Mitigating Interest in Union Organizing: Employee Relations Plan Case Study

<p><em>This discussion examined a case study regarding whether resident assistants were university employees who had the right to unionize under federal and state law. Factors contributing to employee interest in unionization were addressed. The university’s strategy to win certification election as well as the union’s strategy to win was evaluated. Finally, a plan for employee relations was developed to mitigate interest in organizing unions by university </em><em>R</em><em>esident </em><em>A</em><em>ssistants (RAs) and their mentors known as CDAs on other campuses and institutions.</em></p>

What Businesses Attract Unions? Unionization over the Life Cycle of U.S. Establishments

What types of businesses attract unions? The study develops a theory of union learning and organizing to provide an answer to this question. A union monitors the productivity of establishments in an industry and uses this information to decide which ones to organize. An establishment becomes unionized if the union wins a certification election, the outcome of which can be influenced by costly actions taken by the two parties. The model offers predictions on the nature of union selection, which are examined empirically. Data on union certification elections, matched with data on establishment characteristics, are used to explore where union activity is concentrated.

Toward a Test of Wheeler's "Integrative Theory" in Six Union Election Cases

Using data from six union certification election cases (three union wins and three union losses) in the United States, this study examines the phenomenon of unionization, drawing upon Wheeler's (1985) theory of industrial conflict. The comparative case study assessment suggests that a union win is related to employee deprivation, calculation as to union effectiveness, instrumentality perceptions, and attitudes about unions. In general, the results are somewhat supportive ofthe theory and suggest avenues for future research.

The Role of Union Strategies in NLRB Certification Elections

Analyzing 1986–87 data from 261 NLRB certification election campaigns, the author finds that union tactic variables explain more of the variance in election outcomes than any other group of variables, including employer tactics, bargaining unit demographics, organizer background, election background, employer characteristics, and election environment. The results suggest that unions can significantly improve the probability of winning an election by using a rank-and-file intensive organizing strategy. This strategy includes a reliance on person-to-person contact; an emphasis on union democracy and representative participation; the building of support for the first contract during the organizing drive; the use of escalating pressure tactics; and an emphasis on dignity, justice, and fairness rather than on bread-and-butter issues.

The Influence of Attitudes and Normative Pressures on Voting Decisions in a Union Certification Election

This paper investigates how both attitudes and normative pressures influenced the voting decisions of public university clerical workers in a December 1984 union representation election. Not surprisingly, the voters' attitudes, shaped by the results they expected to follow from union certification and their evaluation of those results as good or bad, appear to have been an important determinant of voting intentions and, in turn, actual votes. Also influential, although less so, was normative pressure, a function of how the voters thought others (family, co-workers, other clericals, supervisors, and other management staff) wished them to vote and how strongly they were inclined to satisfy those wishes.