Understanding Labor Unions

Understanding Labor Unions

Grantham University

Understanding Labor Unions

Supervisors are often confused as to how they should behave during a union organizing campaign. Identify five actions a supervisor should take and three actions the supervisor should avoid.

The supervisor should let the employees know that the organization that they belongs to doesn't think that they need union representation, managers should answers all the employees questions regarding the organization policies and discuss the union campaign issues (Dunn 2010). Also managers should let employees know that the organization would provide a good place to work independently if the employee join the union or not and that there are some fees that the employee will be responsible for if they decide to join the union (Dunn 2010). In addition managers can perform a disciplinary action or terminate the employee job if they influence others in favor or against the union (Dunn 2010).

There are some actions that managers should avoid when dealing with unions. According to Dunn (2010), there are known as the S.P.I.T term, which means spy, promise, interrogate, and threaten" (Pg. 636). Managers should avoid to watch or scrutiny any level of union support by employees, or even ask any questions about union activities or their supporters (Dunn 2010). In addition managers should not promise anything if the union negotiations fails and intimidate or threat employees because their union association (Dunn 2010).

Why is it important for senior administrators to communicate frequently with supervisors before and during the negotiation of a labor agreement?

Most of the times the supervisors are not involved in the negotiation between the organization and the unions, however high level management would communicate the status of the negotiation to the managers to ensure the manager's awareness and that they are advice in do's and don'ts during negotiation process. It is important that supervisor have the opportunity to provide their input on the negotiations because they have all the fact about the department and day to day operations and at the end of the negotiations they will be responsible to meet the contracts stipulations.

What matters do labor agreements typically cover?

The labor agreement covers the management of the workforce under the management agreement right clause; the exception to manager's authority is also covers under this clause. According to Dunn (2010), under normal conditions "all contracts deal with matters such as union recognition, management's rights, union security, wages, conditions and hours of work, overtime, vacations, holidays, leaves of absence, seniority, promotions, and similar terms and conditions of employment" (Pg. 638-639). There will be other provisions pertaining to the institution also the labor agreement would cover with procedures for complaints and arbitration (Dunn 2010).

It is not in the interest of successful contract administration for supervisors to try to "beat the contract." Why is this the case?

Upper management need to ensure that managers know all the clauses pertaining the union/organization agreement or contract. Failing to do this will not exonerate the institution of any responsibility of the contract failure. One the agreement is establish manager's needs to receive all the knowledge necessary before and in order to apply the clauses on the daily working situation of the agreement. The introduction of the clauses or agreement would not change the manager's job and their responsibility of performing all the managerial functions. What managers can't do is to change the clauses of the agreement even when they think that is on the best interest of the organization. The authority delegated to managers would not change by the agreement, however there are certain activities that could be affected or limit some activities like job assignments, disciplinary action, and dismissal (Dunn 2010). For this reason is necessary that managers can execute good managerial skills and also will need to create and maintain knowledge and techniques of good labor relations (Dunn 2010).

The supervisor is likely to have trouble administering two broad areas of the labor agreement. What are they?

Supervisors have trouble administrating two areas of the labor agreement. According to Dunn (2010), "the first area of trouble covers the vast number of complaints that are concerned with single issues like disciplinary actions, assignment of work distribution of overtime, transfer, promotions, and downgrading" (Pg. 641). Supervisors should use their personal judgment and they should also feel comfortable dealing with these complaints if he or she follows the clauses of the agreement.

The second area of trouble administrating the labor agreement is the interpretation of a clause of the contract. This is when supervisor carry out a statement of the agreement and it is or could have more than one interpretation. On this type of issues managers should consult human resources before performing any action. This would ensure that thru the facility the clause is interpreted the same manner. Now this clause would be discussed on next negotiations to address the issue.

The supervisor's job is to maintain discipline and he or she should take action without discussing it with the union's representative. If union member's affected by the action or the steward disagrees with the supervisor's action, what recourse do they have?

Employee will have the right of a grievance. In order to prevent possible grievances, managers should know the stipulations of the contract in order to execute it and to have any employee accountable for poor performance or any other issues. It will be wise for managers to examine all the facts before make any decision and try to resolve the issue at the lowest level possible. Also the union contract should be consult to ensure appropriateness of the action. Managers should have a union representative before presenting any disciplinary action to employee. This doesn't mean that managers don't possess the authority to act.

If a grievance is inevitable the employee will contact the shop steward of the organization and present a formal complaint or grievance. The steward will represent the employee during the entire complaint and resolution process.

When is an outside arbitrator typically involved in settling a grievance?

When the parties involved in the negotiations or