Labor Relations

by Sloane, Arthur A.; Witney, Fred

• ISBN13: 9780131006829
• ISBN10: 0131006827
• Edition: 11th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

"Labor Relations," the most accurate, readable, timely, and valuable book of its kind on the market, provides readers with a basic understanding of unionism in its natural habitat and a fundamental appreciation of the union-management process. It focuses on the negotiation and administration of labor agreements, and emphasizes the more significant bargaining issues. The 11th edition includes much new material and an extensively revised and updated bibliography. For vice-presidents and directors of labor relations, union presidents, and others who are full-time labor-management professionals for either managements or unions.

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
PART I: SETTING THE STAGE	1	(44)
Organized Labor and the Management Community: An Overview	1	(44)
The Staying Power of Unions	3	(1)
The State of the Unions Today	3	(4)
White-Collar Employees	7	(4)
Some Probable Explanations	11	(4)
Some Grounds for Union Optimism	15	(3)
Labor's Present Strategic Power	18	(1)
Why Workers Join Unions	19	(6)
Why Managers Resist Unions	25	(3)
Labor Relations Consultants	28	(1)
Labor Relations in the Public Sector	29	(2)
The Growth of Public-Sector Unionism: Some Explanations	31	(3)
The Public-Employee Unionist: The Strike Issue	34	(4)
Public Employees and Harder Times	38	(1)
Some Concluding Thoughts	39	(2)
Minicases
The White-Collar Union Organizer	41	(1)
An Overture from a Business Agent	41	(4)
PART II: THE ENVIRONMENTAL FRAMEWORK	45	(132)
The Historical Framework	45	(34)
The Eighteenth Century: Genesis of the American Labor Movement	49	(1)
The First Unions and Their Limited Successes	50	(1)
Revival, Innovation, and Disillusionment	51	(1)
The Laying of the Foundation for Modern Unionism and Some Mixed Performances	51	(2)
The Rise and Fall of the Knights of Labor	53	(1)
The Formation of the AFL and Its Pragmatic Master Plan	54	(4)
The Early Years of the AFL and Some Mixed Results	58	(2)
Wartime Gains and Peacetime Losses	60	(1)
The Great Depression and the AFL's Resurgence in Spite of Itself	61	(3)
The CIO's Challenge to the AFL	64	(3)
World War II	67	(2)
Public Reaction and Private Merger	69	(1)
Organized Labor Since the Merger	70	(5)
Some Concluding Thoughts	75	(1)
Minicases
The Frustrated Labor Historian	76	(1)
A Vote of No Confidence	76	(3)
The Legal Framework	79	(47)
The Era of Judicial Control	80	(1)
The Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932	81	(1)
The Wagner Act of 1935	82	(11)
From the Wagner Act to Taft-Hartley	93	(1)
The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947	93	(18)
The Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959	111	(3)
Public Policy in Recent Years	114	(5)
Permanent Replacements for Strikers: Another Worry for Labor	119	(2)
Some Concluding Thoughts	121	(3)
Minicases
A Question of Definition	124	(1)
Alleged Union Paranoia	124	(2)
Union Behavior: Structure, Government, and Operation	126	(51)
The AFL-CIO	127	(12)
The National Union	139	(24)
The Local Union	163	(9)
Union Finances	172	(2)
Some Concluding Thoughts	174	(1)
Minicases
The Independent International	175	(1)
Qualifications for Union Office	175	(2)
PART III: COLLECTIVE BARGAINING	177	(254)
At the Bargaining Table	177	(42)
Preparation for Negotiations	179	(12)
The Bargaining Process: Early Stages	191	(2)
The Bargaining Process: Later Stages	193	(4)
The Bargaining Process: Final Stages	197	(2)
Crisis Situations	199	(4)
Testing and Proofreading	203	(1)
Coordinated Bargaining and Multinationals	204	(2)
Boulwarism: A Different Way of Doing Things	206	(1)
Some Further Complexities	207	(9)
Some Concluding Thoughts	216	(1)
Minicases
Trying to Strike a Balance	217	(1)
An Advocate of Boulwarism	217	(2)
Grievances and Arbitration	219	(39)
Grievance Procedure	220	(4)
Grievance Procedure: Its Flexibility	224	(1)
Arbitration	225	(2)
The Trilogy Cases	227	(18)
Arbitration Costs and Time Lag	245	(4)
Some Concluding Thoughts	249	(1)
Minicases
A Dissenting View Regarding Arbitration	250	(1)
An Embarrassing Incident for the Arbitrator	250	(1)
Arbitration Cases
Case 1 Arbitrability: The Case of the Dropped and Reinstituted Grievance	251	(3)
Case 2 Past Practice: The Case of Overtime Allocation That the Union Viewed as Inequitable	254	(4)
Wage Issues under Collective Bargaining	258	(36)
Determination of the Basic Wage Rate	259	(8)
Cost of Living: Escalator and Wage-Reopener Arrangements	267	(6)
Wage Differentials	273	(1)
Overtime and Flextime	274	(6)
Job Evaluation and Job Comparison	280	(2)
Concessionary Bargaining	282	(3)
Two-Tier Wage Systems	285	(1)
Some Concluding Thoughts	286	(1)
Minicases
Dispensation	287	(1)
An Employee Refusal to Work Overtime	288	(1)
Arbitration Cases
Case 3 Mandatory Overtime: The Case of the Periodic Inventory	289	(5)
Economic Supplements under Collective Bargaining	294	(35)
Pension and Retirement Plans	296	(5)
Tax-Deferred Retirement Savings Plans	301	(2)
Vacation with Pay	303	(2)
Holidays with Pay	305	(2)
Negotiated-Health Insurance Plans	307	(3)
Dismissal Pay	310	(1)
Reporting Pay	310	(2)
Supplementary Unemployment Benefit Plans	312	(2)
Some Concluding Thoughts	314	(4)
Minicases
The Case of Henry Jennings	318	(1)
The Case of Timmy Aldrich	318	(1)
Case 4 Sick Pay: The Case of the Union Meeting Attendance	319	(3)
Case 5 Life Insurance: The Case of the Life-Support System	322	(7)
Institutional Issues under Collective Bargaining	329	(33)
Union Membership as a Condition of Employment	330	(1)
Forms of Union Security	330	(7)
The Checkoff	337	(1)
Union Obligations	338	(4)
Managerial Prerogatives	342	(4)
Codetermination and Unions in the Boardroom	346	(2)
Employee Stock Ownership Plans	348	(3)
Quality of Work Life Programs	351	(5)
Some Concluding Thoughts	356	(1)
Minicases
A Question of Freedom	357	(1)
An Original Proposal	357	(1)
Management Rights	358	(1)
Case 6 Management Rights: The Case of Filling a Vacancy	359	(3)
Administrative Issues under Collective Bargaining	362	(69)
Seniority	363	(11)
Discharge and Discipline	374	(5)
Safety and Health of Employees	379	(8)
Production Standards and Staffing	387	(7)
Technological Change	394	(14)
Plant Closings	408	(1)
Some Concluding Thoughts	409	(1)
Minicases
The Dangerous Knife	410	(1)
Vocal Criticism by an Employee	410	(2)
Case 7 Seniority: The Case of the Temporary Assignments	412	(4)
Case 8 Employee Discipline: The Case of the Jailed Employee Who Carried a Loaded Handgun and Suspected Cocaine in Her Purse	416	(4)
Case 9 Employee Discipline: The Case of the Permission to Leave the Plant	420	(3)
Case 10 Employee Discipline: The Case of the Fighting on the Employer's Premises	423	(8)
Appendix: Mock Negotiation Problem	431	(6)
Glossary	437	(8)
Index	445

