Analyze the process of unionization and collective bargaining in an organization
Scenario
You are working as an HR analyst for a company that employs 400 employees and manufactures household items. The order fulfillment department has begun the process of campaigning to organize a union. This is a significant number of employees; they make up 40% of your company’s workforce.
As an HR professional, it is critical that you be familiar with the laws and regulations surrounding the process of unionization. You may be called upon to support supervisors, managers, or nonunion employees with questions during an active campaign. Human Resources acts as a valuable resource to an organization about what is and is not legally permitted during the union organizing process. Your organization’s failure to comply with laws and regulations during a union campaign can have a lasting impact and may result in monetary fines.
Directions
In the first section of this project refer to the following list of primary steps in a union campaign. While the entire process of a campaign has many more steps, these are the most crucial and the ones that are most prone to rule violations by either company management or the union:
Organizing Campaign: Employees and union representatives work together to gather employee support for a union.
Authorization: 30% of employees “sign” cards to authorize union representation and have an election.
Union Files for Election: Election is conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, and 50% of the employees vote for union representation.
Employees with Union Representation and Management Create a Contract: A collective bargaining agreement is negotiated.
To complete the first section of this project, create a table with these headings: Union Campaign Step, Prohibited Management Activity, and Prohibited Union Activity. For each listed step, you will document three activities that management are not permitted to enact during an official union campaign. You will also document two activities that the unions are not permitted to enact during the campaign.
In the second section of this project, refer to the Collective Bargaining Agreement excerpt provided in the Supporting Materials section. Consider the rights of management and the rights of the union. Describe benefits and drawbacks of the collective bargaining agreement for the employer. Complete your examination of the collective bargaining agreement by giving an example of a situation where there might be a conflict between management rights and the contract provision. Describe how you would advise management to resolve this situation.
