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Define unions and labor relations and their impact on organizations.Examine the impact of changes in employee relations strategies, policies, and practices on organizational performance. Answer the question "Are unions still relevant in the United States?"

Touch on the campaign, the election, contract negotiations, grievance handling, arbitrations, labor relations, and strikes.

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Solution Summary

This solution defines unions and labor relations and their impact on organizations and examines the impact of changes in employee relations strategies, policies, and practices on organizational performance. It also answers the question "Are unions still relevant in the United States?" The discussion touches on the campaign, the election, contract negotiations, grievance handling, arbitration, labor relations and strikes.

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Please see response attached (alos below). I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE:

1. Define unions and labor relations and their impact on organizations.

Labor union is an organization of wage earners formed for the purpose of serving the members' interests with respect to wages and working conditions. That is, it is an association of workers for the purpose, in whole or in part, of bargaining, on behalf of workers, with employers about the terms and conditions of employment.

Thus, a labor union is an association of workers for the purpose of improving their economic status and working conditions through collective bargaining with employers. Historically there have been two chief types of unions: the horizontal, or craft, union, in which all the members are skilled in a certain craft (e.g., the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America); and the vertical, or industrial, union, composed of workers in the same industry or industries regardless of their particular skills (e.g., the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America). In contrast, a company union is an employer-controlled union having no affiliation with other labor organizations. http://www.answers.com/topic/labor-union
On the other hands, labor relations refers to the management function that deals with a company's work force; usually the term is restricted to relations with organized labor. http://www.answers.com/labor%20relations

2. Examine the impact of changes in employee relation's strategies, policies, and practices on organizational performance. Answer the question "Are unions still relevant in the United States?"

Changes in U.S labor relations impacted employee relation's strategies, policies and practices. For example,
U.S. labor relations were dramatically altered in 1935 with the passage by Congress of the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq.). For the first time, labor unions were given legal rights and powers under federal law. The act guaranteed the right of collective bargaining, free from employer domination or influence. It made it an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with employees in the exercise of their right to collectively bargain, to interfere with or influence unions, to discriminate in hiring or firing because of an employee's union membership, to discriminate against an employee who avails herself or himself of legal rights, or to refuse to bargain collectively.

The Wagner Act also established the National Labor Relations Board, with power to investigate employees' complaints and to issue cease and desist orders. If an employer defied such an order, the board could ask a federal court of appeals for an enforcement order, or the employer could ask the court to review the cease and desist order. The board could conduct elections to determine which union should represent the employees in a bargaining unit and certify the union as their agent, and it could designate the bargaining unit.

The heart of the Wagner Act was section 7 (29 U.S.C.A. § 157), which stated the public policy that workers have the right to engage in self-organization, in collective bargaining, and in concerted activities in support of self-organization and collective bargaining. Armed with these rights, unions grew in membership and strength during the late 1930s and through World War II.
A number of states reacted negatively to these legal changes by enacting laws that sought to restrict and ...

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