Agency shop
Clause that states that even if workers do not join the union, they must still pay the equivalent of dues to the union.
Agent-principal relationship
Principle under which regulations that apply to employers and unions also apply to acts of their agents.
Ally doctrine
States that when a struck employer effectively uses the employees of an ally as strike breakers and then a union extends its primary picketing to this employer, no violation of the LMRA's secondary boycott prohibition exists.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Umbrella term used to describe a number of problem-solving and grievance resolution approaches.
Arbitration
Procedure in which disputes are submitted to one or more impartial persons for final determination.
Attorney work product
Materials used in preparing a legal case (e.g., written reports, notes, data); usually excluded from discovery phase.
Authorization cards
Cards signed by employees to indicate that they want union representation.
Bannering
Union practice of displaying a banner outside the property of an employer to advertise union's message.
Bargaining unit
Group of employees a union wants to represent.
Bumping
Giving more-senior workers whose jobs have been eliminated the right to tranfer into jobs of less-senior workers.
Cat's paw" principle
Legal principle in which, for example, an HR department is culpable for discrimination even though HR had no desire to discriminate, such as when HR is persuaded to take an adverse action against an employee with protected status by other biases employees
Certification of representative
NLRB certification indicating that a union has won an election and will be the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit.
Certification of results
NLRB certification indicating that a union has lost an election.
Chilling
As defined by the NLRB, an employer act that will result in hesitation by an employee to exercise protected rights under Section 7 of the NLRB.
Circuit City Stores v. Adams
Case in which Supreme Court ruled that a pre-hire employment application requiring that all employment disputes be settled by arbitration was enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act.
Civil Service Reform Act
Act that extended collective bargaining rights to federal employees.
Clayton Act
Act that minimally restricted the use of injunctions against labor and legalized peaceful strikes, picketing, and boycotts.
Closed shop
Clause that states that union membership is a condition of hiring; is illegal (except in the consturction industry).
Coalition bargaining
When more than one employer negotiates with the union; also know as multiple employer bargaining.
Collective bargaining
Process by which management and union representatives negotiate the employment conditions for a paticular bargaining union for a designated period of time.
Collective bargaining agreement (CBA)
Agreement or contract negotiated through collective bargaining process.
Committee
Group of people and resources who come together for the accomplishment of a specific organizational objective.
Common law
Dictates that custom and usage have the force of law even if not specifically found in legislatively enacted, codifiend, written laws.
Common situs picketing
Situation in which lawful picketing of a primary employer also affects a secondary employer that occupies common premises.
Community of interest
Mutuality of interests among employees in bargaining for wages, hours, and working conditions.
Compressed workweek
Work schedule that compresses a full week's work into fewer than five days.
Conciliation
Method of nonbinding dispute resoluion involving a third party who tried to help disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also know as medication.
Consent election
Type of representation election that involves an agreement between an employer and a union to waive the preelection hearing.
Consumer picketing
Product boycotts involving such activities as distribution handbills, carring placards, and urging customers to refuse to purchase products from a paticular retail or wholesale business.
Coordinated bargaining
When an employer bargains with several unions simultaneously but on a separate basis
Deauthorization
Removes authority of a bargaining representative in a non-right-to-work state to negotiate or enforce a union security clause
Decertification
Means for employees to terminate union representation; removes union from its position as bargaining representative
Defamation
Injuring a person's name and reputation by making false statements; may be spoken (slander) or written (libel).
Directed election
Type of representation election ordered by the NLRB regional director after a preelection hearing
Distributive bargaining
When parties are in conflict over an issue and the outcome represents a gain for one party and a loss for the other; each party tries to negotiate for the best possible outcome.
Double breasting
When a common owner operates both union and nonunion businesses.
Dues checkoff
where employees agree in writing to an automatic deduction of dues from their paychecks
Duty of fair representation
requires that unions act fairly on behalf of the employees they represent in negotiating and administering collective bargaining agreements
Duty of loyalty
Common-law precept that imposes on employees a duty to be loyal to the employer
Duty of successor employers or unions
Mutual bargaining obligation of an employer and a union when a majority interest in a unionized company is sold to another employer.
E.I. Dupont & Company
1993 NLRB ruling that held certain employee committees to be illegal because Dupont management circumvented the legally chosen employee representatives and usurped the union's right to represent its members
Electromation
1992 court decision that employers must deal cautiously with employee participation committees based on the NLRB's interpretation of what constitutes a company-dominated labor organization.
Employee handbook
Explains major HR and employee policies and procedures and generally describes the employee benefits provided
Employee involvement (EI)
Planned and orderly attempt to link the shared interests of the employee and the organization for their mutual benefit.
Employee participation programs (EPPs)
Programs to improve communication between employees and management and empower employees in some workplace decisions
Employment-at-will (EAW)
Common-law principle stating that employers have the right to hire, fire, demote, and promote whomever they choose for any reason unless there is a law or contract to the contrary and that employees have the right to quit a job at any time
Excelsior List
list the employer has to provide the union with the names and addresses of certain employees within seven days after the direction of or consent to an election
Express oral contract
Involves verbal promises made between employer and employee related to employment.
