Deck 12: Dealing With Union and Employeemanagement Issues

Question 1

Samuel Gompers was the most important leader of the American Federation of Labor during its early years.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Even in their infancy,the main goal of most labor unions was to provide members with increased management power.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

During its early years,the AFL tried to expand as rapidly as possible by recruiting both skilled and unskilled workers.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In its early years,the AFL American Federation of Labor)limited its membership to skilled workers.

Question 5

One of the things that labor is interested in is fair and competent management.

Question 6

Membership in industrial unions was strictly limited to skilled craftspeople.

Question 7

Some contend that the main reason membership in labor unions has declined in recent years has been the passage of anti-labor legislation in the late 1980s that guaranteed all employees of a firm the same wages and benefits whether they joined a union or not.

Question 8

The Knights of Labor was the first truly national labor organization in the United States.

Question 9

A union is an employee organization that has the main goal of representing its members in employee-management negotiation concerning job-related issues.

Question 10

A craft union is an organization of skilled specialists in a particular craft or trade.

Question 11

A union that consists of members who are all skilled specialists in a particular trade is called an industrial guild.

Question 12

The Knights of Labor,the first national labor organization,offered membership to all working people,including employers.

Question 13

Throughout most of American history,the relationship between managers and employees has been fairly smooth.

Question 14

The AFL American Federation of Labor)was initially intended to be a single craft union.

Question 15

Most historians view the increase in union membership in the United States as an outgrowth of the transition from an industrial economy to a service economy during the middle part of the 20^th century.

Question 16

The presence of formal labor organizations in the United States dates back to the late 1700s.

Question 17

Historically,managers were less concerned about productivity and more concerned with friendly relations with coworkers.

Question 18

Labor unions played a major role in establishing minimum wage laws,child-labor laws,and improvements in job safety.

Question 19

Today labor unions have seen a revitalization of support and union membership has increased significantly.

Question 20

The first national labor organization,the Knights of Labor sought to gain enough political power to restructure the entire U.S.economy.

Question 21

The National Labor Relations Act gave labor the legal justification to pursue collective bargaining and other key labor issues.

Question 22

In 1955,after the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act,the AFL and CIO merged to create the AFL-CIO.

Question 23

The Norris-LaGuardia Act prohibits firms from requiring workers to agree not to join a union as a condition of their employment.

Question 24

The Zendor Corporation operates a manufacturing plant in Bellridge.The work is arranged in an assembly line and is performed by semiskilled and unskilled workers.These workers are looking into obtaining union representation.The type of union they would belong to would be classified as an industrial union.

Question 25

Abraham was an unskilled worker who toiled 10 hours a day on an assembly line during the early and mid 1930s.His hours were long,his wages were low and his working conditions were unsafe and unpleasant.Abraham would probably be more sympathetic to the views of John L.Lewis than to those of Samuel Gompers.

Question 26

The process by which a union is recognized by the NLRB as the authorized bargaining agent for a group of workers is called collective bargaining.

Question 27

The Industrial Revolution slowed the growth of unions by creating a rapidly rising standard of living for most workers.

Question 28

Collective bargaining is the process whereby union and management representatives negotiate a labor-management agreement,or contract,for workers.

Question 29

Today,more than 55 national and international labor unions are affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

Question 30

The initial objective of the American Federation of Labor AFL)was to provide union membership to workers in all industries.

Question 31

The Wagner Act established the first minimum wage for workers.

Question 32

A yellow-dog contract required workers to agree not to join a union as a condition of their employment.

Question 33

The Norris-LaGuardia Act made it more difficult for unions to legally recruit new members.

Question 34

Samuel Gompers believed that collective bargaining was likely to be an ineffective way for unions to achieve their objectives.

Question 35

A major difference between early labor organizations in the United States and today's labor unions is that the early labor groups often were temporary organizations that disbanded after achieving a short-range goal,while today's unions are permanent organizations.

Question 36

The Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor were actually very similar in their aims,tactics,and membership.The only major difference was in the effectiveness of their leaders.

Question 37

Once a union is certified to represent a group of workers,decertification is not a consideration or future possibility.

Question 38

Union membership is likely to rise in the coming decade,because the same economic and political conditions that gave rise to unions in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries are now reappearing.

Question 39

For 20 years,the CIO was a major rival of the AFL in the contest for leadership of the labor movement.

Question 40

John L.Lewis broke with the American Federation of Labor AFL)in 1935 over membership issues and formed a rival group known as the Congress of Industrial Organizations CIO).

Question 41

The Taft-Hartley Act gave more power to management.

Question 42

Last week,Angie was approached by two of her coworkers during the lunch break pressuring her to sign a card check in favor of organizing a union.The card check is currently a NLRB National Labor Relations Board)approved method of finalizing unionization.

Question 43

The AFL-CIO has supported offshore outsourcing as a method of increasing work opportunities for union members.

