PHR SPHR Labor Union Terminology

Question	Answer
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)	The NLRB was established by the National Labor Relations Act to enforce its provisions. It is charged with conducting elections and preventing and remedying unfair labor practices. The NLRB does not instigate actions on its own; it merely responds to charges of unfair labor practices or petitions for representation elections filed in one of its office.
Salting	Union-organizing practice used to influence employees in an organization. The union hires an individual to apply for a job and, once hired, to organize employees while working for the organization.
Unfair labor practice (ULP)	Action by an employer or a union that restrains or coerces employees from exercising their rights to organize and bargain collectively or to refrain from doing so.
Strike	Decision by a union to stop working.
Lockout	Result that occurs when management shuts down operations to keep employees from working.
Wildcat strike	Strike that occurs in violation of a contract clause prohibiting strikes during the term of the contract.
Union shop clause	Agreement that requires all employees to join the union within a grace period specified by the contract bu no fewer than 30 days or, in the construction industry, 7 days.
Closed shop clause	Clause in a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that requires all new hires to be members of the union before they are hired. The closed shop is illegal except in the construction industry.
Agency shop clause	Clause in a labor contract specifying that all employees must either join the union or pay union dues if they choose not to join the union.
Decertification	Process employees use to remove a union as their bargaining representative if they are dissatisfied with the union's performance. A decertification petition requires signatures of at least 30 percent of the employees before the National Labor Relations Board ( NLRB) will act on it.
Collective-bargaining agreement (CBA)	Contract between a union and an employer that governs the employment relationship for a specified period of time.
Right to work (state law)	The "right-to-work" law is a law that says that no American worker can be forced to join a union. Most unions push companies to sign contracts that apply for all workers, regardless of whether they are in a union or not, to pay dues to the union for negotiating with management. By state right-to-work laws, these agreements are declared to be illegal. This means that the employee can benefit from the terms of a union contract without paying union dues.
Open shop	An open shop means a place of employment where one is not required to join or financially support a union (closed shop) as a condition of employment or continued employment.
Union security clauses	A union security clause is a provision in a union contract requiring employees, as a condition of employment, to maintain union membership or pay union dues or requiring an employer to check off dues from employees' wages. Typically, it provides that all employees must become and remain union members in good standing during the duration of the agreement. Good standing is usually defined as payment of periodic dues and initiation fees. The provision also states that an employee who fails to pay union dues or initiation fees must be discharged by the employer at the union's request.
Organizing Campaign	The employer and the union share information with workers during the campaign. The campaign takes place before the election.
Union authorization card	A union authorization card is a card signed by an employee who agrees that the union is authorized to act as a collective bargaining representative in all matters pertaining to all conditions of employment.
Bargaining unit	The term bargaining unit means that under labor relations employees are represented under the U.S. law by a single labor union in collective bargaining and other dealings with management. These are groups of employees with a clear community of interests, for example clerical and administrative employees.
Weingarten rights	The Weingarten rights guarantee the employee to have Union representation during an investigatory interview (An investigatory interview is one in which a Supervisor questions an employee to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline or asks an employee to defend his/her conduct). The rights must be claimed by the employee.
Union dues	Union dues are the regular fees that are paid by union members to the union. Dues are the cost of membership and are used to fiance the activities of a union.
Mandatory issues - Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)	A mandatory issue is a constraining mandate on an employer. Which means if an employer want to change wages, working hours, or terms and conditions of employment, a employer is legally prevented from making a unilateral change without advance notice to the union and an bargaining opportunity.
Permissive issues - Collective bargaining agreement (CBA)	Permissive issues are issues of bargaining which are non-mandatory. I the employer puts a permissive subject on the table, the union may engage in bargaining, but it is not obligated to do so. An example would be retiree benefits or internal union matters.
Illegal issues - Collective bargaining agreement (CBA)	Theses issues are illegal and neither party can bargain legally over. These issues violate a law, for example discrimination against a legally recognized group of people.
Global unions	A global union federation (GUF) is an international federation of national trade unions organizing in specific industry sectors or occupational groups. Many unions are members of one or more global union federations, relevant to the sectors where they have their members.
Good faith bargaining efforts	Good faith bargaining effort means collective bargaining about wages, hours, and other conditions to negotiate, but with the agreement of both sides to find the most effective negotiation process. Proposals can be made by both parties and be involved in the decision-making process.
Bargaining impasse	Bargaining impasse means a situation where a agency or union negotiated about a particular topic and they cannot find a agreement. To solve this situation, the parties must apply to a third party, such as the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). If the problem still cannot be solved, they may seek assistance from the Federal Service Impasses Panel. After an investigation and determination is made concerning jurisdiction, the Panel has authority to recommend and/or direct a variety of informal and formal procedures to resolve the impasse (example: telephone conferences). If the dispute is not voluntarily resolved, the Panel may take final action by imposing contract terms. The merits of the Panel's decision may not be appealed to any court.
Conciliation and mediation	Mediation is a dispute-resolution process in which an independent third party helps disputants to settle a conflict in a mutually acceptable fashion. Conciliation is a term often used interchangeably with mediation; at other times, it is used to refer to a more unstructured process of facilitating communication between estranged parties.
Arbitration	The arbitration is a procedure for the resolution of disputes outside the court (kind of private civil court). This requires an arbitration agreement between the parties. As a result, the courts are excluded to the state civil courts. The dispute between the claimant and the defendant is terminated by an arbitration award. The arbitration award shall take the place of a judgment of a State court. It is binding on the parties and may be declared enforceable.
Economic strike	Economic strike is a stoppage of work and a protest of the workforce over wages, hours or working conditions due to unfair behavior of their employer.
Unfair labor practice (ULP) strike	Employees who strike to protest an unfair labor practice committed by their employer are called unfair labor practice strikers. They cannot be discharged or permanently replaced. When the strike ends, unfair labor practice strikers, absent serious misconduct on their part, are entitled to have their jobs back even if employees hired to do their work must be discharged. An economic striker can become an unfair labor practice striker during the course of an economic strike if the employer commits an unfair labor practice, such as failing to bargain in good faith.
Jurisdictional strike	Illegal strike over the dispute which trade union should have the right to represent a particular group of employees in an organization.
Sympathy strikes	A sympathy strike is a strike of a union to assist another union in a dispute, even if the union itself has no disagreements with the employer. It is a labor strike executed by the workforce of the same industry and supported by other workforce from separated but related industries.
Complaint	A complaint is a negative manifestation.
Grievance	In general, grievance (from class. lat. gravis – heavy) is a wrong or hardship suffered, whether real or supposed, which forms legitimate grounds of complaint.
Grievance procedures	Grievance procedures are a means of dispute resolution that can be used by a company to address complaints by employees, suppliers, customers, and/or competitors. A grievance procedure provides a hierarchical structure for presenting and settling workplace disputes. The procedure typically defines the type of grievance it covers, the stages through which the parties proceed in attempting to resolve matters, individuals responsible at each stage, the documentation required, and the time limits by which the grievance must be presented and dealt with at each stage. The best-known application of grievance procedures is as a formal process outlined in labor union contracts.
Grievance arbitration	Grievance Arbitration is procedure agreed upon by contract or collective bargaining agreement for the settlement of grievances relating to violation of collective bargaining agreement. It involves interpretation and application of the collective bargaining agreement or past practices, by a neutral or an impartial third party.
Management rights	The claimed rights of employers to control operational aspects of the workplace.

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PHR SPHR Labor Union Terminology

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