EMPLOYEE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

1
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

• Four common areas of employee rights granted in
  union contracts
• Just cause discipline and discharge
• Seniority rights
• Compensation
• Grievance procedures
• In return, employees are obligated to follow the
  employers work rules, supervisors directions,
  and the contract (such as not striking over
  grievances).
• Private and public sector union contracts often
  specify that employees can only be disciplined
  and discharged for cause or just cause.

2
SENIORITY

• Seniority as the Sole Factor
• Seniority as the Determining Factor
• Seniority as a Secondary Factor

3
JOB RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

• In blue-collar settings, wage rates are tied to
  specific jobs, not individuals (i.e., the holder
  of a specific job is entitled to a certain wage
  rate by virtue of holding that job, irrespective
  of their individual characteristics).
• Certain jobs are entitled to perform certain
  tasks.

4
UNION RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

• The most controversial clauses fall within the
  category of union rights pertain to issues of
  dues and mandatory membership.
• There are three types of union security clauses
• A closed shop
• A union shop
• An agency shop

5
UNION SECURITY RESTRICTIONS

• The NLRA outlaws the closed shop
• Right-to-work laws outlaw union and agency shops,
  but in the 28 states that are not right-to-work
  states, unions are allowed to negotiate union or
  agency shop provisions into their contracts.
• The Supreme Court has determined that union shop
  clauses are only enforceable as agency
  shopsworkers can be forced to pay dues, but not
  join the union.
• The Supreme Court has also created Beck rights

6
UNION RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

• Recognition clauses
• To facilitate communication between a union and
  the employees, it is common for unions to
  negotiate rights for an on-premises bulletin
  board and for union leaders to enter the
  workplace and meet with employees (without
  interfering with their work).
• Duty of Fair Representation

7
SHOP STEWARDS

• Shop stewards are employees who are selected by
  the rank and file or appointed by the union
  leadership to be first-line advocates for the
  workers to ensure that the contract is not
  violated.
• For most workers, stewards are the
  personification of the union
• Contracts frequently include clauses in which
  employers
• Specify the rights of stewards to investigate
  grievances
• Specify the number of stewards
• Grant them special seniority rights
  (superseniority)
• Indicate that the company will pay the steward
  for the time conducting legitimate union
  business.

8
MANAGEMENT RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

• union contracts also provide for management
  rights.
• These clauses embody managements insistence on
  maintaining sole authority over traditional
  management functions
• Such clauses are found in 80 of private sector
  contracts and frequently found in public sector
  contracts as well.
• reserved rights (or residual rights) doctrine

9
MANAGEMENT ACTS, THE UNION GRIEVES

• Grievances or rights disputes.
• Conflicts over the interpretation, application,
  and enforcement of the contract.
• Such conflicts are inevitable and their
  resolution is called contract administration.
• The near universal method for resolving
  grievances in U.S. labor relations is through a
  grievance procedure that is negotiated into the
  contract.

10
GRIEVANCE ARBITRATION

• The final step of a unionized grievance procedure
  is usually grievance arbitration (also called
  rights arbitration).
• To interpret the contract, arbitrators use three
  elements
• Contractual languagearbitrators try to use the
  ordinary and popular meaning of words and place
  more weight on specific clauses than on general
  ones.
• Intentwhat meaning did the parties intend when
  they negotiated the clause?
• Past practicehow have similar situations been
  handled in the past and is there a legitimate
  reason for a different resolution this time?
• In sum, arbitrators decisions are based on the
  common law of the workplace.

11
EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE

• More grievance arbitration hearings pertain to
  discipline and discharge than any other topic.
• Over 90 percent of private sector union
  contracts, and many public sectors ones as well,
  specify that employees can only be disciplined
  and discharged for cause or just cause.
• Compare this to the employment-at-will doctrine
  in the nonunion sector.

12
WEINGARTEN RIGHTS

• A final important issue for the topic of employee
  discipline is an employees right to
  representation.
• The Supreme Court has interpreted the right of
  employees to engage in concerted activities for
  mutual protection (as provided by section 7 of
  the NLRA) to mean that an employee who believes
  that discipline will result from a meeting with
  management can insist that a union representative
  be present.

13
NONUNION WORPLACE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

• Open Door Policy
• Is there an appeals process?
• Additional elements for grievances?