Summarize how labor laws and unions influence human resources management.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Student answers will vary but should demonstrate understanding of labor relations and the history of labor laws. When workers organize for the purpose of negotiating with management to improve their wages, hours, or working conditions, two processes are involved: unionization and collective bargaining. The National Labor Relations Act (also called the Wagner Act after its legislative sponsor) ushered in an era of rapid unionization by (1) declaring labor organizations legal, (2) establishing five unfair employer labor practices, and (3) creating the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Prior to the act, employers could fire workers who favored unions, and federal troops often put down strikes. Today, the NLRB conducts unionization elections, hears complaints of unfair labor practices, and issues injunctions against offending employers. Public policy began on the side of organized labor in 1935, but over the next 25 years the pendulum swung toward management's side. The Labor-Management Relations Act, or Taft-Hartley Act (1947), protected employers' free speech rights, defined unfair labor practices by unions, and permitted workers to decertify (reject) a union as their representative. Finally, the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, or Landrum-Griffin Act (1959), swung the public policy pendulum midway between organized labor and management. By declaring a bill of rights for union members, establishing control over union dues increases, and imposing reporting requirements for unions, Landrum-Griffin focused on curbing abuses by union leadership and ridding unions of corruption.