B4330-Chapter Notes PDF

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Chapter 1 Introduction to Labor Relations Strike: an action by workers in which they cease to perform duties and so not report to work. Course covers: - Industrial relations - Labor relations - Human resources management - Employee relations - Employment relations Industrial Relations - The study of both union and nonunion employment relationships - Has recently become synonymous with issues concerning unionized employment relationships Union: a group of workers recognized by law who collectively bargain terms and conditions of employment with their employer Collective Agreement: a written document outlining the terms and conditions of employment in a unionized workplace Collective Bargaining: the process by which management and labor negotiate the terms and conditions of employment in a unionized workplace Labor Relations: the study of employment relationships and issues between groups of employees (usually in unions) and management; also known as union-management relations - Often focused on issues pertaining to collective employment relationships - Concerned with issues on collective agreements, collective bargaining and conflict resolution Human Resources: the study of the employment relationship between employers and individual employees - Focused on selection, compensation, and training Employee Relations: the study of the employment relationship between employers and the individual employees, usually in nonunion settings. - Can sometimes be used in unionized workplaces Employment Relations: the study of employment relationships and issues in union and nonunion workplaces - Newest term Industrial Relations Systems encompases knowledge from a broad range of subject areas Dunlop’s Industrial Relations System Model

ACTORS ➔ Specialized governmental agencies: develop, implement and administer legislation and policies ➔ Hierarchy of managers and their representatives: ◆ Represents business owners, and management ◆ Manages workers and workplace in question ➔ Hierarchy of workers (non management) and spokesperson ◆ Represents non management workers in the employment relationship and any relevant associations ◆ Labor unions representing the workers SHARED IDEOLOGY - A set of ideas and beliefs that were commonly held by all actors - Defined the roles and functions of each actor - Required that all actors respect and value the roles of the other two actors CONTEXT ➔ Market and budgetary constraints ◆ Product and labor critical to employment relationship ◆ Unions influence supply and demand, impact employees wages and final cost of products ➔ Technical characteristics of the workplace and work community ◆ How work is structured and performed ◆ Includes process used to produce, stability of work, size of work group, job task, hours, tech/machinery used ➔ Distribution of power in the larger society ◆ Power relationships among actors ◆ Higher power = greater influence WEB OF RULES ➔ Outlined the rights and responsibilities of the actors ➔ Procedures for establishing rules ◆ Process used for making rules, who has the authority to make and administer them ➔ Substantive Rules ◆ Rules pertaining to the outcome of employment relationships ◆ Compensation, job and performance expectation, work duties and rights ➔ Procedural Rules ◆ Rules that could determine and apply substantive rules ◆ Examples include rules concerning how wages are calculated, work schedules, how an employee can use vacation wim Criticisms of Dunlop 1. Descriptive and consists of a classification system, and lacks ability to predict outcomes

2. Underestimates importance of power and conflict and assumes concept of shared ideology 3. Static in nature, does not take into consideration how the events from one relationship can affect another 4. Can not explain decrease in unionization - continues to be expanded upon, Craig’s model is an adaptation of Dunlop’s

Feedback loop: the mechanism by which outputs of the industrial relations system flow back to the external environment EXTERNAL OUTPUTS ➔ Legal Systems ◆ Common law: employment law which applies to nonunion employees ◆ Statutory law: minimum employment standards, discrimination, minimum wage, overtime payment ◆ Collective bargaining law: legislation pertaining to unionised employment relationships ➔ Economic Subsystem ◆ Product/Service Market: availability of products or services relative to competitors ◆ Labor Markets: supply and demand of workers with skills needed for the workplace ◆ Money Markets: impacts importing and exporting, factor in exchange and interest rates for the canadian dollar