Featherbedding
Situation in which unions try to require the employment of more workers than is necessary
Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA)
Administers the provisions of the various executive orders that fall under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)
Offers assistance in contract settlement and maintains a list of arbitrators to help interpret contract language and resolve disputes
Flextime
Work schedule that requires employees to work an established number of hours per week but allows starting and ending times to vary.
Focus group
Small group (normally six to twelve) invited to actively participate in a structured discussion with a facilitator.
Fraudulent misrepresentation
Intentional deception relied upon and resulting in injury to another person
Gissel order
NLRB order to an employer to bargain with the union as a remedy for serious ULP charges against the employer
Good-faith bargaining
Generally means that parties in a negotiation enter into discussion with fair and open minds and a sincere desire to arrive at an agreement.
Grievance procedure
Provides an orderly way to resolve differences of opinion in regard to a union contract
Hot cargo clauses
Agreement that union members are not required to handle goods made by nonunion labor or a struck plant; generally illegal
Illegal subjects
those collective bargaining items that are unlawful by statute; also known as external subjects
Implied contract
Exists when an agreement is implied from circumstances even though there is no express agreement between employer and employee.
Industrial democracy
As related to international labor relations, where employees have legally mandated rights to participate in management decisions
Inevitable disclosure
Enables an employer to prevent an employee from taking employment with a competitor when the current employer's trade secrets might "inevitably" be disclosed
Informational picketing
Type of picketing done to advise the public that an employer is nonunion
Injunction
Court order that restricts, prevents, or requires certain activities.
Integrative bargaining
Takes place when there is more than one issue to be resolved; focuses on creative solutions to conflicts that reconcile parties' interests and result in mutual benefit
Interest-based bargaining (IBB)
Form of negotiating where parties look for common ground and attempt to satisfy mutual interests through the bargaining process.
Job bidding
Employee application and/or prior request system used to help employees change jobs.
Job enlargement
Broadening the scope of a job by expanding the number of different tasks to be performed.
Job enrichment
Increases the depth of a job by adding responsibility for planning, organizing, controlling, and evaluation.
Job posting
Situation in which currently available positions are posted so interested and qualified employees may apply.
Job rotation
Breaks the monotony of routine jobs by shifting people between comparable but different jobs
Job sharing
Results when two part-time employees share one full-time job
Labor organization
any organization in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose of dealing with employers on work-related issues.
Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA)
Act that provides balance of power between union and management by designating certain union activities as unfair labor practices; also known as Taft-Hartley Act
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA)
Act that protects the rights of union members from corrupt or discriminatory labor unions; also known as Landrum-Griffin Act
Landrum-Griffin Act
Act that protects the rights of union members from corrupt or discriminatory labor unions; also known as Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA)
Litigation hold
Process of ensuring that any information related to pending (or reasonable anticipated) litigation is identified and preserved without regard to usual document destruction policies or schedules
Lockout
Occurs when management shuts down operations to prevent union employees from working.
Maintenance of membership
Contract clause that states that an employee may or may not choose to join a union but once the employee joins, he/she must maintain membership for the duration of the contract
Mandatory subjects
Collective bargaining items required by law and the NLRB.
Mediation
Method of nonbinding dispute resolution involving a third party who helps disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also known as conciliation.
National Industrial Recovery Act
Act that extended the policies of the Railway Labor Act to all interstate commerce organizations.
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
Act that protects the rights of employees to organize unhampered by management; also known as Wagner Act
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Agency that has authority to conduct union representation elections and investigate unfair labor practices.
Negligent hiring
Hiring of an employee who the employer knew or should have known, based on a reasonable pre-hire investigation of the employee's background, posed a risk to others in the workplace
Negligent retention
Retention of employees who engage in misconduct both during and after working hours
Neutrality/cooperation agreement
Agreement between a union and an employer under which the employer agrees to remain neutal to (i.e., not oppose) a union's attempt to organize its workforce
Nip in the bud" cases
NLRB cases involving ULPs during a union's organizing drive that "chill" an orgaizing effort
No-lockout clause
Contract stipulation in which the company agrees not to lock out workers during a labor dispute for the life of the contract.
Norris-LaGuardia Act
Act that guarantees workers' right to organize and restricts issuance of court injunctions against nonviolent union activity such as strikes, picketing, and boycotts.
No-strike clause
Contract stipulation in which union agrees not to strike during the duration of the contract.
Open shop
Workplace in which union membership (payment of dues) is not required for employee to continue employment beyond 30 days (seven days in the construction industry).
Organizational feedback
Presentation of data to stimulate discussion of problem areas, generate potential solutions, and stimulate motivation for change.
Organizational picketing
Type of picketing done to induce employees to accept the union as their representative.
