Research Paper on Trade Unions: The Role of the National Labor Relations Board

Introduction

Over centuries now, many workers have joined various trade unions for different intentions. Generally, there have been many unions that oversee the welfare of laborers. Therefore, the National Labor Relations Board was formed as a workers relations body that aimed at supervising most labor-related activities. Mainly, the organization was supposed to mediate between the trade unions and the management of the business firms or employers.

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Ideally, the responsibility of the trade unions is to negotiate for their members to the employer. Moreover, these negotiations entail good working conditions, proper and timely salaries, and wages. Also, job security, safety in working places, among other disputes that may arise as complaints from laborers. Due to these disruptions of ordinary commercial activities, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to minimize industrial misconduct that disrupted the normal flow of commercial routines (Bauerns et al. 2017).

Unfair labor practices and violation of the rights of employees by the employers have propelled the need for the NLRB to come to the board for closer relationships between the two. Admittedly, the circumstances under which these disputes may arise may include:

Poor Job Security- the persistence of unfairness in the ways of management urges the workers to join trade unions. Ideally, the trade intern channels these complaints to the labor relations board whenever crises arise. In addition, unfair and arbitrary decisions by the management have become so prevalent currently. Therefore, with NLRB, members have a guarantee for the protection against such malpractices.

Improper Wages and other Benefits- Sometimes in jobs, employers exploit laborers as the availability for the posts in the market diminishes. Therefore, to curb this, negotiations to provide workers with good wages and other employee benefits result arise because they commonly cause disputes in workplaces.

Poor Working Conditions and Safety Measures- Disputes may naturally arise between an employer who neglects the provision of right working conditions and the safety of the employees. Ideally, poor working conditions could result in industry accidents that could even cause deaths and serious injuries. Employees need to be safeguarded from adverse climatic conditions while at work. Besides, employees need proper working costumes for their health safety if whenever their task endangers their lives (Bauerns et al. 2017).

Fair and Just Supervision- Sometimes, employers act rudely and proudly to employees for reasons well known to them. Inevitably, this vice can result in a severe dispute between the two parties. Therefore, fairness and justice from the supervisors and seniors are expected to the highest order possible.

A Collective Voice- Some employers take advantage of the small numbers of their employees for professional misconduct. Following the slogan that people believe in the strength of numbers, sometimes disputes arise from the few numbers of an employee, and then employees join trade unions so that airing out their grievances becomes easier than before.

Being the overseer of the employer-employee relations, the NLRB has acted some rulings that majorly touch on professional misconduct and disruptions of reasonable working terms and conditions. Recently, the NLRB ruled out against employees who use the organization's property to perform the duties of their trade unions. The ruling pronounced a total ban to all employees from using the company's machines and equipment for the association and other organizational purposes that affect the unions in question. In other words, the unions are supposed to be independently operating and carrying out their routines without bothering the property of the organizations whose stakeholders are members of the union (Schwartz, 2012).

Further, the case studied in this paper relates to the first-week discussion schedule in the syllabus. {Chapter 1 (Introduction to Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining)} Which gives an overview of the National Labor Relations Board responsibilities.

Even though a small portion of the employees belongs to the unions, it is essential to study labor relations. This is because all workers have legal liberty and rights to either belong to a union or remain non-union members according to their preference. Therefore, this enlightens members of the labor force to respect the rights of the management as well as those of colleague employees. On the other hand, the management is also polished on the need to observe the needs of the employees and honor them.

Besides, the National Labor Relations Act was legislated to regulate industrial processes whose employee contact disrupted intercountry commercial activities. Therefore, employees were guaranteed rights to self-organization for addressing their collective voice and other employee benefits.

Pros and Cons of NLRB Ruling Dissension

Pros

The ruling illustrated the value of a powerful dissenting voice that campaigns to outlaw some professional misconduct in the workplace. In essence, employer rules that deter employees from engaging in activities that are protected by the Act. This way, employer-employee relations are drawn close every day (Bender, 2015).

The Disagreement with the ruling gave priority to employee training and career development to enhance professionalism and code of conduct in workplaces to maintain peace among the disputing parties.

