Bargaining Structure

1
Bargaining Structure

• The structure of bargaining is a broad concept
  referring to the group or groups of employees and
  employers who help determine or are affected by a
  collective agreement.

2
Bargaining Structure

• Bargaining structure can be thought of as
  consisting of FOUR COMPONENTS which are not
  necessarily distinct
• Informal Work Group
• Election Unit
• Negotiations Unit
• Unit of Direct Impact

3
Informal Work Group

• Workers that would have a tendency to have a
  common view of their work environment.
• It may consist of workers in one or more
  occupations that come into frequent contact with
  each other

4
Election Unit

• A group or groups of workers that the NLRB feels
  is an appropriate one for the purpose of
  collective bargaining.
• It is the certified bargaining unit, and it may
  consist of one or more informal work groups

5
Election Unit

• There are three categories of Election Units
• Single-employer, Single-location
• Single-employer, Multi-location
• Multi-employer

6
Negotiations Unit

• The Negotiations Unit can be the same as the
  Election Unit, but if both parties agree to a
  broader bargaining unit the Negotiations Unit can
  include more than one Election Unit.

7
Negotiations Unit

• Negotiations Units may encompass multiple
  Election Units in a single plant, several plants
  of the same employer, or among more than one
  employer.
• Typically such units involve workers organized by
  the same union. Coalition bargaining is an
  exception.

8
Unit of Direct Impact

• Extends beyond the boundaries of negotiations
  units. It may cover more than one industry, as
  when settlements by auto companies have a direct
  impact on auto parts companies.

9
The Appropriate Bargaining Unit

• Before a unit can be elected and certified as a
  representative of a group of employees, the NLRB
  must determine the appropriate bargaining unit
  that the union is to represent.

10
The Appropriate Bargaining Unit

• If the union and employer can agree on which
  employees should be in the Election Unit, the
  board will run the election in that unit.
• Absent that agreement the responsibility for
  selecting the appropriate unit rest entirely with
  the board.

11
Unit Determination Standards

• Since the law provides few guidelines for unit
  determination, the board has developed its own
• Mutuality or community of interests
• Geography or physical proximity
• Employers administrative /
• territorial division

12
Unit Determination Standards

• Functional integration
• Interchange of employees
• Bargaining history
• Employee desires
• Extent of organization
• Other guidelines may be considered

13
Board Limitations on Certifications

• The only limitation on the boards authority with
  respect to its unit certification powers relates
  specifically to Professional, Craft, and Guard
  employees.

14
Professional Employees

• The board is not allowed to include both
  professional and nonprofessional employees in the
  same unit unless a majority of such professional
  employees vote for inclusion in such unit.

15
Craft Employees

• The board is prohibited from deciding that any
  craft unit is inappropriate for such purposes on
  the ground that a different unit has been
  established by a prior board determination.

16
Guards

• The board is not permitted to certify guards in
  the same unit as nonguards.

17
Additional Observation on Certifications

• The board is not required to seek and certify the
  most appropriate or optimal unit
• The board certifies units based on the jobs or
  job classifications and not on specific
  individuals employed in these classifications.

18
Additional Observation on Certifications

• And
• (to be somewhat redundant)
• Membership in the unit and in the union are not
  necessarily the same.

19
The Craft Bargaining Unit

• The NLRB has defined a true craft unit as a
  distinct and homogeneous group of skilled
  journeymen, craftsmen, working as such, together
  with apprentices and/or helpers.

20
The Craft Bargaining Unit

• From the point of view of Industrial Unions, it
  is not desirable to permit craft workers separate
  representations.

21
The Craft Bargaining Unit

• However,
• The bargaining status of craft employees within a
  firm depends on the nature of the craft, type of
  industry, collective bargaining history in the
  industry, and, most important, on the policies
  and practices of the NLRB.

22
The Craft Bargaining Unit

• Employers have a general bias toward bargaining
  with as few unions as possible.
• Bargaining with multiple units increases costs
  and makes it more difficult to plan reliable
  production and marketing schedules.

23
The NLRB and Craft Bargaining

• Craft bargaining unit cases can be divided into
  two broad categories
• Initial Certification
• Severance Cases

24
The NLRB and Craft Bargaining

• In both instances, the NLRB has to decide whether
  the craft satisfies the appropriate criteria for
  certification.
• It should be noted, however, that it is easier
  for a craft to gain separate certification rights
  when there is no successful history of collective
  bargaining within the context of a larger unit.

