LIR 858

Alsadeg 1
Hussain Alsadeg
Labor Relations Practice in Business and Employee Involvement

The Industrial Relations approach to managing the employee/employer relationship has been losing the battle against the Personnel Management school practices. Most integral to the recent personnel management approaches is Employee Involvement. “Fifty-two percent of employees in the Workplace
Representation and Participation Survey reported that some form of employee participation program operates in their workplace and 31 percent indicate that they participate in an employee involvement program” (Commission on the
Future of Worker-Management Relations). Employee Involvement and empowerment practices are thought to weaken labor unions; as the approach to rewards and empowerment is distributed to individuals instead of being collectively bargained. While employee involvement has demonstrated to bring enhanced productivity and effectiveness, there is concern that employee involvement programs violate Section 8(a)(2) of the NLRA; this section of the law states:
“Sec. 8. [§ 158.] (a) [Unfair labor practices by employer] It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer--(2) to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial or other support to it: Provided, That subject to rules and regulations made and published by the Board pursuant to section 6 [section 156 of this title], an employer shall not be prohibited from permitting employees to confer with him during working hours without loss of time or pay” (National Labor
Relations Act). While employee involvement programs increase productivity and improve the employees’ working lives, there is fear that this practice will replace traditional labor unions with company unions that dominate the relationship between employees and the