Union Representation and Collective Bargaining - Essay Example

?Introduction What is Union Representation? What is Collective Bargaining? Do we even know what these terms mean? A lot of us today are not familiar with these terms anymore. For years, our government has been silent upon issues involving these terms. Not so many people are talking about union representation and collective bargaining anymore. Thus we need to revisit these terms to know more about these rights and their impacts to managing an effective workforce. Union representation is the process of representing a labor union or trade union to its employer. Labor union or trade union is defined as an association, combination, or organization of employees who band together to secure favorable wages, improved working conditions, and better work hours, and to resolve grievances against employers (law.jrank.org, Labor Union). Labor unions became major forces in influencing wages and working conditions (Friedman, 2010). Collective Bargaining, also referred as negotiations towards collective agreement, is a democratic framework under the Labor Code for the purpose of stabilizing the relationship between the management and labor to create a climate of sound and stable industrial peace (Bicierro, 2004). Union Representation A trade union is an important organization that can provide an important source of information and protection in relation to employment matters, as well as negotiating with the employer for better pay and working conditions. Employees are not forced to join a trade union. Each worker has his or her own right to choose not to join or participate in a labor union. Likewise, employers also don’t have any legal obligation to negotiate with a union unless they agreed beforehand (www.iboa.ie, Union Representation). The relationship between employers and employees cannot be guaranteed to be perfect and harmonious. There are problems that may arise along the way. Companies often implement new rules and regulations, changes in employment matters such as wages and working conditions. Not all employees will be happy to accept everything that employers will implement or enforce. There are also times that employees are called for investigation by their employers for committing mistakes or refusing to abide to rules and regulations of the company. This is where union representation plays its vital role. The right to union representation is called the Weingarten Right. This is the right to request assistance from the representatives from the union during investigatory interviews through a union steward to make sure that the employee is not coerced and forced in any nature or form by the management to make confession of misconduct (www.cueunion.org, Weingarten Rights - the right to union representation). It refers to union representation during the company interrogations through a Union steward. The union steward is tasked to prevent any form of intimidation that the management will do to its employees (www.iatse728.org, Weingarten Rights). In any company, there comes a time that employees will be investigated for any charges of improper acts or behaviour against co-employee or the management. The Weingarten Rights will assure that during this investigation, an employee is free from coercion especially during confession through the presence of union representative or steward to witness the enquiry. The union steward is a very important person in union representation which has bountiful responsibilities to do. A union steward can help the employee investigated explain what really happened when the employee is inarticulate or afraid to answer. He can present justifications and mitigating factors for the employee and can advise the employee to be honest. The steward can also help the employee avoid making fatal admissions. Most importantly, the union steward serves as witness to prevent the management from making inappropriate action such as giving false account of the investigation (www.iatse728.org, Weingarten Rights). Collective Bargaining Collective bargaining is considered to be a legal obligation and mutual responsibility between the employer and the union (Bicierro, 2004). It is an essential right for the workers to the power to improve their living standards by enabling working men and women who are members of the union to bargain and talk with their employers determine their terms of employment, including pay, benefits, hours, leave, job health and safety policies, ways to balance work and family and more (www.collectivebargainingfacts.com, What is Collective Bargaining). Collective bargaining is consists of negotiations to determine conditions of employment between the management and employees governed by federal and statutory laws, administrative agency regulations, and judicial decisions. Collective bargaining produces collective agreement between the employer and workers. During the bargaining, employees are represented by a union or other labor organization (topics.law.cornell.edu, Collective Bargaining and Labor Arbitration: an Overview). The National Labor Relations Act or NLRA, the main body of law that governs the collective bargaining, grants the employees their right to collective bargain and join trade unions. The National Labor Relations Board enforces, supplements, and defines the provisions