25
Craft Certification Criteria

• The craft employees are unrepresented.
• They are engaged in traditional craft work that
  is performed in a separate and distinct location
  apart from other employees.
• They have a separate community of interests and
  do not interchange with other employees.
• The union seeking recognition is a craft union
  traditionally representing the craft in question.

26
Craft Certification Criteria

• The board, confronted with the dilemma between
  the right of self-determination of craft
  employees and a potential threat to stability in
  industrial relations, will typically opt for
  stability.

27
Significance of Board Certification Decisions

• The certification not only acts as a catalyst to
  collective bargaining, but it also influences
  collective bargaining outcomes.
• Although the parties are free to expand
  bargaining beyond the unit selected by the board
  this initial selection by the board establishes
  the required basis for bargaining.

28
Significance of Board Certification Decisions

• A union considers several factors when deciding
  on its desired unit
• The predominant factor seems to be its
  ability to win and election.
• Sometimes its agreeing to the employers desired
  unit in order to get a quick election
• A third set of factors involves attempts to
  maximize the units potential bargaining power.

29
Significance of Board Certification Decisions

• Employers favor election units in which it would
  be difficult for a union to organize and obtain a
  majority.
• Employers usually favor large election units
  primarily because it is more difficult for unions
  to win elections in such units.
• There is less solidarity in large units, and
  Management has more staffing flexibility when all
  of its employees are in one large unit.

30
Significance of Board Certification Decisions

• In the end, which side has the upper hand in
  determining size of bargaining units may depend
  on the boards political coloration at the moment.

31
The Structure of Collective Bargaining in the
United States

• Two thirds (66.6) of employees covered by
  collective bargaining agreements in the United
  States are in situations where the actual
  negotiation area, represented by the people
  sitting at the bargaining table, is different
  from the area covered by the NLRB Certification.

32
Bargaining Structure Union and Management
Interests

• Union bargaining interest is described as being
  either narrow, as in a craft union representing
  workers with a narrow group of skills, or broad,
  as in an industrial union representing all
  employees in an industry.

33
Bargaining Structure Union and Management
Interests

• Management interests are either centralized, as
  in multiemployer or single-employer multiplant
  negotiations, or decentralized, as in
  single-employer, single-plant bargaining.

34
Determinants of Bargaining Structure

• The term bargaining structure denotes a
  multiplicity of units tied together in a
  complicated network of relationships by social,
  legal, administrative and economic factors.

35
Market Factors

• Both employers and unions take into account the
  market context when devising the dimensions of
  bargaining structures.
• Under conditions of sever product market
  competition, some employers have opted for
  multiemployer bargaining to reduce at least one
  aspect of competitive pressure.

36
Bargaining Issues and Structures

• Bargaining issues can be classified as
• Market-wide - (wages)
• Company-wide - (benefits)
• Local - (plant rules)
• Current tend is toward more decentralized
  bargaining - more emphasis on productivity and
  job security.

37
Representational Factors

• Individual firms and unions are sometimes willing
  to enter into comprehensive alliances in order to
  increase their bargaining power.

38
The Impact of Government

• The bargaining unit decisions of the NLRB
  undoubtedly shape and influence the
  characteristics and nature of the present
  bargaining structure.

39
Power Tactics

• Each party seeks to develop bargaining structures
  that would maximize their bargaining power.
• Multiplant employers engaged in the production of
  the same product in a number of plants, would
  typically opt for a structure that consists of
  individual single-plant bargaining units.
  Vertically integrated production units would
  incline the employer in the opposite direction.
  And of course the union would object.

40
Individual Employee Influence

• Individual influence is perhaps greatest in
  narrow, decentralized bargaining units where the
  union represents only one occupation and
  negotiations are with a single employer, perhaps
  at the plant level.

41
The Multiemployer Bargaining Unit

• When a number of employers join forces for
  purposes of collective bargaining, the unit
  structure is described as a multiemployer
  bargaining unit.
• Sometimes agreements negotiated by a few large
  employers are also signed by smaller employers,
  who may agree to essentially the same terms as
  those approved by a larger employer.

