The Work Conditions / Environment Labor Relations Union
Unit VI Scholarly Activity
For this assignment you will consider the following scenario: In the non-union facility where you work in a human resources (HR) role, there have been rumors of union-organizing activity. There are numerous reports of e-mails to hourly employees at their work e-mail addresses seeking support for union representation. Pamphlets detailing “workers’ rights” and suggesting that voting in a union will increase pay and benefits have been distributed in various areas of the facility and in the parking areas. As the human resources (HR) representative, the company’s management asks for your advice and guidance on whether a union has the right to contact workers through their work e-mail addresses and distribute pamphlets on company property. They want to know what the company can do to respond to these tactics and to the union’s message that it can enhance workers’ pay and benefits. Prepare a proposal that includes your analysis and evidence-supported argument for the proper actions the company should take. Include the following in your paper: Identify any governing labor laws as well as any historical influences, legal precedents, or decisions that apply to this situation. Conduct an analysis of legality of the union-organizing actions, including communications using employer e-mail and distributing literature at the employer’s facility. Propose a strategy that outlines the actions the company can and cannot take to limit or combat union-organizing actions. Provide guidance on the messages and information employers can and cannot communicate in response to union organizing activity and legal risks associated with common tactics. Your paper should be written in APA style and must be a minimum of two pages, not including the title and reference pages. You must use a minimum of three sources, one of which may be your textbook. All sources used, including the textbook,
MHR 6401, Employment Law
Labor Relations "Union"
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Workers’ unions are critical in the modern world of employees. They are critical because they do play an important and huge role in setting standards for wages paid, the work conditions/environment, skills as well as education levels of employees, among many other aspects. The above issues, when they are negotiated by the union, they are in most cases better, compared to those offered to non-union workers. However, there are limits to which, the union can exercise its rights and activities in general CITATION Hug10 \l 1033 (Collins, 2010). There are various legal precedents and even historical aspects which do confine the activities of a union within a certain limit/boundary.
From the case scenario given, the union has got a right to contact the workers through their work emails courtesy of the 2014 amendment of the labor law, by the National Labor Relations Board. In the amendment, the board ruled that the employer cannot prohibit the employees from using the company email to take part in union activities such as receiving of company properties distributed by the union CITATION Dav00 \l 1033 (Farnham, 2000). However, the board also passed a resolution that in special circumstances, the employer could ban the use of work emails for union activities, if there is sufficient evidence that there is a breach of the law and that it is a disciplinary issue which deserves action, for the overall productivity of the company.
In order to respond to the union’s message that it can enhance the workers’ pays and benefits, the company should at all avoid giving threats to the employees neither to the union officials. Such threats are against the labor laws which have been stipulated by the Labor Board in Section 7 CITATION Deb05 \l 1033 (Lockton, 2005). Threats or blackmail may cause tension and strain the relationship between the employer and employees. On the other hand, the employees deserve the right to have a union and to engage in union activities for the be...