◆ Technology: results in new work methods, job redesign, layoffs, lower levels of employment ➔ Ecological Subsystem ◆ Physical environment, climate and natural resources ➔ Political Subsystem ◆ Legislation action: ability to create and pass legislation ◆ Executive action: passing an emergency legislation ➔ Sociocultural ◆ Values and beliefs as to what is fair and appropriate ACTORS - Influenced by external inputs ➔ Labor (employees and their associations) ➔ Employers and their associations ➔ Government and associated agencies ➔ End users of the service/product INTERNAL INPUTS - Actors provide input into the system in terms of their values, goals, strategies and power - Differing values create goals, strategies are developed to achieve goals, power helps determine which goals are achieved CONVERSION MECHANISMS - Processed used to convert internal and external outputs - Much like Dunlop’s procedural rules - Determine how workplace outcomes are determined ➔ Collective bargaining: negotiate a collective agreement ➔ Day-to-day relations: day to day activities in an organization ➔ Conflict resolution: grievance procedures for example, being able to write complaints ➔ Third Party Dispute Resolution ◆ Interest arbitration: when 2 parties can not make an agreement on their own ◆ Mediation: third party attempts to facilitate a resolution, do not have the power to enforce ◆ Grievance arbitration: solves conflict ◆ Conciliation: access the proposals of both sides and submits a report to federal/provincial personnel before a strike takes place ◆ Fact-finding: similar to conciliation, used in BC ◆ Mediation/Arbitration: starts off with third party mediating, of agreement can not be made they make the decision ◆ Joint committees: joint labor management examines issues of common concern, ex health and safety ◆ Strikes and Lockouts: work stoppage to bring closure to a negotiation OUTPUTS

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The results or outcomes of the conversion mechanism Similar to Dunlops substantive rules Collective agreement between labor and management Employer outcomes: rights and responsibilities of management, efficiency elements Labor outcomes: equity issues or ways to instill fairness ◆ Right of and security for the union ◆ Hours of work (schedule and overtime) ◆ Wages and benefits ◆ Job rights (job assignment, selection, layoffs, seniority) ◆ Work rules ➔ Worker perceptions: workers reactions in terms of.. ◆ Work climate, overall work environment ◆ Employee morale, organizational commitment ◆ Unique satisfaction and commitment with union ➔ Conflict

Views of Industrial Relations Neoclassical: a view of industrial relations grounded in economics that sees unions as an artificial barrier to the free market - Free market assumption, against unions - Both sides should hold power Pluralist and Institutional View: a view of industrial relations stressing the importance of institutions and multiple actors (including labor) in the employment relationship - Contract of neoclassical - Labor unions countervailing force that balances interests of employees and employers - Need for strong institutions as well as multiple actors in the relationship Human Resources/Strategic Choice: importance of HR strategies and practices linked to the overall strategy of the firm - Not fully anti-union, focused on cooperation between employers and employees - Maximizes the democracy in the workplace - Partnership Political Economy: a view of industrial relations grounded in socialism and marxism that stresses the role of inherent conflict between labor and management - Heavily grounded in sociology and political science rather than economics - It sees inherent conflict between employer and employee - Overthrow management and allows employees more control of their workplace - Anti-union - TWO groups, Political Economy 1 & 2

Chapter 3 Economic, Social and Political Environments

ECONOMIC CONTEXT Macroeconomic Policy: a policy that applies to economy-wide goals, such as inflation, unemployment and growth - Federal government's macroeconomic policy has the most important influence on industrial relations - Deregulation: a policy designed to create more competition in an industry by allowing prices to be determined by market force - Privatization: the transfer or contracting out of services to the private sector - Free Trade Agreement: promoting free trade of goods and services between countries Labour Market: - Nonunion firms, labor market determines compensation and condition - Lower labor supply, ultimately ends up with lower economic growth ➔ Supply and Demand Framework ◆ If demand increases, it results in higher wage and higher employment levels ➔ Elasticity of Supply and Demand ◆ Steep supply curve, greater increase in wage, inelastic supply of labor ◆ Flat supply curve, elasticity of supply ● Increase in wage, high increase in labor ◆ Steeper demand curve, greater inelasticity of demand ◆ Flat demand curve, elastic demand ● Large demand increase, no effect on wage ➔ Labor Power and Marshalls Conditions ◆ Wage employment tradeoff: increasing wages enough so that it doesn't affect employment levels ● Product market: more competitive the market, greater the employment impact of wage increase and elasticity of demand. Unions have more power when less competition ● Substitution Effect: the easier it is to substitute capital for labour, less power labour will have to raise wages ● Labor Intensity: the degree to which labour costs account for production costs. An industry is labour intensive when if labour costs are a high proportion of total costs ● Market for Substitutions: more competitive market for substitute factors of production is, greater bargaining power firms will have ◆ Demand is more inelastic and unions will have more power when: 1. Product markets are less competitive 2. Labour costs are a small proportion of total costs 3. The market for substitutes is less competitive 4. It is harder to substitute labor for capital ➔ Non-Economic Sources of Union Power: unions can derive power from sources other than labor markets. More powerful when they build strong links with local communities.

