Deck 16: Unionmanagement Relations

Question 1

Teamsters and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
Unions sometimes compete to represent workers, and that has been the case in Colorado with the Denver Sheriff's Department. With budget cuts and tightening discipline, about 125 of the 760 deputies have turned to the Teamsters Union. What they have gotten is Ed Bagwell, Local 17's director of the public service division-a stocky and aggressive person.
Bagwell is aggressive. During one meeting, a supervisor looked at his Teamster's shirt and said, "Nice bowling shirt." Bagwell responded by looking at the supervisor's uniform and remarking, "Nice clown suit." After that, the fight was on, and the meeting became so tense that the department ended up closing the meeting and turning the matter over to internal affairs. During another meeting, Bagwell got so mad he invited a supervisor outside. His behavior so offended an assistant city attorney that the attorney wrote to Bagwell's boss about "unnecessarily hostile and inappropriate behavior." At yet another meeting, when Bagwell was asked to tone it down, he roared, "You have no idea how aggressive I can be!"
Such behavior has had the city attorney's office all atwitter, but it seems to resonate with the sheriff's deputies. A group of those deputies want the Teamsters to take over for the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which has handled collective bargaining for the deputies since 1993. The momentum is with the Teamsters, which signed up more than 100 deputies in a recent year.
The president of the FOP thinks his union will stave off the Teamsters, who will need votes from more than half of the 700 deputies before the Teamsters can represent them. The Teamsters have insinuated that the existing union is not tough enough, according to the FOP, but the FOP president disagrees. "I think we have in case after case shown that we are willing to fight what we think is a fight," he said.
Two deputies who have recently switched to the Teamsters disagree with the FOP. One deputy who is accused of lying about what he saw in a discipline case involving another deputy has chosen the Teamsters over the FOP to defend him in his disciplinary hearings. The other has switched to the Teamsters because he feels an outside organization will be more likely to challenge the status quo. He says, "It's time for a change."
QUESTIONS
1. Is it good or bad for one union to challenge another to represent these deputies, and why?
2. Discuss whether the aggressive approach of the Teamsters is appropriate and legal under the circumstances.
3. If you were sheriff, which union would you rather deal with? Is there a lesson there?

Answer 1

No, it is not good for any union to challenge another for the representation of the deputies. This is because there will be division in the union members and different views and parties mat evolve creating weak union.
Challenging one union with another will not be effective for representing deputies rather every union created should fight together for the same cause. If the unions are seen diversified and divided outside pressure and negative outcome of the demand of representation of deputies may result.
Disagreement and confusion with inappropriate behavior and no unification inside the members of the unions can be harmful for all unions. Management will try to control the situation and start their authoritative rule in the situation.
So it is not good to challenge one union with another for representing deputies.

Question 2

Discuss the following statement: If management gets a union, it deserves one.

Answer 2

If the management is getting the union it deserves to get one-this statement can be discussed by understanding the concept and need of unions. Union are the formal association of the workers or employees which promotes the welfare and the interest of the members by their united action.
The need of the workers unions in any organization is due to failure of the management for job related and organizational concerns. The need of the union for focusing on hike in wages, working hour's flexibility demand and improving working condition is growing.
The management is at times ill- treating their employees and thus the employees are dissatisfied and they started to make unions to improve the working condition. Workers need compensation and they demand competitive pay, adequate benefit equitable pay raise from the management.
Workers want to change the management style so that there is no arbitrary decision making and management. Workers demand recognition and job security wit fair policies and discipline implementation.
Thus all the above demand from the management is required to be satisfied to workers through their union demand.

Question 3

There has been some discussion among the employees in your company's manufacturing plant about forming a union. Company management recognizes the discussions may be due to the absence of a formal grievance procedure to assist employees with reporting their concerns and grievances to management. HR has been asked to develop a formal grievance procedure in an effort to develop better labor relations between the employer and the employees and as an avoidance measure to the formation of a union. To assist HR in developing a formal grievance procedure, visit several websites including the ADR/Conflict Resolution link at http://community.linchr.com/employmentguide.
Employees in the shipping department have requested the implementation of a "suggestion box" system to help them bring their concerns to the attention of management and to help improve labor relations. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of such a system.

Answer 3

It has been found that in the given circumstances the employees in the shipping department had requested for the suggestion box. The implementation of the suggestion box system will help them to bring the concerned authorities to the attention of the management and improve labor relation.
The advantages of the suggestion box systems in the shipping department are:
• The suggestion and opinions given in the suggestion box will be the proof of the given feedbacks and requirements of the improved changes to be adopted
• The suggestion box will help employees and employers build good relation and clear out grievances easily
• The attention of the management to the issues will bring out effective changes and necessary result
• The concerned authority responsible for any error or loopholes will be notified on time after the suggestions are read by management
• Systematic implementation of strategies and policies for equal pay scale, competitive working hours, improve working condition can result
The disadvantages of the suggestion box system in the shipping department are:
• The management will be pressurized to work as per the employees demand
• The suggestion created may not be effective for the overall growth prospect of the organization
• Unnecessary and increasing investment in the improving working conditions can lessen overall profit

Question 4

Suppose a coworker just brought you a union leaflet urging employees to sign an authorization card. What may happen from this point on?

Question 5

There has been some discussion among the employees in your company's manufacturing plant about forming a union. Company management recognizes the discussions may be due to the absence of a formal grievance procedure to assist employees with reporting their concerns and grievances to management. HR has been asked to develop a formal grievance procedure in an effort to develop better labor relations between the employer and the employees and as an avoidance measure to the formation of a union. To assist HR in developing a formal grievance procedure, visit several websites including the ADR/Conflict Resolution link at http://community.linchr.com/employmentguide.
If company management determines that the "suggestion box" request will be more cumbersome than helpful, what are some alternative solutions that management can suggest to the employees?

Question 6

As the HR Manager, you have heard rumors about potential efforts to unionize your warehouse employees. Use the www.genelevine.com website to develop a set of guidelines for supervisors if they are asked questions by employees about unionization as part of a "union prevention" approach.

Question 7

Public-sector unions now account for more than half of union members, while the private sector accounts for less than half. Why has this change occurred?