Chapter 12 Employee-Management Issues

1. Chapter 12Employee-Management Issues The History of Labor Unions New Issues in the Workplace

2. Labor Unions • Originally created to serve as protectors of employees • “Safety in numbers” • Conditions at the beginning of the 1900s: • Average work week: 60-80 hours • No overtime • If you get sick and call in, you’re outta there! • Little to no safety standards

3. The First Unions • Knights of Labor (1869-1890s) • No child labor, no segregation, equal pay for women (even back then!) • Union Pacific Railroad Strike • 200,000 workers were on strike b/c one person was fired for attending a union meeting on company time • Engineers refused to participate in the strike – did in the union • Haymarket Riot – May 1-4, 1886 • Unions had already marked the day for the day when the 8-hour work day would begin. • 80,000 people marched down Michigan Avenue in Chicago. • Four died when police tried to break up a fight at the McCormick Harvesting Plant as replacement workers crossed picket lines. • On May 4, workers gathered to protest peacefully. • At 10:30, a worker threw a bomb at the police, who were trying to disperse the crowd. • Seven policemen and at least four workers were killed, plus six riot inciters who were sentenced to death. • Monuments at the site have been blown up and desecrated for years since.

4. The First Unions • Enter Samuel Gompers and the AFL • Gompers – born in England to a Jewish family from the Netherlands! • “The factory was my Harvard and my Yale” • American Federation of Labor • Organized by craft • Supported capitalism • United trade unions under its umbrella • Problems with segregation • Probably too big – didn’t always know what smaller trade unions were doing • Worked hard to pass anti-immigration laws Samuel Gompers 1850-1924

5. The First Unions • Meanwhile, John L. Lewis and CIO started • Much more aggressive and militant than AFL • Had communist bent to philosophies • Welcomed African-Americans • Originally fought the AFL for members and turf • Organized by industry (UAW, for example) John L. Lewis: 1880-1969

6. Taft-Hartley – The Turn of the Unions • Caused great dissent and immense leadership turnover in both unions (AFL and CIO) • Allowed right-to-work laws • Penalized unions who refused to sign statements that they were not Communists • AFL and CIO merged to form AFL-CIO in 1955

7. The AFL-CIO of Today • 10 million workers in 50+ different unions • Until 2005, represented most of the unionized workers in the U.S. • In 2005, many large unions disaffiliated with AFL-CIO • Dissent within the top ranks has weakened its effect • Working more with executives, politics, and economic policy than with workers

8. Hoffa and the Teamsters • Teamsters Union – originally part of the AFL • Jimmy Hoffa • a former loading dock worker from Detroit • Organized bargaining agreements among drivers and carriers • Made strategic alliances with organized crime • Expelled by the AFL-CIO in 1957 (readmitted in 1985, then dropped out in 2005) • Used the assets of the Teamsters’ pension plans to support the Mafia • Mysteriously disappeared after being let out of prison

9. Other Important Legislation Affecting Unions and Workers • Norris-LaGuardia (1932) • Employers could not keep employees from joining unions (yellow-dog contracts) • National Labor Relations Act (Wagner, 1935) • Employees could choose to join unions and could collectively bargain • Formed National Labor Relations Board

10. Other Important Legislation Affecting Unions and Workers • Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) • Set minimum wage for employees and maximum basic hours for employees to work • Landrum-Griffin Act (1959) • Guaranteed the right of the individual worker to participate in union activities

11. Agreements with Employers • Closed shop agreement • Employers can only hire union members • Made illegal by Taft-Hartley • Union shop agreement • Employees must join union to keep their jobs • Agency shop agreement • Employees do not have to join union, but must pay fees for benefits they receive • Open shop agreement • Employees never have to join a union

12. Executive Compensation Issues • Executives are paid, on average, 160 times the amount the average worker is paid. • Is this fair? • Drucker’s recommendation: • CEOs should be paid no more than 20 times the salary of the average worker. • Sometimes the average worker would have to work over 50,000 years to make what their CEO made in one year. • Often, the largest disparities are shown in the companies that have the worst performance!! • Bob Nardelli and the $210 million golden parachute

13. Gender Issues • Pay equity between women and men • Women make about 80% of what men doing the same job make • Why? • Women are still caregiving within the family, so they often take lower-paying jobs or don’t work the hours men do. • The gap closes more every year. • Sexual Harassment • Unwelcome behavior creates a hostile work environment or favors are asked for that constitute a quid-pro-quo arrangement.

14. Violence Issues • Workplace homicides contribute to 16% of all workplace deaths. • “Going postal” – a postal worker in OK killed 14 workers and himself in 1986 • Must have a policy and procedure set in place for keeping as many workers safe as possible, in the event of a violence break-out.