Privacy Rights and Unionizing

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LO 2

What steps should employees take to unionize? What steps can employers take in trying to stop the union from organizing?

14.1c Organizing Campaigns

Once employees desire to unionize, a formal organizing campaign may be started either by a union organizer or by employees acting on their own behalf.

Contrary to popular belief, most organizing campaigns are begun by employees rather than by union organizers. Large national unions such as the United Auto Workers, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the United Steelworkers, and the Teamsters, however, have formal organizing departments whose purpose is to identify organizing opportunities and launch organizing campaigns.

Organizing Steps

Terry Moser, former president of Teamster Local 104, once told the authors that the typical organizing campaign follows a series of progressive steps that can lead to employee representation. The organizing process as described by Moser normally includes the following steps:

1. Employee/union contact

2. Initial organizational meeting

3. Formation of in-house organizing committee

4. Election petition and voting preparation

5. Contract negotiations

Highlights in HRM 1

Test Your Labor Relations Know-How

1. An auto mechanic applied for a job with an automotive dealership. He was denied employment because of his union membership. Was the employer’s action lawful?

Yes

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2. During a labor organizing drive, supervisors questioned individual employees about their union beliefs. Was this questioning permissible?

Yes

3. When members of a union began wearing union buttons at work, management ordered the buttons to be removed. Was management within its rights?

Yes

4. While an organizing drive was under way, an employer agreed—as a social gesture—to furnish refreshments at a holiday party. Was the employer acting within the law?

5. A company distributed to other antiunion employers in the area a list of job applicants known to be union supporters. Was the distribution unlawful?

6. During a union organizing drive, the owner of Servo Pipe promised her employees a wage increase if they would vote against the union. Can the owner legally make this promise to her employees?

Yes

7. Do employees have the right to file unfair labor practice charges against their employer even when the organization is nonunion?

8. The union wishes to arbitrate a member’s grievance, which management has demonstrated is completely groundless. Must management arbitrate the grievance?

9. John Green, a maintenance engineer, has a poor work record. Management wishes to terminate his employment. However, Green is a union steward, and he is highly critical of the company. Can management legally discharge this employee?

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(1)

(2)

10. During an organizing drive, an office manager expressed strong antiunion beliefs and called union officials “racketeers,” “big stinkers,” and a “bunch of radicals.” He told employees who joined the union that they “ought to have their heads examined.” Were the manager’s comments legal?

Step 1.

The first step begins when employees and union officials meet up to explore the possibility of unionization. During these discussions, employees investigate the advantages of labor representation, and union officials begin to gather information on employee needs, problems, and grievances. Labor organizers also seek specific information about the employer’s financial health, supervisory styles, and organizational policies and practices. To win employee support, labor organizers must build a case against the employer and for the union.

Step 2.

As an organizing campaign gathers momentum, the organizer schedules an initial union meeting to attract more supporters. The organizer uses the information gathered in Step 1 to address employee needs and explain how the union can secure these goals. Two additional purposes of organizational meetings are

to identify employees who can help the organizer direct the campaign and

to establish communication chains that reach all employees.

Step 3.

The third important step in the organizing drive is to form an in-house organizing committee composed of employees willing to provide leadership to the campaign. The committee’s role is to interest other employees in joining the union and in supporting its campaign. An important task of the committee is to have employees sign an authorization card (A statement signed by an employee authorizing a union to act as a representative of the employee for purposes of collective bargaining) indicating their willingness to be

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represented by a labor union in collective bargaining with their employer. The number of signed authorization cards demonstrates the potential strength of the labor union. At least 30 percent of the employees must sign authorization cards before the NLRB will hold a representation election.

Step 4.

If a sufficient number of employees support the union drive, the organizer seeks a government-sponsored election. A representation petition is filed with the NLRB, asking that a secret ballot election be held to determine whether employees actually desire unionization. Before the election, a large publicity campaign is directed toward employees, seeking their support and election votes. This is a period of intense emotions for the employees, the labor organization, and the employer.

Step 5.

Union organizing is concluded when the union wins the election. The NLRB “certifies” the union as the legal bargaining representative of the employees. Contract negotiations now begin; these negotiations represent another struggle between the union and employer. During negotiations each side seeks employment conditions favorable to its position. Members of the in- plant organizing committee and the union organizer attempt to negotiate the employees’ first contract. In about one out of four union campaigns, unions are unable to secure a first contract after winning a representation election.

Should the union fail to obtain an agreement within one year from winning the election, the Taft-Hartley Act allows the employees to vote the union out through a NLRB “decertification” election.

Highlights in HRM 2

A Timeline of Government Involvement in American Labor Relations

The following timeline covers the period from the first government-mediated settlement in 1838, to the creation of Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) in 1947, to the West Coast Port Mediation of 2002, to today.

1838–1900

1838 President Martin Van Buren facilitates a settlement of a strike by shipyard workers, the first government mediated labor settlement in America.

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1840 President Martin Van Buren signs an Executive Order providing a 10-hour workday for employees on federal public works projects.

1900–1946

1902 In a message to Congress following a strike in the anthracite coal fields in Pennsylvania, President Theodore Roosevelt recognizes the public interest in labor–management relations.

1918 The federal mediation function is born. The U.S. Conciliation Service is created at the Department of Labor.

1926 After major rail strikes of the early 1920s, Congress enacts the Railway Labor Act, establishing the National Mediation Board with jurisdiction in the railroad industry, and with the power to prevent interruptions in commerce in the railroad industry. The law allows railroad unions to organize and bargain collectively.

1932 Norris/La Guardia (Anti-Injunction Act) enacted to limit the power of federal courts to issue injunctions in labor disputes, which would deny workers full freedom of association, self-organization, designation of bargaining representatives of their own choosing, or negotiation of terms and conditions of employment.

