Question

Collective Bargaining

In the Chapter 20 Exercises section, complete the matching and multiple-choice questions.

What Happens During Collective Bargaining?
Collective bargaining refers to management and labor negotiating pay, working conditions,
and related elements. In collective bargaining, the labor side of negotiations is represented
by a union—more specifically, by representatives who are elected by union
members.

WHY BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY?
Imagine you’re working at a factory. You want a raise and decide to approach your boss to ask for it. What’s the likelihood of getting your raise? If you were to get together with 100 fellow workers and all ask for a raise together, would the boss take the request more seriously? The answer is usually yes. One main point of collective bargaining is using the power of numbers to improve a negotiating position.

During collective bargaining, negotiations continue until a written agreement known as a
union contract is written.

In these negotiations, unions have several goals:

Wages and hours. Unions have an interest in increasing wages and limiting work hours.
Fringe benefits. These are benefits not directly connected to wages and hours worked. Examples include paid holidays, contractually mandated breaks, health insurance, and pension plans.
Job security. This protects workers from being fired without a valid reason.
Grievance machinery. This entails a method of working out complaints of management violating union contracts.
Union dues. Many union contracts stipulate the direct withdrawal of union dues from workers’ wages.
Union-Bargaining Power
Bargaining power refers to how likely a union is to get a favorable contract from management. This power is based on a number of factors, including the percentage of costs made up by labor and the percentage of company workers that are part of the union. If the union is in a weak position, the workers are unlikely to have their demands met. Read about the factors affecting bargaining power on pages 304–306 of your textbook.

What Happens When Negotiations Fail?
Tactics of Unions

Strike—workers refuse to work, costing the business money
Picketting—workers discourage other workers from going to work, inform the public of their grievances
Boycott—public is asked to avoid buying from a company whose workers are on strike
Slowdowns—workers deliberately reduce output
Public Relations—representatives present the union's side of the story to the public
Tactics of Management

Injunction—a court order to stop specific union actions, such as picketting
Lockout—management shuts down the business to force union to given in
Strikebreaking—nonunion workers, or scabs, are hired to replace striking workers
Public Relations—representatives present management 's point of view to the public
Two-Tier Wage System—management offers new employees less in wages than older employees
Part-Time Employees—management hires part-time employees to avoid overtime pay and fringe benefits
When negotiations break down, there will either be a call for a third party to enter and aid in negotiations or there’s a labor-management conflict. Unions and companies may agree to a third (nonbiased) party’s involvement in reaching an agreement. Methods used are fact-finding, mediation, and arbitration. Read about these methods on page 306 of your textbook.

If third party intervention isn’t possible, labor and management come into conflict. Both sides in a dispute might use more aggressive tactics to gain victory.

Read about these tactics in depth on pages 306–309 of your textbook.

Answer 1

What is collective bargaining?

Collective bargaining is the process of management and labor negotiating pay, working conditions, and related elements. The labor side of negotiations is represented by a union, specifically by representatives who are elected by union members.

Why bargain collectively?

Collective bargaining uses the power of numbers to improve a negotiating position. When workers come together to ask for a raise, for example, the request is taken more seriously.

What is a union contract?

A union contract is a written agreement that is made between management and labor during collective bargaining.

What are the goals of unions during collective bargaining?

Unions have several goals during collective bargaining, including increasing wages and limiting work hours, obtaining fringe benefits (such as paid holidays, contractually mandated breaks, health insurance, and pension plans), protecting workers from being fired without a valid reason, and establishing a grievance machinery to work out complaints of management violating union contracts.

Which of the following is NOT a goal of unions during collective bargaining?

D. Increasing the number of managers in a company.