Supply of Labour - Factors that affect labour supply include: ➔ Population and immigration: labour force growth is fueled by population growth ➔ Work-Leisure Decisions: as income rises, leisure is substituted for work because more goods/services can be purchases, however higher incomes make leisure more desirable. Have opposing effects on each other. ➔ Non-Competitive and Institutional Factors: ◆ Noncompetitive factors: monopsony exists when a firm is not a wage taker but a wage setter ● Assumption that labour is perfectly mobile, but this isn't always the case ◆ Institutional Barriers to Supply: government can inhabit labour supply through lack of resources, training or higher education (restriction of higher graduates to a given profession) ◆ Unions and Labour Supply: unions have control over labour supply by having access to apprentice programs and hiring halls ➔ Demographic Factors: important determinants of labour force patterns ◆ Baby boom created challenges for organizations, high number of boomers in the middle ranks SOCIAL CONDITIONS Public Attitudes to Unions: unions are declining, and have outlived their usefulness ➔ Unions decline occurring because: 1. Globalization and greater pressure on firms to be competitive 2. More individual protection under employment laws 3. Changes in nature of work, employees have greater control over scheduling 4. Improved HR practices geared toward individual needs Work Attitudes: unionization stems from dissatisfaction with their jobs, people want unions for reasons other than economic or job dissatisfaction. ➔ Trends in Income Distribution and Poverty: widening gap between the rich and poor. Disproportionate negative effects on workers who lack necessary skills and training to compete in the new economy ➔ Changing Workforce Composition: male dominated, to half female. Relying on immigration for growth . An Aging Population: a growing aging population will cause an increase in poverty for persons over 55. Employer Challenges to Workforce Aging: policies and recommendations need to be put in place to… 1. Eliminate age discrimination 2. Safer workplace, healthier environments, holistic approach to wellness

3. Flexible work arrangements and job redesign 4. Appropriate training 5. Flexible retirement options Impact of Compositional Changes on Unions: ➔ More women: significant growth in service sector and decline in manufacturing ➔ Occupational Shifts: significant gain of women, youth in public administration, childcare and home support. Loss of workers in manufacturing and technical health fields ➔ Contingent Workers: having alternative work arrangements, Unions have less success with this type of work 1. Part-time: work less than 30 hours at main job 2. Contingent: temporary or casual work, people who desire the freedom and flexibility 3. Flextime: start earlier or later in the day as long as they work number of required hours 4. Compressed work weeks: compressing total weeks hours into fewer days 5. Teleworking: working at home or a satellite work centre Labour and Employment Relations Challenges: ➔ Work Life Balance: work and non work demands are incompatible ◆ Role overload ◆ Work to family interference: long work hours limit employees attendance at family roles ◆ Family interferes with work: family preventing attendance at work ➔ Economic: economy shifted more toward service based economy from manufacturing, consequence of free trade. More pressure on firms for flexibility. ➔ Social: day care needs, increased workload, multitasking, job insecurity. Pressure for more flexibility. ➔ Demographic: now there are dual earner families, single parent families and an aging workforce

THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT - Two structural elements of canadian political systems have made it possible to translate pro-labour policies to legislations 1. Not all eggs are in one basket: in canada we have 11 labour laws, which increases the probability of legislation change 2. The parliamentary system of government: canadian systems favour multiple parties, minority governments are possible and get to have their say Globalization and Politics: - Pressure is put on the government to conform to international policy norms, making less space for provincial governments to experiment with reforms

Betcherman & Lowe (1997) ➔ Six disturbing’ trends (detected by 1997): ◆ Persistently High Unemployment ◆ Underemployment, even among those educated ◆ The spread of non-standard forms of work