Question 44

During the 1980s unions became increasingly concerned with the issues of job security and union recognition.

Question 45

The Taft-Hartley Act strengthened unions by giving them the right to engage in featherbedding and secondary boycotts.

Question 46

The NLRB National Labor Relations Board)has created procedures that union advocates must follow in order to organize a union at a place of business.The multi-step procedure culminates with a secret vote by the employees of the organization.

Question 47

During an interview with Zytex company representative,Hillary was told that Zytex faces intense competition and management believes that the only way the company can survive is to have a nonunion workforce.Therefore,all workers Zytex hires must sign an employment contract stating that they agree not to join a union while they work for Zytex.This requirement by Zytex is illegal in the United States.

Question 48

The AFL-CIO was a major supporter of the NAFTA agreement to expand trade and commerce among the nations of the United States,Canada,and Mexico.

Question 49

The National Labor Relations Act gave employees the right to form and join labor organizations and the right to engage in activities such as strikes and boycotts.

Question 50

Jake remembers his grandfather telling him about going to work at 16 years of age in the coal mines of southern Illinois.In order to get the job,he had to agree to a yellow-dog contract.Essentially this meant he would only get the job if he agreed not to join a union.

Question 51

Under the Wagner Act,the National Labor Relations Board can establish a labor union in an organization if it finds evidence of substantial labor abuse within that organization.

Question 52

One goal of the Landrum-Griffin Act was to clean up union corruption.

Question 53

The main objectives of organized labor,better wages and shorter hours,have remained remarkably stable over time.

Question 54

The Norris-LaGuardia Act prohibited courts from issuing injunctions against nonviolent union activities.

Question 55

The NLRB oversees the decertification of unions.An employer the company owners)can petition and seek the signatures of 30% of the employees in order to decertify the union - in other words,officially,the union could no longer represent the employees in any bargaining negotiations.

Question 56

Jenna is a member of a union team that is negotiating with management to obtain a labor contract for the workers represented by the union.Jenna is involved in contract arbitration.

Question 57

The Taft-Hartley Act allowed states to pass laws that prohibited compulsory union membership.

Question 58

A card check is a method of openly soliciting signatures in favor of the organization of a union.

Question 59

The workers at the Kerriton Company are unhappy with the way their union has been representing them.The Wagner Act allows these workers to take away the union's right to represent them through a process known as decertification.

Question 60

Union representatives currently prefer secret ballot voting because they do not want to intimidate employees into voting for a union by asking them to outwardly sign a card check in favor of unions.

Question 61

The sources of many grievances include overtime rules,promotions,layoffs,and job assignments.

Question 62

Under a closed shop agreement,workers must agree not to join a union in order to keep their jobs.

Question 63

Under an open shop agreement,workers have the option to join or not join a union,if one is present in the workplace.

Question 64

In the past,a variety of professionals have served as mediators.If a labor dispute were to breakout between the management at an auto manufacturer and the local union that represents workers at the auto manufacturing plant,it would be highly unusual for a university professor who has studied labor relations to be asked to mediate.The disputing parties would save his time for something more serious like arbitration.

Question 65

Many of the negotiated labor-management agreements in the United States call for the use of an arbitrator to end labor disputes.

Question 66

The negotiated labor-management agreement clarifies the terms and conditions under which labor and management agree to function over a specified period of time.

Question 67

In an agency shop agreement,workers who do not belong to the union must pay a union fee or pay regular union dues.

Question 68

A grievance is a charge by managers that the union is not abiding by the terms of the negotiated labor-management agreement.

Question 69

A mediator has the power to impose a binding settlement on labor and management.

Question 70

A union shop agreement is illegal in states that have passed right-to-work laws.

Question 71

Arbitration and mediation are alike in that both involve an impartial third party to help in the negotiation process.The differences in these two approaches is that an arbitrator's decision is binding - both parties agree to this on the front end;a mediator encourages the two conflicting parties to continue to negotiate and may make suggestions in pursuit of a resolution.

Question 72

The vast majority of grievances filed by union members are negotiated and resolved by shop stewards and supervisory managers.

Question 73

Wage rates,hours of work,employee benefits,and job rights and seniority are issues covered in a typical negotiated labor-management agreement.

Question 74

Arbitration is an agreement to bring in an impartial third party to render a binding decision in a labor dispute.

Question 75

Under a union shop agreement,workers must belong to a union before they can be hired.

Question 76

Under an agency shop agreement,only union members are represented at the bargaining table.

Question 77

The Taft-Hartley Act made the union shop agreement illegal in all states.

Question 78

A union security clause in a labor-management agreement stipulates that employees who benefit from a union must either officially join or at least pay dues to the union.

Question 79

Until passage of the Taft-Hartley Act,under a closed shop agreement,a company could only hire workers who already belonged to a union.

Question 80

A bargaining zone is the time period during which a third party is used to reach agreement on union disputes.