenters and

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-25

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-27

Executive Council General Board

Trade and Industrial

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-29

Signing of Petition Election

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-32

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-34

• Both union and management usually

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-35

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-36

• One company dealing

Preparing for Negotiation

Preparing for Negotiation

Ratifying the Agreement

Administration of the Agreement

• Mandatory bargaining issues -

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-41

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-42

• Appears at beginning of labor

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-43

Section that is often

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-44

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-46

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-48

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-49

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-50

• Begins with each side presenting

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• Third party intervention

• Mediation - Neutral party

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• Proposed as means to avoid hurting

• Union members agree to refuse to use or

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-59

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-61

• May be more difficult for

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-62

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-63

• Executive Order 10988

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• Essentially reverse of process that

© 2008 by Prentice Hall 12-65