Unit 3 - Lesson 8 Chapter 5

Question 1

A successful organizing campaign results in

Answer 1

a legally recognized level of support for the union that allows it to request recognition as the bargaining agent for the employees

Question 2

As bargaining agent, the union acts on behalf of

Answer 2

the employees in bargaining conditions and terms of work with the employer, and in administering the collective agreement that results from the bargaining.

Question 3

An organizing campaign can be initiated either by a

Answer 3

a union or by the employees

Question 4

If a union becomes aware of a group of dissatisfied employees, it may contact

Answer 4

the employees to see if there is already sufficient interest in pursuing unionization or if there is a good chance that the union can persuade the employees to consider unionization.

Question 5

If the employees initiate the campaign

Answer 5

they must decide whether to start their own union or contact an established union with the intention of joining that union… most employees who initiate an organizing campaign decide to contact an established union because of the organizing experience and campaign resources that the union can offer.

Question 6

What are the key steps in an organizing campaign?

Answer 6

1. Employees will choose between an existing union or to create one. A union can also contact the employees directly
2. An information meeting is held to formally assess the level of support for the union and the likelihood of an organizing campaign resulting in certification.
3. Organizing committee is formed
4. Organizing committee members contact workers and have union supporters sign documents to express intent to join the union
5. When sufficient levels of support are reached, an application for certification is made
6. The labour relations board receiving the application assesses the application and can

Question 7

application for certification contains

Answer 7

a description of the proposed bargaining unit
signatures of those intending to join the union, and
identification of the employer and proof that the union is a bona fide union

Question 8

The labour relations board receiving the application assesses the application and can

Answer 8

grant automatic certification (if available) order a vote in the workplace
suggest alterations to the bargaining unit, or
deny the application

Question 9

The Information Meeting

Answer 9

The first formal step in the organizing campaign is to plan and hold an information meeting, which takes place after working hours and off company property. This is to avoid alerting the employer that there is interest in unionization, and also to avoid any suggestion that the union is interfering with the workplace’s normal operations.

Question 10

At the information meeting, interested employees

Answer 10

discuss the issues that are generating interest in unionization with the union representative, and together they assess the likelihood that an organizing campaign would result in a majority vote of support for the union.

Question 11

The Organizing Committee

Answer 11

The organizing committee usually consists of several employees in the workplace and, perhaps, an experienced organizer from the union who can provide assistance. The reason that the organizing committee tends to consist of employees rather than professional organizers from the union is that employees are generally considered more credible than “outsiders” in discussions about workplace issues.

Question 12

Under Canadian labour law, an employer is entitled to forbid individuals who are acting on behalf of the union

Answer 12

from soliciting support at the workplace during working hours, for the simple reason that such activity could significantly disrupt the normal operations of the workplace.

Question 13

When the organizing committee members contact other employees, their goal is to obtain a formal indication of support for the union.

Answer 13

This is accomplished by having employees sign a membership card or a petition indicating their intent to join the union. In some jurisdictions, employees may also be asked to pay a small sum of money, usually one or two dollars, to materially signify their support for the union.

Question 14

A constant concern throughout the orga- nizing campaign is the possibility of

Answer 14

unfair labour practices

Question 15

Unfair labour practices are a concern during the organizing campaign because

Answer 15

of their potential to influence the vote for or against the union in such a way that the outcome of the vote does not reflect the employees’ actual desires

Question 16

The union strategies that appear to have the strongest influence on success are

Answer 16

the so-called rank-and-file strategies involving personal contact with members, such as telephone contacts, house calls, small group meetings, and the presence of a representative organizing committee

Question 17

studies also indicated that a

Answer 17

combination of strategies is more likely to result in success than a single strategy, and that demographic or situational factors in individual workplaces can be more influential on success rates than the union’s actions (e.g., the higher the percentage of female and/or minority workers in the workforce, the higher the probability of success).

Question 18

to be successful in organizing, unions must identify

Answer 18

what is important to the workers they are attempting to represent, and must present their case in a way that shows they are aware of workers’ concerns and are willing to address them.

