Unionization and Labor Relations and Practices

Labor Relations and Unionization

Labor relations have emerged as an important element in the work environment since they help determine labor practices. Regardless of the industry or market where they operate, organizations are required to have policies that contribute to fair treatment of employees as part of ensuring effective labor relations. While organizations and employers understand the significance of effective labor relations, some of them do not ensure suitable labor policies and practices for employees, which results in significant challenges. This tendency has contributed to the emergence of labor unions that adopt various measures and approaches towards promoting effective labor practices and relations in the work environment. The unions utilize the various measures including collective bargaining based on the provisions of The National Labor Relations Act.

It has been said that "a company that deserves a union gets one," suggesting that if proper leadership and motivation techniques are employed and desirable policies devised, the workers will not want to unionize. Either agree or disagree with this philosophy. Support your position and explain what a company could do to create an environment where workers will not want to unionize?

As previously mentioned, labor unions have emerged as organizations that help improve work conditions for employees who work in organizations that do not establish appropriate policies and practices regarding labor relations. As a result, it has been argued that an organization that deserves a union gets one, which implies that workers will not want to unionize if appropriate leadership and motivation tools are utilized as well as desirable policies developed and implemented. In essence, this statement means that unionization only emerges in response to unfair policies and practices employed by the company's or organization's management.

According to Commins (2011), unions arise in a workplace as a result of two major components i.e. leadership and organizational culture. Organizations with leadership that embrace involvement, communication, and leadership development develop a firewall. In most cases, unions can penetrate a company or organization not because of workers' uncertainty but because of unfair treatment of employees by the management. The management can also contribute to unionization of its workers if they contribute to employee disengagement and lack of understanding of what is going on in the working environment. On the contrary, organizations with a clear articulated vision and constant communication and interactions between the management and employees are less likely to experience unionization of their workers. This is primarily because employees in such environments have lesser concerns and less vulnerable to unions.

I agree with this statement on the premise that employees don't organize or unionize in a vacuum. While unions are easily accused of generating unrest in the workforce, it is increasingly evident that union organizers promote unionization following their recognition of discontent existing in a workforce. Even though wages and benefits also play a significant role in unionization, unions generally arise depending on the organizational culture. Employees' actions are largely influenced by the organization's leadership, which implies that an organization or management that deserves a union eventually gets one (Renckly, 2004, p.16).

Since a company that adopts unfair labor practices deserves a union and ultimately gets one, an organization can utilize various measures and initiatives to develop a work environment where employees will not want to unionize. Bruce (2012) states that an organization can create an environment in which workers will not want to unionize through starting at the beginning, being pro-worker rather than anti-union, ensuring a safe, secure, and fair workplace, and establishing effective communication channels. The other important initiative in developing an effective working environment is to establish a suitable grievance procedure.

Starting at the beginning entails ensuring workers understand the management's opinion on unions and why a union may not be suitable for the organization. This process entails including a union position statement in employee orientation materials and employee handbook. Through being pro-worker rather than anti-union, the management enables employees to feel that their views and opinions are valued and are therefore unlikely to look for outsiders like unions to provide them with a voice at work. Being pro-worker instead of anti-union helps the management to establish an open-door policy through which employees can raise their concerns and issues without fear of retaliation (Bruce, 2012). The establishment of a safe, secure, and fair working environment is achieved through conducting an employee survey to obtain their feedback about the issues and responding to their concerns. An effective communication framework promotes better interactions and employee engagement in the decision-making process an effective grievance procedure provides mechanisms for handling employees' complaints and concerns.

2. Some means of resolving negotiations impasses involve economic weapons

(e.g. strikes and lockouts). There are other means of impasse resolution that do not involve the use of economic weapons (e.g. fact finding, mediation, med/arb/interest arb, etc. ) Select two (2) non- economic means of impasse resolution, 1) explain how each one functions and 2) discuss the relative pros and cons of each.

Labor disputes and conflicts are common in the modern working environment because of the various practices that have significant impacts on employees with regards to their motivation and job satisfaction. As a result of the vulnerability to labor disputes and conflicts, there are several conflict resolution measures that have been developed. These means of resolving negotiations impasses are classified into two categories i.e. economic weapons and non-economic weapons. Economic weapons that are utilized in resolving negotiations impasses include strikes and lockouts while non-economic weapons means include mediation and fact finding. Generally, the basic form of impasse resolution entails inter-party negotiations that are geared towards achieving mutually acceptable terms (Craver, 2013).

