Human resource exam

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1.Identify mandatory, voluntary, and illegal collective bargaining issues and common economic and non-economic reasons behind bargaining.

2.Describe how managers should prepare for collective bargaining, choose a negotiation team, and select a bargaining strategy.

3.Differentiate between mediation and arbitration and explain how they may affect negotiations.

Competencies

Managing Hospitality Human Resources Chapter 11: Negotiation and Collective Bargaining

4.Describe the role of strikes in collective bargaining, define various types of strikes, and outline possible management responses to strikes.

5.Identify major sources of grievances, describe typical grievance procedures, and outline how to prevent grievances at union properties.

6.Explain how non-union properties can address grievance procedures

Competencies (con’t)

Bargaining Issues • Management and the union must bargain in

good faith – “mandatory” bargaining subjects

• those that directly affect the employment relationship • Collective Bargaining

–the negotiation process between unions and management when contracts are developed

–was to encourage both sides to hash out their differences

–goal to reduce the number and duration of crippling strikes in the nation

The Collective Bargaining Process • Collective bargaining

– The process of negotiating and administering written agreements between union and management officials.

Bargaining Issues • Only mandatory issues require bargaining;

other issues can be – Voluntary bargaining issues

• issues that both sides want to discuss during the collective bargaining process

– Illegal bargaining issues • issues that are prohibited by law from collective

bargaining negotiations • An impasse can be declared if both sides maintain a

consistent effort to bargain in good faith, but cannot reach agreement.

While new issues may be declared mandatory by a court decision, the most common mandatory issues include: • Wages • Hours of work • Incentive pay • Overtime • Employee layoffs and recalls • Union security clauses • Management rights clauses

• Grievance procedures • Seniority • Safety • Benefits • Retirement • No-strike clauses • Drug testing

Mandatory Issues

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• Supervisory compensation • Supervisory discipline • Performance bonds for union or

management • Contract ratification process • Company price or product issues

Voluntary Issues • Also called Permissive Bargaining Issues

include: • Any practice that violates Equal Employment Opportunity laws

(discriminatory hiring or promotion practices, for instance) • Closed-shop agreements • Featherbedding • Union or agency shop clauses in states with right-to-work laws

Illegal Issues • Issues that both sides are prohibited from

bringing to the bargaining table include:

• Wages • Pay ranges for

different jobs • Management

discretion in pay ranges • Wage adjustments

due to inflation

• Profit sharing • Bonus plans • Pensions • Insurance coverage

and benefits • Holidays, vacations,

personal days, sick pay

Economic Reasons Behind Bargaining • When bargaining occurs for economic reasons

including:

Non Economic Reasons Behind Bargaining

• Recently, non-economic issues have become more important to both unions and management

• Management may want management rights clauses – give management the right to control products and services

the company makes or delivers, and the right to determine the method and use of employee discipline

• Unions want contracts to include just cause clauses – specific guidelines for employee discipline or termination

Choosing a Negotiation Team • The union negotiation team is usually

– the business agent, some employees and stewards, a lead negotiator, and an officer of the local union

• The management negotiation team is usually – the head HR, an attorney, and often a consultant trained

in collective bargaining negotiations • Each side designates a chief negotiator, who has the

final authority during negotiations • Issues discussed in the bargaining room should

remain private during negotiations

Negotiation Strategies • Distributive bargaining

– when management and the union conflict over a major issue

• Integrative bargaining – when the two sides are not in direct conflict over

an issue and both sides have something to gain from the resulting decision

• Attitudinal structuring – involves one or both sides attempting to establish

either a positive or negative impression in order to manipulate or influence the other

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Negotiation Strategies • Intraorganizational bargaining

– involves negotiators “selling” the agreements they reach to their own constituents

• Boulwarism – management presents the final offer early in

negotiations and refuses to vary from it, while directly influencing the employees to accept it

Mediation and Arbitration • Mediations

– third party who helps sides reach an agreement – mediators can make recommendations, but they cannot

force agreement • Arbitrations

– arbitrators have the power to force agreements – they review all the information available from both sides

and dictate an agreement – often one they perceive to be near the middle ground

• A mediator-arbitrator first mediates to bring the two sides closer together, then arbitrates or forces a decision

Types of Strikes Strikes/management lockouts are used as last resorts in

negotiations because of their severe economic effect • Economic strikes

– management can hire replacement employees, work in employee positions, or use employees who cross picket lines

• Unfair labor practice strike – If the employer hires replacement workers, the NLRB has

can order replacement workers off the job and can reinstate striking employees

• Jurisdictional strike – involves a dispute between two or more unions and an

employer over which union has the right to represent certain employees

– illegal under the Taft-Hartley Act.

Type of Strikes • Wildcat Strikes

– Striking employees can be legally replaced and the employer can sue the union for damages unless there is a non-suability clause in the union’s collective bargaining agreement

• Sit-down strike – is declared when employees simply stop working, yet

remain at the workplace – this type of strike is illegal because employees have the

right to be on company property only to work • Secondary strike

– is waged against an employer who does business with another employer whose workers are on strike

– such actions were declared illegal by the Taft-Hartley Act

• Security

• Ambiguous terms • Employee disregard for company rules

• Compensation practices • Working conditions

Sources of Grievances A Typical Grievance Procedure 1. Employee complains to a frontline supervisor about

an issue. No written report is required. – About 75 percent of grievances are resolved at this stage

2. Employee complains to department head or personnel office with the aid of a steward or other union official – Generally, the employee is required to submit the

grievance in writing 3. Union official presents the written grievance to

company president 4. Written grievance is presented for arbitration

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Grievance Arbitration • Arbitration is used if a grievance cannot be resolved

by negotiations between the union and management – typically turned over to an arbitrator for final resolution,

i.e., binding arbitration. • The arbitration process begins by allowing each side

to present its case – presentations may include testimony, witnesses,

documents, etc • A good arbitrator will allow both sides to fully

disclose their evidence – failure to do so can result in unfair labor practice charges.

Preventing Grievances • Any time an action occurs requiring discipline, a

manager should first document the facts in their entirety

• Most progressive discipline policies have a minimum of four steps – oral warning, written warning, suspension, and discharge

• Under most union contracts, union members have the right to have a union representative present during investigation – when management examines facts surrounding an event

A Typical Non-Union Grievance Procedure

1. Employee makes complaint to supervisor. 2. Employee makes complaint to any manager

in any department 3. Employee takes complaint to grievance

committee composed of employees and management representatives

4. Grievance committee formally posts grievance and results in a conspicuous place for all employees to see.