Question 19

two increasingly important factors in the success of an organizing campaign appear to be

Answer 19

the amount of control over the campaign exerted by the employees targeted by the campaign and the amount of participation by those employees in the campaign activities

Question 20

What factors are most important in determining the success of an organizing drive?

Answer 20

rank-and-file strategies involving personal contact with members
amount of control over the campaign exerted by the employees targeted by the campaign
amount of participation by those employees in the campaign activities
the employer’s response to the organizing campaign
the manner in which the campaign is conducted

Question 21

An analysis of American data shows that American employers faced with an organizing campaign commonly undertake five to nine tactics in response

Answer 21

such as hiring a consultant to help them conduct a counter-campaign, holding meetings with supervisors, and making promises of improvement. The analysis indicates that using such tactics reduces the success rate of organizing campaigns by an average of 20 percent.

Question 22

The application form has three major components

Answer 22

an indication of sufficient membership support for the application
a description of the desired bargaining unit (the group of employees that will be represented in collective bargaining with the employer)
an indication of the employer and the trade union covered by the application

Question 23

Sufficient Membership Support

Answer 23

The union filing a certification application must be able to show that it has sufficient support from the “employees” of the “employer” to make the application worthwhile.

Question 24

a labour relations board may consider applications with less than the required level of support if the union making the application can show

Answer 24

that the employer commit- ted an unfair labour practice that intimidated the employees into not expressing support for the union. In such situations, a labour relations board will attempt to assess the effect of the employer’s behaviour and, depending on the result of the assessment, will allow the application to proceed, permit the union to attempt to collect further indications of support, or deny the application.

Question 25

If the level of support for the certification exceeds the stated minimum but does not reach the level needed for automatic certification

Answer 25

the labour relations board will, after assessing the application criteria described below, require an employee vote before granting certification

Question 26

The level of support required for certification applications is a part of labour legislation that tends to fluctuate in accordance with the philosophy of the government in power.

Answer 26

A political party with anti-union opinions is likely to raise the necessary level of support, with the justification that there must be support from a clear majority of the employees for the workplace to be unionized.

Question 27

A pro-union political party is likely to lower the required level of support or to create mechanisms—such as automatic certification—that speed up the certification process.

Answer 27

The justification for this position is that the employer, who controls how the workplace operates and what the organization does, always holds the balance of power in a work- place

Question 28

a labour relations board also looks at how long it has taken the organizing commit- tee to assemble the expressions of support

Answer 28

. If, in the board’s opinion, an excessively long period has passed between the start of the organizing campaign and the attainment of the required level of support, the board may be concerned that the expressions of support obtained near the start of the campaign may no longer be valid

Question 29

Appropriate Bargaining Unit

Answer 29

Every certification application must contain a description of the bargaining unit that the proposed union is seeking to represent. Generally, this description consists of the titles of the jobs that will or will not be represented by the union.

Question 30

The purpose of the bargaining unit description is twofold.

Answer 30

First, there is sometimes concern about whether signatures in support of the certification application are valid— that is, whether the signatures are the signatures of employees included in the proposed bargaining unit.
Second, a description of the proposed bargaining unit allows a labour relations board to assess whether the proposed unit is an appropriate unit.

Question 31

There are several considerations that a board will address in determining whether a bargaining unit is appropriate:

Answer 31

size and location of the bargaining unit, managerial and non-managerial employees, and definition of an employee.

Question 32

Size and Location

Answer 32

Communicating with or getting agreement among a very large membership can be challenging. Also, members located in several different places or performing very different jobs may have issues particular to their job or location; these may be overlooked if there are more common issues within a large bargaining unit. Thus, the union may not be able to represent its members competently if the bargaining unit is too large or too diverse

Question 33

One of the goals that a labour relations board tries to achieve in establishing an appropriate bargaining unit is a relative balance of bargaining power between the employer and the union

Answer 33

A bargaining unit so large that it gives the union far more bargaining power than the employer might be as inappropriate as a bargaining unit so small that the union would have very little bargaining power against the employer.