Pattern bargaining
Takes place when unions negotiate provisions covering wages and other benefits similar to those already provided in other agreements existing within the industry or region; also known as parallel bargaining
Permissive subjects
Collective bargaining items that may be bargained but are not obligatory; also called voluntary or nonmandatory subjects.
Phased retirement
Offers employees the opportunity to gradually reduce the number of hours they work before they are fully retired.
Policy
Broad statement that reflects an organization's philosophy, objectives, or standards concerning a particular set of management or employee activities.
Positional negotiation
Type of contract negotiation in which people lock themselves into positions and find it difficult to move away, parties lose sight of the underlying problems to be resolved, and emphasis is placed on winning the position.
Principled negotiation
Type of contract negotiation based on four premises: 1) separate the people from the problem, 2) focus on interests, not positions, 3) invent options for mutual gain, and 4) insist on objective criteria
Procedure
Detailed, step-by-step description of the customary method of handling an activity.
Progressive discipline
System of increasingly severe penalties for employee discipline.
Project team
Group of people who come together for a specific project
Public policy exception
exception to doctrine of employment-at-will, holding that employees cannot be fired for fulfillin legal obligations or for excerising legal rights
Railway Labor Act
Act that originally provided railroad employees the right to organize and bargain collectively; now covers both railroad and airline employees
Recognition
When an employer recognizes a union as being entitled to conduct collective bargaining on behalf of workers in a particular bargaining unit.
Recognitional picketing
Picketing done to obtain an employer's recognition of a union as bargaining representative
Reserved gate
Device used by owner or contractor of multiemployer work site to isolate pickets of one of these employers with whom a union has a primary dispute
Reserved rights doctrine
Grants management full authority and discretion over the items that are or could be covered unless the contract limits management's rights in a particular area.
Right to work
Refers to statutes that prohibit unions from making union membership a condition of employment
Safe harbor
Provision in a law or regulation that provides some measure of protection from liablity if certain conditions are met
Salting
Process of using paid union organizers to infiltrate an organization and organize a company's workers.
Secondary boycotts
When a union attempts to influence an employer by exerting pressure on another employer
Section 7 rights
Rights under NLRA that allow employees to engage or not engage in union activity
Segmented bargaining
When employer and union decide to assign specific bargaining issues to committess; proposals are then returned to entire group for decision.
Self-directed team
group of people that works in a self-managing way; typically assume complete autonomy
Sheman Anti-Trust Act
Act that curbed concetrations of power that interfered with trade and reduced economic competition; directed at large monopolistic employers but applied by courts to labor unions.
Skill variety
Extent to which a job requires a variety of different activities for successful completion.
Skip-leval interviews
Practice in union-free organizations of encouraging managers to spend time with each employee two levels below them on an annual basis.
Strike
Refusal by employees to work.
Sympathy strike
Strike by employees of a bargaining unit who refuse to cross picket lines made up of employees who are not members of their bargaining unit.
Taft-Hartley Act
Act that provides balance of power between union and management by designating certain union activities as unfair labor practices; also known as Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA)
Task force
Temporary allocation of personnel and resources for the accomplishment of a specific objective
Task identity
extent to which a job requires a "whole," identifiable unit of work
Task significance
Extent to which a job has a substantial impact on other people.
Team
set of two or more people who are equally accountable for the accomplishment of a purpose and specific performance goals
Telecommuting
Working via computing and telecommunications equipment
TIPS
Acronym used by many labor management attorneys and consultants that covers most of the unfair labor practice pitfalls a supervisor can run into: Don't Threaten, Interrogate, Promise, or Spy
Unfair competition
Deals with employment contracts that contain covenants not to compete after termination of employment relationship and with the use of secret, confidential, or proprietary information that the employee obtained while working for the former employer
Unfair labor practice (ULP)
Violation of right under labor-relations statutes
Union
Formal labor organization that has the right to represent and bargain for a gorup of employees.
Union security clauses
Provisions in a collective bargaining agreement designed to protect the institutional authority or survival of the union (e.g., making union membership or payment of dues compulsory for all or some of the employees in a bargaining unit).
Union shop
Clause that states that when workers take jobs in a specific bargaining unit, they must join the union within a certain period of time.
Wagner Act
Act that protects the rights of employees to organize unhampered by management; also known as National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
Weingarten rights
Union employees' right to have a union representative or coworker present during an investigatory interview
Wildcat strikes
Work stoppages involving the primary employer-employee relationship that are neither sanctioned nor stimulated by the union and that violate a no-strike clause in the contract
Work rule
Reflects management decisions regarding specific actions to be taken or avoided in a given situation
Work team
Group of employees responsible for a given end product
Yellow-dog contracts
Contracts that force employees to agree not to join a union or participate in any union activity as a condition of employment
Zipper clause
Contract stipulation in which both parties waive the right to demand bargaining on any matter not dealt with in the contract, whether or not that matter was contemplated when the contract was negotiated or signed