◆ Polarization of incomes, job conditions, and work hours ◆ Earning stagnation (and effects on living standards) ◆ New management strategies redefining the employment relationship ➔ Three scenarios for the future (i.e. predicted for now): ◆ Technology not people: pessimistically depicts massive job loss and work dehumanization in the wake of revolutionary advances in information and communications technology ◆ Work not jobs: Sees new opportunities for more fluid, flexible, and fulfilling work as we move away from job-based employment. (You will not be in the same job for 40 years) ◆ Almost business as usual: Reflects the view of many governments and economists. This perspective sees present trends as evolutionary, and advocates fine-tuning the existing public-policy framework.

➔ Four possible policy levers to sustain economic growth, distribute opportunities fairly, and maintain social cohesion: ◆ Refocus monetary & fiscal policy ◆ Redistribute work ◆ Education & training ◆ Worker representation Chapter 4: Legal Environment Gord’s Slides: ➔ Based on the IR systems model/framework, it should be clear why workers would (sometimes) want to band together when dealing with their employer.

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At the very least, workers wanted strength in numbers. At first, workers were not allowed to ‘band together’ to form a union. Then, workers could form a union, but employers did not have to ‘recognize’ it. That legal environment created, or at least did not minimize conflict. Eventually, unions and unionized workers gained more rights as a web of rules (i.e. labour relations legislation) to manage union-employer interaction emerged and grew.

Wagner Act (1935) ➔ Prior to the passage of the Wagner Act in the US, unions were seldom recognized without a violent power struggle between management and labour. ➔ The great depression of the early 1930s gave rise to a new wave of unionism. As workers increasingly distrusted companies to provide basic rights and benefits, industrial unions, who sought to organize all workers in an industry regardless of skill or occupational status, emerged as a more active and socially oriented movement to protect workers. ➔ Recognition includes right to bargain collectively as well as the right to strike. ➔ While the Wagner Act model might have been enacted principally to reduce conflict and aid in the rebuilding of the American economy, it had the effect of legitimizing industrial unionization. Canada’s P.C 1003 (1944) ➔ The key Canadian act facilitating union ‘recognition’; modelled after ‘Wagner’ Snider Case (1925) ➔ A landmark court case in 1925 that determined that labour matters fell under the purview of the provinces under the British North America Act. ➔ Provincial Labour Relations Boards ◆ Certifications/ decertifications ◆ Unfair labour/ bargaining practices ◆ Declarations of illegal strikes and lockouts ◆ Duty of fair representation ➔ Since regulations are provincially implemented, they vary. Bargaining Unit: the group of employees in an organization that are eligible to be represented by a union. 1.Management Employees: these people are excluded from union representatives. ➔ The rationales for excluding managers are: ◆ Access to confidential labour relations information might compromise management's position in bargaining. ◆ The union would be in a conflict of interest if a union member was disciplined by another union member. 2. Community of Interests:

➔ The fundamental criterion to form a bargaining unit is that a community of interests should exist among the employees. The board must settle disputes. 3. Wishes of employees. ➔ Boards will take into account the desires of employees to be separate from or part of a defined group. For example, stationary engineers have a history of craft unionism and organize on the basis of occupational unit. The result has been that in hospital settings, stationary engineers responsible for a steam plant have been allowed by labour boards to have their own bargaining units. The history of the craft or profession also matters in these cases. 4. Employer structure: ➔ The labour board must consider the employer’s structure in determining appropriate bargaining units for collective bargaining. Suppose, for example a firm has two plants in a city producing similar products with the same management, pay structure, and array of jobs. A board might determine that the employees of these two plants constitute a single bargaining unit for purposes of collective bargaining. Unfair Labour Practices: an alleged violation of the labour relations act. ➔ To ensure that workers are free to choose a union, companies and unions are prevented from using intimidation or coercion. Duty of Fair Representation: a legal obligation on the union’s part to represent all employees equally and in a non-discriminatory manner. Collective Bargaining ➔ Good Faith Bargaining: an obligation on union and management to make a serious attempt to reach a settlement. ➔ Dispute Resolution ◆ Volunteerism: th...