Question 34

Managerial and Non-Managerial Employees

Answer 34

A general policy in labour legislation is that bargaining units should not include both managerial and non-managerial employees.

Question 35

A general policy in labour legislation is that bargaining units should not include both managerial and non-managerial employees. This policy exists for several reasons.

Answer 35

First, managers are the workplace representatives of the owners of the company, and the employer is entitled to rely on the loyalty of its representatives.
Second, a conflict of interest might exist if a manager with the power to discipline another employee was in the same bargaining unit as that employee.
Third, a trade union by definition is legally entitled to be established and administered without employer interference.
Fourth, managers often have access to confidential material, such as budgets and staff records.

Question 36

A labour relations board will usually look beyond the job title and consider the following criteria in determining whether a position should be included in the bargaining unit:

Answer 36

1. Does the job description of the position give the person in the position the authority to hire, fire, and discipline other persons in the organization?
2. Does the job description of the position indicate that the position is responsible for production or operations?
3. In the organizational structure, do other positions report to this position? Does this position involve direct supervision of the work performed in other positions?
4. Is the person in this position the immediate authority if a crisis or emergency occurs?
5. Does the person in this position have access to confidential information such as employee records or budgets?
6. If the position includes both managerial and non-managerial work, what is the division of working time between these two sets of duties?

Question 37

Another consideration in determining who should be included in the bargaining unit is deciding who is an employee. This may seem like a fairly straightforward question, but because of changing employment relationships, it is actually quite complex

Answer 37

New forms of employment, such as contract work, temporary work, limited-term contracts, and job sharing, make the employment relationship much more variable than in the past.

Question 38

These criteria for defining an “employee” are broad enough to include most full-time and part-time employees and shift workers.

Answer 38

However, it is questionable whether employees in less permanent forms of work, including some kinds of part-time work or some forms of contract work, would be defined as employees if these criteria were used.

Question 39

This issue of definitions is of particular concern to unions

Answer 39

since the size of the bargaining unit may be reduced if employers replace full-time permanent workers with temporary, part-time, or contract workers. Another concern is the possibility that the employer might eliminate positions entirely and instead have the work performed by workers employed by another (non-union) company, in the employment arrangement known as outsourcing.

Question 40

In situations where it is unclear whether a worker is an “employee,” the position of labour relations boards has generally been that if a worker has an ongoing dependent relationship with the organization

Answer 40

the worker should be considered an employee and included in the bargaining unit, regardless of their job title or their type of contractual relationship with the organization

Question 41

Labour relations boards and legislators are strict about enforcing the definition of “employee”

Answer 41

in order to prevent employers from escaping their responsibilities under the collective agreement by decreasing the size of the bargaining unit. A smaller bargaining unit means a less powerful union, and thus employers who would prefer to deal with a less powerful union might be tempted to hire workers who do not meet the definition of an employee and thus would not be included in the bargaining unit.

Question 42

generally state that an employer is

Answer 42

someone who employs at least one employee and/or who uses the services of at least one dependent contractor

Question 43

a certification application may contain employer definitions such as

Answer 43

“Company [name] doing business as [another company name]” or “[Corporation] franchise located at [address]

Question 44

In situations where the structure or operations of a business make it difficult to deter- mine the actual employer, a labour relations board will consider several criteria in identifying the employer.

Answer 44

One question a labour relations board may
ask is where the authority for hiring lies.
A second question a board may ask is what part of the business is accountable for establishing and monitoring work conditions.
A third question a board may ask is who exercises control over day-to-day work and production.

Question 45

One question a labour relations board may

ask is where the authority for hiring lies.

Answer 45

The part of the business that actually hires employees or carries out other human resource management functions (e.g., keeping employee records) may be identi- fied as the employer.

Question 46

A second question a board may ask is what part of the business is accountable for establishing and monitoring work conditions.

Answer 46

This question can be particularly relevant in situations such as a franchise arrangement, where one part of the business may have to follow directions established by a central authority, such as a franchisor. If such directions are absolute and the business has little or no flexibility in applying them, the franchisor rather than the operator of the franchise may be considered the actual employer.