Excerpts

There are no prerequisites to this book beyond an interest in labor-management relations. It has been designed to serve as an aid to all readers--whether undergraduate students, graduate students, or practitioners--who desire a basic understanding of unionism in its natural habitat. With such a thrust, however, the volume focuses on certain areas, necessarily minimizing the treatment of others. Labor Relationsbrings in, for example, sufficient economic material to allow a fundamental appreciation of the union-management process and stops at that point. Throughout, it has tried to make the various topic treatments short enough to be interesting while at the same time long enough to do justice to the subject. On the other hand, it in no way restricts itself to what is commonly described as collective bargaining. Its focus is on the negotiation and administration of labor agreements, with emphasis on the more significant bargaining issues as they now appear between the covers of the contracts. And these topics cannot profitably be studied in isolation. Labor relations can best be viewed as an interaction between two organizations--management and the labor union--and the parties to this interaction are always subject to various, often complex, environmental influences. Only after the reader gains an understanding of the evolving management and labor institutions, and only after the environment surrounding their interactional process has been appreciated, can he or she attempt to understand bargaining itself in any satisfactory way. The book consequently begins with a broad overview of the general nature of the labor-management relationship as it currently exists in the United States (Part I). It then moves to a survey of the historical, legal, and structural environments that so greatly influence contractual contents and labor relations behavior (Part II). Finally, it presents a close examination of the negotiation, administration, and major contents of the labor agreement itself (Part III). Through description, analysis, discussion questions, minicases (many of them with ethical dimensions) and selected arbitration cases drawn from the authors' own experiences, understanding of all these aspects of labor relations will, hopefully, be imparted. This eleventh edition, the second one written since Fred Witney's 1999 death, is marked by many changes. These are mainly additions, although all of the chapters have been given some streamlining and the new volume is essentially the same in size as its predecessors. Even in the three years since the tenth edition, developments in the field have called for the inclusion of new material on such topics as labor's increased emphasis on both organizing the unorganized and political action, George W. Bush and labor, unions and cyberspace, the remuneration of labor leaders, the U.S. Supreme Court and labor arbitration, collective bargaining in major league sports, and a host of other subjects. I have also enlarged upon the book's prior treatment of white collar unionism, unions and public opinion, union finances, national emergency strikes, and the merger of AFL-CIO affiliates, to cite only a few other recipients of greater journalistic attention. And the discussion of many additional topics has, of course, been given a significant updating. A multitude of new visual aids are included also, as are several new arbitration cases, an extensively revised bibliography, an amended mock negotiation problem, and quite a few added discussion questions. Nonetheless, I have exercised self-restraint in the rewriting. Only changes that can be defended on the grounds of general improvement ofLabor Relationshave been incorporated. I have always firmly believed in the old Puritan dictum that "nothing should ever be said that doesn't improve upon silence," and also share with the late Calvin Coolidge the conviction that "if you d