Unions

Labor Unions
Student’s Name
Institution

1) In today’s environment, please tell us why you think employees join unions.
I think employees should join unions to help them in jointly bargaining pay and other working conditions. Unions help a great deal in negotiating pensions or campaigning against a government’s change of collective bargaining agreements.
Unions also have rights that provide health insurance at work. Employees will even get free legal advice and representation when unfair dismissals or discrimination at workplace affects them. When one gets membership of a union such as Prospect, employees enjoy personal injury schemes and other useful membership services such as a fulltime helpline. Moreover, employees should join unions for equality (Coates, 2012). Unions advocate for equal treatment, fair, distribution of resources and opportunities in the workplace.
2) What is the NLRB and what do they do?
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent group that aims at ensuring that the private sector upholds the rights of workers. It was formed in 1935. Its initial role was to provide oversight on the National Labor Relations Act. The board had to ensure that the act was implemented to improve the working conditions of workers, whether they were in a union or not.
NLRB primary functions are to make critical decisions on petitions filed by employees on collective bargaining agreement. Doing away with unfair labor principles by unions and holding elections for representation of businesses by trade unions can aid in reducing or eradicating employee discrimination.

The NLRB comprises of five members and the general counsel who are appointed by the U.S president. The five board members are tasked with resolving disputes, while the public counsel investigates complaints. However, it has no mandate to enforce its orders but only does so through a U.S court of appeal.
3) Please, describe a few of the challenges faced by H/R managers when the union is voted into a company.
When a union is voted into a company, the human resource procedures can change. This is because in the absence HR managers often perform tasks such as hiring, employee compensation, and policies based on the company’s rules and research. HR managers work directly with individuals to solved problems. However, when a union is formed, works becomes too involving ad they must engage the union to strategize on company’s compensation procedures among others. A labor union poses an excellent challenge because it imposes a collective bargaining agreement for HR managers. The process of solving grievances becomes too cumbersome. Unions lay down specific guidelines for HR managers and union officials.
However, the level of accountability in a union environment is higher. The HR managers have to ensure a suitable amount of money is set for deduction from employees’ payroll before sending to the union.
4) Are you in a union? If so, please tell us about the experience. If not, what would you do (or think) if a co-worker came to you and asked you to consider joining one?
Currently am not in a union, but I would consider joining one if a co-worker asks me to consider joining one. This is because of a wide range of benefits that joining a union has to its members. I would have a 24-hour helpline at my disposal, free legal advice and my rights as an employee would never be violated in case of a collective bargaining agreement signed by the government.
When an employee is unionized, you have to support a company’s decision on unjust industrial actions because you lack representation and therefore you feel vulnerable. There is also loss of individual bargaining power or personal autonomy.
5) Please, describe a typical union grievance procedure. What do you think about it?
A grievance is defined as a complaint by an employee when he or she negatively affected by company policies or a collective bargaining agreement. Managers develop grievance procedures to address these complaints. Collective bargaining agreements usually include the rules for solving grievances. When a company is unionized, a grievance procedure involves the employee, union officials and the HR managers. The procedure starts with forwarding of the grievance to the employee’s supervisor. The union official and the supervisor go through the written grievance to check the validity or within the period following the incident. Here, the problem might be solved, or dismissed if invalid, or forwarded to the next step if employee is still not satisfied.
Thirdly, the grievance may reach the highest standards as outlined in the contract. The next supervisor of a higher status or an outside mediator will then review it. Senior officials are always involved in solving the dispute effectively.
References
Coates, Kerry. (2012, Sep 12). Unions: Do You Understand How They Really Work? Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8gsna5GQTo
“Grievance Procedures: What are the steps typically found in a grievance procedure?” (2012,
May 11). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/aresolutionformanagementandemployees.aspx
“Introduction to the NLRB.” (2018). National Labor Elections Board . Retrieved from
https://www.nlrb.gov/nlrb-introduction