Unionized Workplace Grievance

¶ … Unionized Workplace A dispute occurred in a unionized workplace involving John and Eric who were both hourly employees in the finishing department. Jack has been complaining that Eric is trying to get him to quit so that Eric's friend can be employed in Jack's job. He says Eric has bullied and harassed him because he helped in union organizing activities last year while Eric is anti-union.

He also states that Eric complains about nearly anything he does and Eric does not pass him important information about daily work, which creates the impression that Jack is underperforming. Since his attempts to resolve the issue by talking to the finishing foremen have been futile, Jack has filed a formal grievance with the union about this situation. On the other hand, Phil, the first-shift finishing foreman, thinks that Jack is the problem and threatened to fire him for insubordination if he filed the complaint with the union.

The resolution to this issue requires an understanding of several regulations including Unfair Labor Practices, Grievance Management, and responsibilities of the National Labor Relations Board. The resolution of disputes in a unionized workplace, especially after the filing of a grievance complaint has been a major challenging issue in the United States. This difficulties associated with this process are partly attributed to the conspiracy theories of unionization and efforts by the federal government to legislate the modern working environment (Dunlop & Zack, n.d.).

The two finishing foremen were involved in unfair labor practices by failure to establish a safe and secure environment where workers are treated appropriately, which is a justification for Jack's decision to file a grievance with the union. Moreover, the decision by these two people to bet on whether Jack would report to work after crying because Eric constantly picked on him is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act and other regulations that focus on promoting workplace equality and safety.

The next step in this situation will involve investigation of the unfair labor practices that may have been carried out by the foremen. The investigations, which will be conducted by the union and the National Labor Relations Board, will help to determine the extent with which violations of the National Labor Relation Act occurred. In this case, Phil and Steve will be held accountable for allowing an employee, Eric to discriminate against Jack because of their differing opinions regarding union activities.

They will also be held liable for discriminating against Jack because of his participation in concerted or union activities. Phil and Steve will also be guilty of trying to threaten or discriminate against Jack for intentions to file charges with the union based on the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB will determine the next course of action for handling the dispute such as through a grievance and arbitration process.

As the Human Resource manager in this plant, I would conduct investigations to determine the reasons for the behaviors of Eric, Phil, and Steve towards Jack. The investigations will be geared towards developing an appropriate dispute resolution mechanism and the eventual creation of a safe and secure working environment based on employment laws. Since this is a unionized workplace, the focus of the internal investigations will be to establish effective grievance procedure to manage conflict (Donais, 2006). The first step in resolving the conflict is establishing an arbitration or.