1934 The Railway Labor Act is amended to include airlines.

1935 The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) becomes law, guaranteeing employees the right to organize, and, if necessary, to government-supervised representation elections. The act includes the right to bargain collectively and sets forth prohibitions against employer interference or unfair labor practices.

1944 The duty of fair representation is first announced in a 1944 Supreme Court case decided under the Railway Labor Act, Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R.R.

1947–1969

1947 Congress enacts the Labor–Management Relations Act of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Act). The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is created as an independent agency of the U.S. government. The agency is given the mission of preventing or minimizing the impact of labor–

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management disputes on the free flow of commerce by providing mediation, conciliation, and voluntary arbitration.

1959 Congress enacts the Landrum-Griffin Act (Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act), which establishes a bill of rights for union members—a right to sue their union, have a voice in union affairs, and control of dues increases, among others.

1960 “The Steelworker’s Trilogy”—The Supreme Court hands down three decisions that give full support to the arbitration process.

1970–1990

1970 The first mass work stoppage in the history of the U.S. Post Office occurs. Postal workers in New York walk out. President Nixon declares a national emergency and assigns military units to New York City post offices.

1971 The Collyer Doctrine defines the NLRB’s policy on deferring decisions in unfair labor practice cases until after parties have been through the grievance arbitration procedure. Under Collyer deferral, a union is expected to use its grievance procedure to resolve certain unfair labor practice issues.

1973 A Relationship-by-Objectives (RBO) program is developed for use in extreme cases of poor labor– management relations, when continued deterioration of the relationship could have a drastic economic effect. The first RBO program is delivered in Maine on behalf of the Georgia-Pacific Company and Paperworkers Local 27.

1975 FMCS officially enters a new arena: Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Congress passes Public Law 93–531, directing the service to mediate a 100-year-old land dispute between the Hopi and Navajo Indian Tribes in Arizona. The rights of unionized employees to have a union representative present during investigatory interviews are secured by a 1975 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (NLRB v. Weingarten, Inc., 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689). These become known as the Weingarten rights.

1981 President Reagan fires striking Professional Air Traffic

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Controllers (PATCO) and uses replacement workers. The Major League Baseball Players Association strikes.

1982 FMCS plays a major part in the creation of the Independent Mediation Service in South Africa.

1983 FMCS convenes one of the first regulatory negotiations, mediating between the Federal Aviation Administration and domestic airlines over flight and rest time requirements.

1990–2008

1990 Congress enacts the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act. Both are aimed at increasing the use of ADR to reduce the cost of litigation in government and improve government decision-making.

1993 President Clinton issues Executive Order 12871, which creates the National Partnership Council and directs each executive agency to form a partnership with its employees and their representatives to create a government that “works better and costs less.”

2002 Peter J. Hurtgen, former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, is appointed by President Bush as FMCS’s 15th director and successfully mediates a number of national labor conflicts, including the 10-day West Coast Ports closing in 2002 that cost the national economy an estimated $1 billion a day.

2004 Director Hurtgen mediates an end to the 141-day southern California grocery strike, the longest in the industry’s history.

2008 Director Rosenfeld oversees five days of mediation in Washington, DC to end a 52-day national strike by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers against the Boeing Company with a tentative agreement announced on October 27, 2008.

2011 FMCS mediates the disputes between NFL owners and players over health care provisions, rookie salary cap, and whether to extend the season to 18 games from 16.

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Aggressive Organizing Tactics

Without question, a strategic objective of the labor movement is to become more aggressive and creative in its organizing tactics. Unions have been shocked into developing these “revolutionary” organizing strategies to compensate for a decline in membership and to counteract employer antiunion campaigns. (Both topics will be discussed later.) To accomplish their agenda of “vitalizing” the labor movement, unions employ the following organizing weapons—in varying degrees—to achieve their goals:

1. Political involvement. Unions have become more selective in their support of public officials, giving union funds to candidates who specifically pledge support for prolabor legislation. During the 2008 national and local elections, the AFL-CIO and other large unions spent a total of about $300 million to help elect Democratic candidates to the White House and Congress. Specific efforts focused on identifying and registering Democrats to vote. States continue to scramble to tackle large budget deficits, while unions are often embroiled in a fight with both Republican and Democrat governors over who should shoulder the burdens of budget cuts.

2. Neutrality agreements. Neutrality agreements secure a binding commitment from the employer to remain neutral during the organizing drive. The employer agrees that managers will not campaign against or disparage the union and will only provide facts about the union when questioned by employees. Furthermore, the employer agrees to accept a card check to recognize the union if the union produces sufficient employee signed authorization cards.

3. Organizer training. Traditionally, organizing has been part-time work. Today, the AFL- CIO’s Organizing Institute is actively training a new generation of professional, highly skilled, full-time organizers. Organizers who successfully complete the training program are usually hired by local and national unions. They work to assist workers to gain representation. They do this by educating workers about their rights, identify and develop leadership skills, and run campaigns for union recognition. Starting salaries range from 30000 to 40000 dollars with great benefits.

4. Corporate campaigns. Unions may enlist political or community groups to boycott the product(s) of a targeted company. Other tactics include writing newspaper editorials chastising specific company decisions; filing charges with administrative agencies such as OSHA, the Department of Labor, and the NLRB; and pressuring an organization’s financial institution to withhold loans or demand payments. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “the role of the corporate campaign is to force management to accede to union demands for the card check and neutrality agreements.”

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5. Information technology. E-mail and the web are fast becoming effective union organizing tools. Websites exist that link employees to union literature, union membership applications, and individual union web pages. “Cyberunions” seek to apply computer technology to all aspects of organizing activity.

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