Exam 1: Contemporary Labor Relations: Objectives, Practices, and Challenges

_____________________ is a measure of the percentage of workers who are union members.

How is the concept of industrial democracy consistent with the traditional values of the United States democratic system?

When employers actively work to keep unions out of their workplace or are openly hostile toward unions it is known as _______________________.

The _____________________ is a term used to describe the difference between the percentage of workers who express interest in representation in the workplace and the number that are unionized.

The number of U.S. workers who say they want representation or a "collective voice" at the workplace is very close to the number of workers that actually have it through unions.

In the United States, younger workers are:

_____________________ occurs when representatives of the employer and representatives of its workers negotiate the terms and conditions of employment.

An employer creates a safety team of 6 employees who are asked to recommend changes to the workplace that will reduce accident rates. The team recommends eliminating a job rotation program that allows the employer to move employees in and out of various jobs on an as-needed basis. They argue that job rotation both increases employee stress and reduces the amount of experience that employees have with the various safety procedures associated with a particular job. This scenario describes a conflict between which two objectives of the employment relationship?

The widening gap between the richest and poorest individuals in the U.S. is in part due to the weakened position of labor unions.

If the reasons for the decline in unionization rates in the U.S. are largely structural and a result of declining demand for union services, there is no real need for labor law reform.

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the United Nations, it is considered a basic human right for:

One important goal of U.S. labor law is to increase purchasing power of workers.

A key role of unions is to negotiate work rules and practices that ensure fair treatment of employees by their managers and employers.

Employee empowerment is another term used to describe ___________________, an objective of the employment relationship in which workers are given some say in the conditions of their employment.

From a societal standpoint, the main purpose of a labor relations system is:

Why has union density in the U.S. declined so dramatically since the 1950s?

Conflicts between what the employee wants and what the employer wants are generally resolved privately between the individual and his/her employer.

Which of the following outcomes cannot generally be attributed to unions?

When an employer uses an employee suggestion box to gather ideas and concerns from its employees, it is primarily addressing the labor relations goal of efficiency.

Part of the decline in union density may be due to the fact that newer entrants to the workforce are less likely to have ever experienced the benefits of unionization and therefore are less likely to become union members themselves.