Economic

Part

S Leading and Supporting Employees

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When contract talks broke down between grocery workers and major grocery chains in Southern California, the result was a strike that lasted four and a half months.

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Publicity.Increasingly,labor is pressingits caseby launching publicitycampaigns, often called corporate campaigns, against a target company and companies affiliated with it. For example, the Service Employees International Union is active in vVal-Mart Watch (www.walmartwatch.com). one of a number of publicity campaigns that seek to educate the public about the policies and practices of the retail giant.82

From its side, management can use a number of legal methods to pressure unions when negotiations stall:

strikebreakers Nonunion workers hired to replace striking workers lockout Management tactic in which union members are prevented from entering a business during a strike injunction Court order prohibiting certain actions by striking workers

!fJ Strikebreakers. VVhenunion members walk off their jobs, management can legally replace them with strikebreakers, nonunion workers hired to do the jobs of striking workers. (Union members brand them as "scabs.") !Ii Lockouts. Management's counterpart to a strike is a lockout, in which the company prevents union employees from entering the workplace in order to pressure the union. Lockouts are legal only if the union and management have come to an impasse in negotiations and the employer is defending a legitimate bargaining position. During a lockout, the company may hire temporary replacements as long as it has no antiunion motivation and negotiations have been amicable.83 II! Injunctions. An injunction is a court order prohibiting union workers from taking certain actions. Injunctions are legal only in certain cases. For example, the president of the United States has the right, under the Taft-Hartley Act, to obtain a temporary injunction to halt a strike deemed harmful to the national interest, such as a wide-scale transportation strike. "

The labor

Movement

Today

In certain industries, including transportation, retailing, and manufacturing, unions remain a significant force in employee-management relations in the United States. But overall, union membership has declined, from more than a third of the workfor.cein the 1950s to less than 15 percent today.84True to the often combative nature of the relationship, each side blames organized labor's decline on the other. Some business leaders say unions don't have anything relevant to offer workers in to day's environment of more

Chapter 14 Human Resources

The Collective

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Bargaining

Process

In the collective bargaining process (see Exhibit 14.8), union and management negotiators work together to forge the policies that will apply to all employees covered by a given contract. In some cases, the two sides can gradually compromise on key points until they rea'ch an overall agreement, If negotiations reach an impasse, outside help may be needed. The most common alternative is mediation-bringing in an impartial third party to study the situation and make recommendations for resolution of the differences. However, mediators can only offer suggestions, and their solutions are not binding. When a legally binding settlement is needed, the negotiators may submit to arbitration-a process in which an impartial referee listens to both sides and then makes a judgment by accepting one side's view. In compulsory arbitration, the parties are required by a government agency to submit to arbitration; in voluntary arbitration, the parties agree on their own to use arbitration to settle their differences. When negotiation, mediation, and arbitration can't bring the parties together, both labor and management are able to draw on several powerful options in an attempt to force resolution. Labor's options include strikes, boycotts, and publicity campaigns: !1!i1 Strikes. The most powerful weapon that organized labor can use is the strike, a temporary work stoppage aimed at forcing management to accept union demands. An essential part of any strike is picketing, in which union members positioned at entrances to company premises march back and forth with signs and leaflets, trying to persuade nonstriking employees to join them and to persuade customers to stop doing business with the cOmpany.Two less-drastic actions are slowdowns, in which employees continue to do their jobs but at a slow enough pace to disrupt operations, and sickouts, in which a high number of employees call in sick at the same time. iii Boycotts. A less direct union weapon is the boycott, in which union members and sympathizers refuse to buy or handle the product of a target company. In fact, the AFL-CIO (www.unionlabel.org) maintains a page on its website that lists companies it would like consumers to boycott. EXHIBIT

14.8

The Collective

Bargaining

Process

Contract negotiations go through the four basic steps shown here.

Preparing to meet Union negotiating team determines needs of its members. Meanwhile, management tries to anticipate the union's.demands and decides what it is willing to offer. ;

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labor federation Umbrella organization of national unions and unaffiliated local unions that undertakes large-scale activities on behalf of their members and that resolves conflicts between unions collective bargaining Process used by unions and management to negotiate work contracts mediation Process for resolving a labor-contract dispute in which a neutral third party meets with both sides and attempts to steer them toward a solution arbitration Process for resolving a laborcontract dispute in which an impartial third party studies the issues and makes a binding decision strike Temporary work stoppage by employees who want management to accept their union's demands picketing Strike activity in which lillion members march before company entrances to communicate their grjevancesand to discourage people from doing business .'lith the company boycott Union activity in which members and sympathizers refuse to buy or handle the product of a target company