of the NLRA (topics.law.cornell.edu, Collective Bargaining and Labor Arbitration: An Overview). The Impact and Implications to Managing a Workforce Effectively Workforce is defined as the number of employees on an employer’s payroll (www.businessdictionary.com, Workforce). Union representation and collective bargaining are two important factors that affect workforce management. These two terms have important implications and impact to managing an effective workforce. Thus there is a need to know how union representation and collective bargaining affect the workforce management of each company or employer. An effective workforce is characterized as having a continuous personal and organizational improvement. A company is said to have an effective workforce if its employers are continually aiming to work smarter and better. To be able to manage a workforce effectively, employers must ensure that there are no gaps and issues between them and their employees such that these workers will aim both for individual and organization improvement (Morgan, 2003). The primary impact and implication of union representation is it offers the employees the unity and harmony when dealing with their employers (Hunter, 2009). This contributes to managing an workforce effectively because it assures the employers to have a good and healthy relationship with its workers. If employees are represented to the organization or management, the employers can listen to their grievances, suggestions or recommendations. The working relationship of employers to employees will not always be good. There will always be comments, positive and negative feedbacks from the workers about the rules, implementation and management of the employers. The company must make sure that for them to be able to manage an effective workforce, they should listen to the voice of their employees. But a company cannot ask each employee for them to know their problems, comments and suggestions. Thus, this is where union representation plays its role in helping the company manage the workforce or its employees effectively. Through the labor union or trade union, employers will be able to know the problems in employment matters such as issues on wages, working conditions and working hours. Collective bargaining also has a very important impact to managing an effective workforce. Collective bargaining process helps provide element of security and certainty and may establish employee privileges and benefits which would otherwise may not have been provided by an employer dealing individually with employees. Because of this process or negotiation, agreements can be achieved between unions and employers. Through collective bargaining there is a harmonious and productive relationship between employers and employees because there is already agreed rights and responsibilities in the workplace for employment matters such as wages, insurance, working hours and conditions that are legally enforceable. The process of collective bargaining can also help reach an agreement to provide a “just cause” standard of review that an employer must use when deciding to discipline or discharge any employee in an arbitration process (Hunter, 1999). In addition, collective bargaining is advantageous for both workers and employers. For workers, this process helps them in their employment relations, ensures adequate wages and working conditions by providing them with a “collective voice”, allows them to influence the decisions of the employer especially when it comes to fair distribution of gains. Employers can maintain stable industrial relations by upholding industrial peace (www.ilo.org, Collective Bargaining). In conclusion, labor unions through the process of collective bargaining can negotiate with the employers or management to maintain a healthy, peaceful and effective working relationship. Effective management of workforce can be achieved if there is union representation and collective bargaining which ensure that both the employers and employees are well benefited and given what is “just” for both of them. Sources: Bicierro, Reo. Collective Bargaining, (2004). Web. 6 July 2011 “Collective Bargaining.” www.ilo.org. International Labour Organization. (n.d.) Web. 6 July 2011 “Collective Bargaining and Labor Arbitration: An Overview.” http://topics.law.cornell.edu. Cornell University Law School. (n.d.) Web. 7 July 2011 Friedman, Gerald. Labor Unions in the United States, (2010). Web. 7 July 2011 Hunter, Robert. Advantages of Union Representation, (1999). Web. 7 July 2011 “Labor Union”. http://law.jrank.org. Net Industries. (n.d.) Web. 8 July 2011 Morgan, Rebecca. 8-Step Process for Creating a More Effective Workforce, (2003). Web. 8 July 2011 “Union Representation.” www.iboa.ie. IBOA The Finance Union. (n.d.). Web 6 July 2011 “What is Collective Bargaining?” www.collectivebargainingfacts.com. American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organization. (n.d.). Web 6 July 2011 “WEINGARTEN RIGHTS.” www.iatse728.org. International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. (n.d.). Web. 7 July 2011 “Weingarten Rights - the right to union representation.” www.cueunion.org. Coalition of University Employees (CUE). (n.d.). Web 6 July 2011 “Work Force.” www.businessdictionary.com. Business Dictionary. (n.d.) Web. 7 July 2011 Read More