bus 305 chapter 4 & 5 summary reading

BUS 305 - Review of weekly readingNAME: Chetan Thiara CHAPTERS: 4 & 5

New terms and Definitions:Chapter 4 The Structure of Canadian Unions

The first level of the structure of the Canadian labour movement is the local union often referred to simply as the local. The local unions name will reflect this relationship with the larger union (pg. 120)

At the initial meetings of a new local and at regular intervals thereafter, the members of the local union elect the members they wish to run their local union, this group of elected individuals are called union executives (pg.122)

Shop stewards- are union members who investigate individual workers complaints or grievances and act as the workers advocate to management (pg. 123)

Business agent- this individual is responsible for handling day-to-day union functions and assisting the executive members in their jobs (pg. 124)

Parent union- the generic term for regional, national, and international unions (pg.129). Parent unions provide services to their members such as lobbying, education, and assistance in bargaining (pg.154)

Labour council- is an organization composed of delegates from many different local unions (pg.133). Ex. North Okanagan Labour Council, Vancouver and District Labour Council.

Canadian Labour Congress- is the largest central labour body in Canada. It is made up of 60 international unions. Also includes 137 community labour councils. (pg.138-139)

Affiliates- the CLC member organizations are referred to as affiliates (pg.139) Code of union citizenship- acknowledges the distinctions in size, internal structure, and geographic

location of the affiliates of the CLC (pg.139) Chapter 5 The Organizing Campaign

Organizing campaign- the campaign that a union conducts in a workplace to persuade employees to choose the union as their legal representative (pg.162)

Instrumentality- that a union is an effective means to achieve what individual employees want but cannot achieve on there own (pg.164)

Bargaining agent- means that the union is legally recognized as the sole representative of employees in that particular workplace.

Summary of the main points from the reading:Chapter 4 The Structure of Canadian Unions

Local union is created when workers at one or more work sites, often having the same occupation or working at different locations for the same employer or type of employer, come together to form a union.

The workers of a local union have the choice of forming an independent union or joining an existing one. Usually workers choose to join an established union because of the expertise and resources that an existing union can offer new members who may be relatively inexperienced in such skills as negotiating collective agreements.

Figure 4-1 (pg. 121)

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A single local could contain all the workers at a number of different workplaces or all workers who perform the same type of work it could also contain all the workers at a single workplace regardless of their individual occupations (pg. 122)

Larger locals have more bargaining power with the employer or employers than smaller ones, son inions are more likely to expend their resources organizing larger rather than smaller groups of workers (pg.122)

Unions are demonstrated by the fact that many of the most important functions of unions take place at the local level. The structure of the local union is designed to put the principles of participation and democracy into action (pg. 122)

Unions are governed by an executive consisting of a president, one or more vice presidents, a secretary, and a treasurer (pg.123)

Executive positions can be full or part time, paid or volunteer positions (pg.123) Most union constitutions also allow executive members to be appointed rather than elected (pg.123) Local unions carries out three major functions: dealing with workplace problems or grievances,

collective bargaining, and political or social activity (pg.125) Parent unions help in the creation of local unions by providing support, often in the form of a trained

organizer, also conducting educational programs (pg. 132) The parent unions operations are financed through the union dues paid by individual union members

(pg.133) Labour councils represent workers interests to local government, municipal councils, boards, and

commissions. Provide strike support for local unions, affordable child care, accessible education, and maintenance of health care and social services systems (pg.135)

Provincial Labour Federation- deals with issues affecting the labour legislation within their respective jurisdictions. Provide a range of services in the fields of communications, education, and research (pg.137-138)

One of the most important functions of the CLC is to provide services to its affiliates. They assist them through union education and organization, communications, political education, research and legislation, and representation on international issues (pg.147)

Provincial and territorial labour federations in Canada are affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress, which is the largest centralized labour federation in the country. The CLC’s membership also includes independent unions and locals (pg.155)

Chapter 5 Organizing Campaign Workers first must determine whether a union would be an asset for them in the workplace. Then

they must decide whether to invite a union to undertake an organizing campaign among the employees and finally each individual worker must decide whether to cast a formal vote in favour of union representation. Factors that come in play include personal factors, workplace factors, economic factors, and societal factors.

Personal factors include: parental attitudes or union activity, socio- economic status, instrumentality, and perception and identity (pg.165)

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Workplace factors include: compensation, level of unionization in industry, dissatisfaction with workplace conditions, management, union attitudes of coworkers and family, union attitudes of management, and organizational structure (pg.168)

Economic factors include: unemployment rate in region, inflation, and union wage premium. (pg.169)

Societal factors include: general attitudes toward unions, and labour legislation (pg.171) As a bargaining agent, the union acts on behalf of the employees in negotiating conditions and terms

of work and in administering the resulting collective agreement (pg.171) An organizing campaign can be initiated either by a union or by the employees (pg. 172) Figure 5-1 Steps in the organizing campaign (pg. 172) Steps in forming a union

o Information meeting (pg.173)

o Then organizing a committee (pg.174)

o Application for certification (pg. 179)

Sufficient membership support (pages 179-180) Desired bargaining unit (pages 184-185) Employer and the trade union (pages 188-192)

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bus 305 chapter 4 & 5 summary reading

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