Question

1. After years of working without a union, employees of Argenta Associates began organizing for a representation election. Management did not try to prevent the employees from passing out leaflets or making speeches on company property, but the company president did send out a notice to all employees stating that in his opinion, they would be better off without a union. A week before the election, he sent another notice, stating that effective immediately, each employee would be entitled to a twenty-five-cents-an-hour raise. The employees voted the union down. The following day, several employees began agitating for another election. This time management threatened to fire anyone who continued talking about an election on the ground that the union had lost and the employees would have to wait a year. The employees’ organizing committee filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the NLRB. What was the result?

2. Palooka Industries sat down with Local 308, which represented its telephone operators, to discuss renewal of the collective bargaining agreement. Palooka pressed its case for a no-strike clause in the next contract, but Local 308 refused to discuss it at all. Exasperated, Palooka finally filed an unfair labor practice claim with the NLRB. What was the result?

3. Union organizers sought to organize the punch press operators at Dan’s Machine Shop. The shop was located on a lot surrounded by heavily forested land from which access to employees was impossible. The only practical method of reaching employees on the site was in the company parking lot. When the organizers arrived to distribute handbills, the shop foreman, under instructions from Dan, ordered them to leave. At a hearing before the NLRB, the company said that it was not antiunion but that its policy, which it had always strictly adhered to, forbade nonemployees from being on the property if not on company business. Moreover, company policy barred any activities that would lead to littering. The company noted that the organizers could reach the employees in many other ways—meeting the employees personally in town after hours, calling them at home, writing them letters, or advertising a public meeting. The organizers responded that these methods were far less effective means of reaching the employees. What was the result? Why?

Answer 1

1. The result would be in favour of the employees since it is the right of employees to form unions and the management cannot stop them from doing it. It is unfair practice on part of the management to fire any employee if he/she influences others to join hands to form union. There is no provision in law that employees have to wait for one year before electing union, in case union fails.

2. The result would be in favour of Palooka Industries because Palooka set a no-strike clause in its contract and the telephone operators had to abide by the contract since they had signed it. Hence they cannot hold a strike at all.

3. The result would be in favour of the company because the company's policy forbade nonemployees from being on property if not on company business. Hence the union organizers are bound to abide by the policy.