Labor and Union Case Study
The objective of this work in writing is to conduct a case study on labor and unions and to answer the questions of: (1) Is the grievance process an effective method for resolving workplace disputes? And (2) How would you suggest that unions and employers improve their ability to correctly interpret the collective agreement?
In the case study at focus, several employees have a discussion, which results in an altercation, and two employees are fired as a result. The employees were then advised that they could file a grievance. One of the employees, named Green met in the cafeteria with a representative of the Grievance Committee and related her side of the story and believed that by meeting with the Grievance Committee member that she had filed an official grievance. One week later the other employee, Swallows, was reinstated. When Green inquired about the grievance, she was informed that she had not filed a grievance. When she confronted the committee member she had met with she was informed by that individual that it was not his normal duty to file a grievance. Green held that her rights under the LMRA had been violated and subsequently filed a charge of unfair labor practice with the NLRB and alleged that she had been lacking in fair representation by the union. In the second case study at issue, the company eliminated all janitor jobs, which was directly in violation of the contract. However, the company replied that it had re-evaluated the jobs and upgraded those jobs and...
It is reported that Article 4.1.2 of the Contract Agreement contained the provision of "the placing of production, service, maintenance, or distribution work with outside contractors or subcontractors due to the savings and the ability to spend more time operating the plant." (Case Study 11-1) A grievance was filed and appealed and subsequently denied.
I. Is the Grievance Process Enough for Resolving Disputes?
The work of Travis (nd) reports that labor-management professionals "are often frustrated with the effectiveness of their grievance and arbitration procedures. The same type of grievances continues to arise and the outcome of the final grievance step is often the same." Simultaneously, it is believed by many workers that many issues "get swept under the rug" due to the fear of taking those issues to arbitration and the issues eventually reappear in the future. Travis states that grievance and arbitration procedures in collective bargaining agreements are "the quid pro quo for no-strike clauses. They were meant to be quick and inexpensive in terms of avoiding work stopping and lawsuits due to the agreement being breached. Travis states that the truth is that "decades of labor-management relations has shown that for many labor organizations and employers, the process is one of simply 'going through the motions'." (Travis, nd) While the grievance procedure "may serves it purpose of avoiding work stoppages, many issues remain unresolved, resulting in labor-management…
