Terminology

Concept

Definition

ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan)

• Employer sets aside part of ee wages in a trust fund to purchase stock in the company)
• Trust votes the share, NOT the ee's
• Usually large organizations

NLRB (National Labor Relations Board)

• Formed by the NLRA in 1935
• Politically appointed
• Controls union certification elections and decides on complaints regarding unfair labor practices

Union-Avoidance Law firm

• Lawyers and Law firms used by firms and managers to escape union formation

Greenfield Plants

• Establishments located in (usually) Southern and Western States
• Avoids Unions
• Establishment can start over with new employees
• Usually on undeveloped land (where the word Greenfield comes from)

Questions from Class Discussion

Question

Response

What do Unions Do for EE’s?

• Collective Bargaining for wages (raises about 10-15%), health and safety conditions, grievance procedures and resolution. Why are grievance procedures so important?
• Strikes – Infrequent about 1/1000 work days lost due to strikes, can hurt individual firms or industries. Number of days lost to strikes is less than due to illness or other absences
• Lobbying – Register voters, General issues that affect working people such as health, education, and anti-poverty, use coalitions to gain more power since only a small proportion of the LF is Unionized. Not very successful in pushing for purely union- related issues.

What do Unions do for Employers?

• Potentially produce more satisfied workers (but research actually shows that Unionized workers are not more satisfied)
• Prevent strikes and more generally reduce chances of conflict

Why doesn’t every worker belong to a Union?

• MOST IMPORTANT: No union to join because firm, industry, occupation, or region does not have one. If a union does not exist in the firm, the worker can't join it!
• Don’t want to pay dues
• Fearful of consequences
• Right to Work State (about half of all US states including NC) – workers get benefit of Union without joining it
• Temporary and Part-time workers usually not covered by union

Why doesn’t every firm have a Union?

• Management doesn’t want it – Use Union-Avoidance Lawyers
• Positive things Management can do:
• Provide better benefits
• Provide safer conditions
• ESOP
• Other activities to increase worker loyalty
• Negative things Management can do:
• Fire organizers (illegal practice but done subtly)
• Hire union avoidance law firm & use the tactics they suggest
• Move to other regions - Greenfield
• Workers must organize – petition with the NLRB for an election.
• IF unions don't act aggressively to organize a plant/business, then they will lose the election. What tactics can they use?
• Turnover is high – industry specific (i.e. service industries such as fast food)

FOR NEXT CLASS: Why is union membership declining in the United States? Will unions survive?

• What do Hodson & Sullivan say?