Chapter 32 Labor Law

Federal Labor Union Statutes Norris-LaGuardia Act National Labor Relations Act Labor-Management Relations Act Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act Railway Labor Act © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Norris-LaGuardia Act • Stipulates that it is legal for employees to organize. • Removes the federal courts’ power to enjoin peaceful union activity. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

National Labor Relations Act • Also known as the Wagner Act or NLRA. • Establishes the right of employees to: • form, join, and assist labor organizations • bargain collectively with employers • engage in concerted activity to promote these rights © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Labor-Management Relations Act • Also known as the Taft-Hartley Act. • Expands the activities that labor unions can engage in. • Gives employers the right to engage in free-speech efforts against unions prior to a union election. • Gives the President the right to seek an injunction against a strike that would create a national emergency. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act • Also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act. • Regulates internal union affairs and establishes the rights of union members. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) • Administrative body comprised of five members appointed by the president and approved by the senate. • Oversees union elections • Prevents employers and unions from engaging in illegal and unfair labor practices • Enforces and interprets certain federal labor laws. • NLRB decisions are enforceable in court. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Organizing a Union • Section 7 of the NLRA • Gives employees the right to join together to form a union. • Appropriate Bargaining Unit • The group that the union is seeking to represent. • Must be defined before the union can petition for an election. • Managers and professional employees may not belong to unions formed by employees whom they manage. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Types of Union Elections • 30 percent of the employees in the bargaining unit must indicate interest in joining or forming a union. • Not a commitment to vote for the union • NLRB is petitioned, investigates and sets election date. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Union Elections (continued) • Contested election • Management opposes the union • NLRB required to supervised • Simple majority vote wins election • Consent election • Management does not contest • NLRB does not supervise • Decertification election • Employees no longer want union • Supervised by NLRB © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Union Elections (continued) • If a simple majority of the employees of the appropriate bargaining unit vote to join a union, • the union is certified as the bargaining agent of all the employees, • even those who did not vote for the union. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Union Solicitation on Company Property • An employer may restrict union solicitation activities by employees to nonworking areas during employees’ free time. • Off-duty employees may be barred from union solicitation on company premises. • Non-employee union organizers or officers may be prohibited from soliciting on behalf of the union anywhere on company property. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Union Solicitation on Company Property(continued) Inaccessibility Exception • Permits employees and union officials to engage in union solicitation on company property • Employees must be beyond reach of reasonable union efforts to communicate with them. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Illegal Interference with an Election • Section 8(a) of the NLRA – makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with, coerce, or restrain employees from exercising their statutory right to form and join a union. • Section 8(b) of the NLRA –prohibits unions from engaging in unfair labor practices that interfere with a union election. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Collective Bargaining • The act of negotiating contract terms between an employer and the members of a union. • Collective Bargaining Agreement –the resulting contract from a collective bargaining procedure. • The employer and the union must bargain with each other in good faith. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Subjects of Collective Bargaining • Compulsory Subjects • Wages • Hours • Other terms and conditions of employment • Illegal Subjects • Closed shops • Discrimination © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Subjects of Collective Bargaining(continued) • Permissive Subjects • Size and composition of the supervisory force • Location of plants • Corporate reorganizations • Subjects may be bargained for if company and union agree © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Union Security Agreements • Union Shop • Employee must join the union within a certain number of days after being hired. • Employees who do not join must be discharged by the employer upon notice from the union. • Union members pay union dues to the union. • Union shops are lawful. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Union Security Agreements (continued) • Agency Shop • Employees do not have to become union members. • Must pay an agency fee to the union. • Amount equal to union dues • Agency shops are lawful. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

State Right-to-Work Laws • Section 14(b) of the Taft Hartley Act • allows states to enact right-to-work laws that outlaw union or agency shops. • Individual employees cannot be forced to join a union or pay union dues and fees. • Applies even though a union has been elected by other employees. • 22 states have enacted right-to-work laws. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Strikes • The NLRA gives union management the right to recommend that the union call a strike if a collective bargaining agreement cannot be reached. • A majority vote of the union’s members must agree to the action before there can be a strike. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Picketing • The actions of strikers walking in front of the employer’s premises carrying signs announcing their strike. • The right to picket is implied from the NLRA. • An employer may seek an injunction against unlawful picketing. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Picketing (continued) Picketing is lawful unless it • It is accompanied by violence • Obstructs customers from entering the employer’s place of business • Prevents non-striking employees from entering the employer’s premises • Prevents pickups and deliveries at the employer’s place of business © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Secondary Boycott Picketing • A type of picketing where unions try to bring pressure against an employer by picketing his or her suppliers or customers. • Such picketing is lawful only if it is product picketing. • It is illegal if it is directed against the neutral employer instead of the struck employer’s product. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Illegal Strikes • Several types of strikes have been held to be illegal. • They are not protected by federal labor law. • Illegal strikers may be discharged by the employer with no rights to reinstatement. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Violent Strikes Sit-Down Strikes Partial or Intermittent Strikes Wildcat Strikes Strikes during the 60-day Cooling-Off Period Strikes in Violation of a No-Strike Clause Illegal strikes are: © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Crossover Worker • Individual members of a union do not have to honor the strike. • They may: • Choose not to strike, or • Return to work after joining the strikers for a time © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Replacement Workers • Workers who are hired to take the place of striking workers. • They can be hired on either a temporary or permanent basis. • If replacement workers are given permanent status, they do not have to be dismissed when the strike is over. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Employer Lockout Act of the employer to prevent employees from entering the work premises when the employer reasonably anticipates a strike. © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Internal Union Affairs • Unions may adopt internal union rules to regulate the operation of the union, acquire and maintain union membership, etc. • Title I of the Landrum-Griffin Act – referred to as labor’s bill of rights. Gives each union member equal rights and privileges to: • Nominate candidates for union office • Vote in elections • Participate in membership meetings © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Internal Union Affairs (continued) • A union may discipline members for: • Walking off the job in a non-sanctioned strike • Working for wages below union scale • Spying for an employer • Any other unauthorized activity that has an adverse economic impact on the union © 2007 Prentice Hall, Business Law, sixth edition, Henry R. Cheeseman

Chapter 32 Labor Law