Non-economic means of impasse resolution were developed as alternative means for impasse resolution in order to avoid the financial impact associated with economic weapons such as strike. These methods are specifically helpful in situations where collective negotiations are deadlocked and the condition seems to lead to further conflict rather than settlement or agreement (Anderson, MacDonald & O'Reilly, 2012, p.455). Some of the most common non-economic weapons of impasse resolution include

Mediation

Mediation is a non-economic weapon of impasse resolution that is also regarded as the most controversial. The controversy surrounding mediation is attributed to the fact that it is private and non-coercive, which increases its likelihood to be safely ignored or rejected if desired. The various processes of mediation include trying to prevent either of the parties from breaking off negotiations, persuading them to develop and listen to new suggestions, providing suggestions regarding compromises and alternative solutions to the issues that have created the impasse or dispute (Stern, p.86).

Mediation proceedings are usually confidential so that every party is encouraged to provide the mediator with a detailed explanation of their position. The mediator utilizes the information provided by each party to bring them together in terms of finding a compromise or alternative solution to the impasse. Mediation is associated with several advantages as compared to economic weapons of impasse resolution. One of the advantages of this impasse resolution mechanism includes expert control of the process since the negotiations are handled by an individual with knowledge and experience on the specific subject (Leavitt & Lavelle, 2013). Secondly, mediation is advantageous in the sense that it's consensual and the ultimate resolution is determined by the parties. In this case, the parties to mediation are encouraged to speak and participate in the process, which results in amicable solutions rather than a solution derived by an outsider. Third, mediation utilizes a problem-solving approach instead of truth-seeking, which helps in ease of resolving the impasse. The ease of resolving the impasse emerges from the fact that the basic focus of mediation is to assist in developing solutions rather than assigning blame. Despite these advantages, mediation is also associated with some disadvantages including the likelihood of one of the parties not to cooperate and compromise. The other disadvantages include the fact the process may be time-consuming and costly, possibility of getting an inexperienced mediator, and issues relating to enforceability of the resolution ("Pros and Cons of Mediation', n.d.).

Fact Finding

Fact finding is the second most widely used tool in impasse resolution regardless of the concerns surrounding the term in comparison with the actual process involved. The process is usually conducted by a renowned neutral selected on an ad hoc basis to assist in resolving a certain dispute. After being appointed, the fact finder holds a public hearing where the parties specify the items they disagree on and provide reasons for their positions. This is followed by oral arguments or submission of written post-hearing briefs. After these presentations, the fact finder examines the evidence and arguments and provides a report regarding the issues and suggests solutions to each of the parties. The recommendations are usually advisory proposals unless the various parties have accepted to be bound by them.

The pros of fact finding as a means for impasse resolution include the fact that the negotiation process involves a neutral party who provides objective analysis and recommendation of the issues. Secondly, fact finding helps in generating objective recommendations to the issues. Third, the process provides each party with an opportunity to examine the issues from an objective angle and in terms of the most suitable resolution. However, there some disadvantages associated with fact finding including the difficulty in enforceability of the agreement, time consuming and costly, and likelihood of engaging an inexperienced fact finder.

3. Unions have declined as a percentage of the workforce in the private sector. With this decline, have career and workplace dissatisfaction and alienation increased? If so, why is this so? If not, why not? Support your position.

Labor unions and unionization have decreased as a percentage of the workforce in the private sector. The decline in the percentage of unions in the workforce because of the various forms of union avoidance strategies implemented (Carter, 2004). The current labor-management relations environment is characterized by the development and increased use union avoidance strategies. Some of the most commonly used union avoidance strategies include influencing a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process and strategic hiring. Union membership rate have declined in the recent past because of the threat of unions to ability to serve as the political and economic voice for workers in the United States (Tessema et. al., 2013, p.112). The other factors for decline in union membership include the international context of industry, increased outsourcing, decrease in the manufacturing industry, increase of illegitimate employees, and introduction of progressive management measures.

Despite the decline in union membership rates, career and workplace dissatisfaction and alienation have not increased. This is also regardless of the fact that labor unions tend to experience more job satisfaction, better job security, social connections, and more opportunities for meaningful engagement (Flavin & Schufeldt, 2014). Career and workplace dissatisfaction as well as alienation have not increased because employers have developed measures that enable them to deal with these issues. In addition to employers focusing on creating suitable work environments to avoid unionization of their workers, the federal employment regulations are supplanting the conventional roles of unions (Hunter, 1999). These regulations have addressed employment discrimination, created safe and healthy working environments, and provide better employee compensation and benefits.