Labor_Laws_and_Unions

Labor laws and Unions Jessica Gonzalez HRM/531 June, 21, 2011 Julie Gedro The first unionization seen in history occurred during the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Unionization was formed as a desperate attempt, from employees, to improve wages and working conditions. With time and the help of the case of Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Hunt, employees finally had a voice and looked forward to forming unions as a means of improvement (Cascio, 2010, p. 513). Unions are now known for high pay, good benefits and excellent working conditions. However, currently the number of Unions in America have diminished over time due to various reasons. Over time America has evolved and has become a strong country through knowledge and technology. Teachers play a major role in the future of America. Teachers are the ones that interact, with the future generation, on a daily basis and ensure that the children of today are receiving the proper education needed to be successful in the future. Teachers are a unionized organization. The teachers of Philadelphia are part of the union of the American Federation of Teachers. A major problem within the teachers of philadelphia is that a large amount of teachers stopped caring and thus are going to work doing the minimum possible in order to get a pay check. The unionization of the teachers association state that after 3 years of being a teacher, teachers automatically receive tenure which makes it virtually impossible for anyone to fire a teacher once tenure is received. Thus, allowing a bad seed to continue to grow. If the school district decides to fire a teacher, who has reached tenure, the school department would be in violation of federal law of ‘due process’. Originally tenure was put in place to protect ones job, ‘something intended to work as a check against administrators capriciously firing teachers and replacing them with friends or family members (teachers union exposed, 2011). Teachers, as other union members, benefit from joining a union because after so many years union members obtain job security, excellent benefits, and a pretty good pay rate. In addition if there comes a point when teachers feel as though they are not being treated properly or they are not being compensated properly they can enter into a collective bargaining. The idea behind collective bargaining is to come to a mutual understanding between both parties. According to Cascio there are three ways to kick off an organizing campaign. First employees can take the initiative. Second, employees may seek the assistance of a union to start one for them. Lastly, national and international unions may contact the employees to ask if the employees want to be a part of a union. Which ever way the unionization process begins it is essential for employees to sign authorization cards that designate the union as the employee. Once at least 30 percent of the employees have signed authorization cards at that point the employees can petition the NLRB for a representation election. Once a representation has been established the next step is to determine the appropriate bargaining unit. The next step is to inform the organization of the intent of the formation of the unionization by the means of election campaign. If management and the union both agree on the size of the bargaining unit a representation election occurs. However if management does not agree then the formation of the union could be postponed up to five years. A date for representation election will be established and once that date comes a secret-ballot election will take place. If a representation election results in union certification and both parties have come to an agreement of terms of the labor contract then the employer will recognize the employees as a union. Once a union has formally unionized itself it then has the power to bargain with the employer. Unions bargain through different channels. Unions bargain through strikes, lockouts, third party involvement, mediation, fact finding, or interest arbitration. Union bargaining effects both parties involved however, bargaining may effect an organization in a negative manner. During a strike employees may choose not to follow through with their daily job requirements as a means of striking against an organization and thus the organizations productivity or service is put on a stand still. Putting a stop to productivity or a service directly impacts an organizations profit level negatively. REFERENCE: Cascio, w. (2010). Managing human resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. Teachers union exposed. (2011). Protecting bad teachers. Retrieved from http://teachersunionexposed.com/protecting.cfm