Question 47

A third question a board may ask is who exercises control over day-to-day work and production.

Answer 47

Does one part of the business completely control another part, or does Franchised stores often pose challenges for unions. It took several years for the CSN union in Quebec to reach a collective agreement in 2014 with the operators of six Couche-Tard convenience stores. each part have individual autonomy and judgement in overseeing everyday functions? The answers to these questions assist a labour relations board in determining who the actual employer is.

Question 48

In some organizational structures, an owner or corporation conducts business through multiple corporate entities that share resources such as workers, sup- plies, or work sites.

Answer 48

In situations involving such a complex structure, a labour relations board has the option of declaring all of the entities to be a single employer or common employer, as long as all the entities are under the same control and direction

Question 49

The final component in a certification application is an indication that the application comes from a bona fide trade union.

Answer 49

Most labour codes state that a bona fide trade union is a union that was established free of employer interference and is run on democratic principles (i.e., every member is entitled to a vote and has an equal voice in running the union’s business)

Question 50

Most Canadian labour laws thus have a separate section dealing with the construction industry.

Answer 50

In effect, each project or work site is considered to be a workplace, and a separate certification must be obtained for each project and for each unionized trade working on the project

Question 51

most Canadian labour laws permit the unions that represent workers on construction projects to bypass the procedure of conducting an organizing campaign and filing an application for certification.

Answer 51

Instead, the process of obtaining unionized workers is initiated by the employer. A construction employer who bids on and secures a contract stipulating the use of unionized workers will contact the appropriate union and request that the union provide the appropriate unionized employees for the project.

Question 52

If, for example, a contractor secures a contract that requires the project to be completed with the use of unionized carpenters,

Answer 52

the contractor will contact the carpenters’ union and request that the union supply the required number of carpenters. This form of employer involvement in certification is accepted by labour relations boards because the union providing the workers is an independent union and not one created by the employer.

Question 53

a union may be able to satisfy an employer that it has organized employees in a unit appropriate for collective bargaining without going through the formality of making an application for certification to a labour relations board

Answer 53

If the employer accepts the union’s proposed bargaining unit, most Canadian labour laws permit the employer to recognize the union’s right to act as the exclusive bargaining agent for those employees without official recognition from a labour relations board.

Question 54

application for certification

Answer 54

The application submitted to a labour relations board by a union wanting to represent a designated group of employees

Question 55

automatic certification

Answer 55

A process available in some Canadian jurisdictions allowing unions to be certified without a representation vote if a specified percentage of support is obtained from the members of the proposed bargaining unit.

Question 56

bargaining agent

Answer 56

After certification, the union’s role as its members’ representative in collective bargaining with the employer.

Question 57

bargaining unit

Answer 57

The group of workers represented by a union in collective bargaining.

Question 58

community of interest

Answer 58

Some form of commonality among workers in a proposed bargaining unit that must be present for a labour relations board to grant certification to the unit.

Question 59

company union

Answer 59

A union controlled by the employer

Question 60

exempt employees

Answer 60

Non-management employees who may be excluded from a bargaining unit, usually because of access to confidential information.

Question 61

instrumentality

Answer 61

The perception that a union will be able to help workers achieve desired outcomes in the workplace.

Question 62

organizing campaign

Answer 62

The campaign undertaken by a union to persuade workers to express support for the union as their representative.

Question 63

outsourcing

Answer 63

An employer removing jobs or tasks from employees of an organization, and contracting other organizations or individuals to perform those jobs or tasks.

Question 64

single employer/common employer

Answer 64

A declaration issued by a labour relations board for multiple businesses under common control. The effect of the declaration is

Question 65

sweetheart agreement

Answer 65

A collective agreement that unduly favours the employer’s interests.

Question 66

unfair labour practices

Answer 66

Any activity or behaviour by a union or employer that has the effect of unduly influencing employees

Question 67

union dues

Answer 67

Membership fees paid to the union by its members.

Question 68

voluntary recognition

Answer 68

When an employer accepts a union as the employees’ representative in the workplace without the union having to go through the process of certification.