The disagreement pushed for transit subsidizations whereby workers who commute to the workplace should be unleased with some traveling cost through paying a portion of the price by the industry management (Schwartz, 2012).

The dissension resulted in the retention of the reputation of the National Labor Relations appointee Philip Miscinarra who focused on the board's current failures to achieve the recognition of legitimacy based on employer rules.

The ruling Disagreement pushed for the adoption of a more reasonable purpose of the National Labor Relations Board for the relationships between employers and employees.

The dissension enhanced employee protection by law. The ruling has significantly protected many employees through an injunction against and misconduct from the unions and employees. If, in any case, a dispute occurs, then the National Labor Relations Act takes control over fate (Schwartz, 2012).

Cons

The ruling resulted in inequality of bargaining power. Being the key responsibilities of the unions, bargaining for the rights of the employees is the critical task. Therefore, the disagreements gave freedom of choice based on the power of negotiation from one union to another and on the leadership of the union.

Law has protected the ruling. Therefore, the Disagreement rendered unions and employers unable to defy from its decisions (Bender, 2015).

The dissension dictates that members of the unions must incur the expense of any necessary traveling by the board. In addition, every other subsistence expense is also under the responsibility of the unions. Consequently, this increases the charges per member payable to the union for such operations (Schmidt et al. 2015).

The ruling dissension restricted employees from taking advantage of their economic prowess to inhibit freedom of choice of workers by the management.

The NLRB ruling disagreement gave room for protected legal strikes and work boycotts. Industrial strikes, if not solved immediately, may result in severe economic sabotage in a state. However, for the interest of the workers' welfare, the dissension gave rightful freedom for strikes (Bender, 2015).

In my opinion, I would like to support the NLRB ruling based on the above-discussed pros and cons of the verdict. Undoubtedly, the main agenda in the formation of the NLRB was to oversee the general welfare of employees and to protect them from unfair and unjust practices from the management. As the analysis depicts, the ruling has significantly protected employees, and therefore, my position is doubtlessly in support of the ruling. (Schmidt et al. 2015).

Conclusion

In summary, it is of great importance that trade unions join hands together with the NLRB to safeguard the interests of the workers. In most cases, workers are also supposed to acknowledge their responsibility to honor the importance of their employees too. Likewise, the management also should put into consideration the observance of employee rights. In doing so, we shall achieve a peaceful work environment and reduced cases of employer-employee disputes. Moreover, the disruption of commercial activities will also reduce significantly.

Therefore, I urge that every stakeholder in the production industry should observe the provisions of the National Labor Relations Board to enhance harmony in our workplaces. Maintaining self-organization by employees will also help in achieving a better workplace in the end. Generally, this will reduce all the possible cases of negligence and ignorance so that we prevent the recurrence of work-related disputes. Sometimes cases of poor working conditions and improper waging occur as a result of unfairness from the employees, who take advantage of their financial status to exploit the poor workers upon employment. Therefore, employers are supposed to handle their laborers with great care and concern for the maintenance of a harmonious working environment.

References

Bauernschuster, S., Hener, T., & Rainer, H. (2017). When labor disputes bring cities to a standstill: The impact of public transit strikes on traffic, accidents, air pollution, and health. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 9(1), 1-37. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20150414

Bender, J. T. (2015). Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The NLRB's Joint-Employer Standard and the Case for Preserving the Formalities of Business Format Franchising. Franchise Law Journal, 35(2), 209-236. https://lewisbrisbois.com/assets/uploads/files/FLJ_35-2_02Bender.pdfCarrell, M. R., & Heavrin, C. (2004). Labor relations and collective bargaining. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Schmidt, G. B., & O'Connor, K. W. (2015). Fired for Facebook: Using NLRB guidance to craft appropriate social media policies. Business Horizons, 58(5), 571-579. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Fired-for-Facebook%3A-Using-NLRB-guidance-to-craft-Schmidt-O'Connor/aaae3efa3739043587622e6c1e9a5c42c0afbe7c

Schwartz, M. D. (2012). A Substantive Right to Class Proceedings: The False Conflict Between the FAA and NLRA. Fordham L. Rev., 81, 2945. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4899&context=flr