42
The Multiemployer Bargaining Unit

• The primary form of bargaining in the
• Transportation,
• Food Products and,
• Apparel Industries

43
Effects of Multiemployer Bargaining

• Competitive pressures are the dominant force
  encouraging both unions and employers to enter
  into multiemployer or industry-wide bargaining
  relationships.

44
Effects of Multiemployer Bargaining

• Small employers in highly competitive and
  labor-intense fields may find it easier to
  operate with uniformity of labor costs.

45
Effects of Multiemployer Bargaining

• The multiemployer unit is particularly
  advantageous to both sides in industries composed
  of many small, financially weak employers.
• (Neutralize the cost of benefits.)

46
Effects of Multiemployer Bargaining

• Multiemployer bargaining provides both unions and
  management with significant cost savings in
  negotiation of labor agreements.

47
Effects of Multiemployer Bargaining

• On the down side, multiemployer bargaining may
  overlook the needs of various employee groups,
  and ignore particular requirements of individual
  employers.
• (causing high levels of internal stress)

48
Effects of Multiemployer Bargaining

• It should also be noted that multiemployer
  agreements are much more difficult to conclude
  than the single-employer contracts.

49
Effects of Multiemployer Bargaining

• In some multiemployer units, master contracts
  cover only items such as wages and major
  benefits, with other issues negotiated at the
  local level.

50
Bargaining Power in the Multiemployer Unit

• There are a number of reasons for employers
  forming multiemployer units
• Some give up power to lessen competition in the
  product market, or to achieve industrial peace
  and greater stability in labor relations.

51
Bargaining Power in the Multiemployer Unit

• Some employers have a need for a countervailing
  power in the face of strong unions.
• Some unions also favor mutiemployer bargaining as
  means of increasing their power.

52
Bargaining Power in the Multiemployer Unit

• In some instances, the bargaining power of a
  union may decline under industry-wide bargaining.
• And in some instances it may be in the interest
  of the union to give up some of its power as a
  means of satisfying its other objectives. The
  survival of the firm.

53
The Pros and Cons of Multiemployer Bargaining

• One consequence of multiemployer bargaining is
  uniformity of contract terms.
• There is opposition to such standardization on
  the grounds that it may be detrimental to the
  public interest.

54
The Pros and Cons of Multiemployer Bargaining

• One of the major counters to this criticism is
  that this type of bargaining has reduced the
  frequency of strikes and produced more stable and
  mature labor relations.
• Additionally, the level of expertise and
  sophistication of negotiators on both sides is
  considerably higher.

55
The Law and Mutiemployer Bargaining

• Although establishment of multiemployer
  bargaining is done on a consensual basis, the
  NLRB does impose some constraints on union and
  management behavior.
• Under Supreme Court law, either side may withdraw
  at any time before negotiations actually begin as
  long as notice is given to the other side.

56
The Future of Multiemployer Bargaining

• The number of employers and workers covered by
  multiemployer labor contracts have significantly
  declined over the past 15 years.
• The nature of the external environment is
  changing the focus of negotiations from industry
  stability to international competitiveness.

57
The Future of Multiemployer Bargaining

• If the key issues continue to be those best
  addressed at the firm or plant level, such as
  productivity, job classifications, work rules,
  performance-based pay, and job security, the
  trend toward decentralization of bargaining may
  be expected.

58
Coordinated or Coalition Bargaining

• These terms refer to two or more unions seeking
  to negotiate similar terms with an employer.
• In its strong form, one master agreement might be
  signed covering all employees of all unions.

59
Coordinated or Coalition Bargaining

• The unions target of coordinated bargaining is
  the large multiplant corporation with an
  objective of increasing their bargaining power.

60
Coordinated or Coalition Bargaining

• Some National unions suffer a lack of power when
  they compete.
• One way to improve their position and to achieve
  a greater uniformity of terms in an industry is
  to employ coordination.

61
Coordinated or Coalition Bargaining

• The main reason some employers have opposed
  coordinated bargaining is potential loss of
  bargaining power.
• Employer consent is generally withheld in most
  large multiplant employer environments.

62
Pattern Bargaining

• An informal means of spreading the terms and
  conditions of employment negotiated on one formal
  bargaining structure to another.