Labor Laws and Unions
HRM/531
April 2, 2012
Susan Frear

Labor Laws and Unions The United Postal Service (UPS) is a unionized company. A brief background will be given as well as legal issues and obstacles they may encounter, how the federal, state, and local laws could be breached because of the legal issues and why, and recommendations how to mitigate the possible litigation. As a part of the analysis the subsequent questions will be answered what are the benefits of UPS joining the union, what is the unionization process, how do they bargain, and what effects does the bargaining have on the organization. UPS started out as a messenger company in 1907 and has grown into a multibillion dollar corporation (UPS, 2011). Ups is the world largest package delivery company and leading global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services (UPS, 2001).UPS has 185,000 union members and 75,000 non union members. The majority of the UPS union members are a part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) which are a part of the (AFO-CIO) (Proyect, 2012). UPS operates under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), commonly known as the Wagner act (Thomas, 2001). Some of the legal issues include the legality of the proposals by UPS to change benefit packages, 2006 legal issue concerning the IBT’s right to designate a representative on a safety committee established by its collective bargaining agreement with UPS, and “The employee Free Choice Act” know as the Card Check bill. UPS has proposed a new UPS pension plan which would pull 44,000 full timers out of the central state pension plan and put them in the new one ( Teamsters for a Democratic Union, 2007). The idea by UPS management is to reduce the obligations over the long term by putting up 6.1 billion to buy their way to paying lower contributions thus holding pension increases, and weakening the union (Teamsters for a Democratic Union, 2007).
The 2006 legal issue concerning the right by IBT to designate a representative on the safety committee established by the bargaining agreement was thrown out by the district court because section three of the Railway Labor Act of 1934 grants adjustment boards exclusive jurisdiction to resolve disputes over the interpretation or application of the collective bargaining agreements affecting the railroad and airline industries ("International Brotherhood Of Teamsters, 2006). The union responds by saying the dispute lies outside of the board’s exclusive jurisdiction because it involves a dispute between labor and management about the designation of representatives ("International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 2006). The Employee Free Choice Act is another controversial piece of legislation which big labor unions have been pushing congress to approve this law which under current law existing workers have a chance to vote for unionization in a private ballot election that is federally supervised and if more than 50% percent of the workers at a facility sign a card the government would certify the union however if the so called employee free choice act were to pass the workers would be forced to sign a card in public thus opens up the possibility of intimidation and coercion ("The Employee Free Choice Act, 2009). The benefits of UPS joining the union are lower turnover rate with employee, better working conditions, and legislative loopholes which have been push through congress to reward unionized companies with certain tax breaks and health care premium exemptions. The unionization process is legally based on the Wagner Act of 1935 which gives the right of all employees to engage in union activities, organize and bargain collectively without interference from management. The first step is for employees to solicit other employees to sign authorization cards on company premises but not on company time. Management has the right to express their views through speeches to their employees on the company premises. Once there are 50% of the authorization cards signed then the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) can begin the certification process. Once the petition of election is received then the NLRB conducts a hearing to determine the size of the bargaining unit. The size of the bargaining unit is critical to the union success in the outcome of the representation election. The effects of bargaining on an organization can result in animosity between management and the employees thus a hostile work environment. The recommendations of avoiding litigation is to use the lowest level of conflict or dispute resolution such as mediation, negotiation, grievance arbitration and interest arbitration all of which provide a legal platform to solve issues, conflicts or disputes without incurring the high cost and potential increased animosity between parties. In summation of this analysis a discussion of UPS background, potential or ongoing legal issues, and recommendations were conveyed.

References
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS AFL CIO 2727 v. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE CO. (2006). Retrieved from http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us 6th-circuit/1173587.html
Proyect, L. (2012). UPS and Teamsters. Retrieved from http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/labor/ups.htm
Thomas, S. L. (2001). Retrieved from http://www.allbusiness.com/human resources/employeedevelopment-team-building/840648-1.html UPS. (2011, November 02). Ups corporate: company history2. Retrieved from http://www.ups.com/content/corp/about/history/index.html
Teamsters for a Democratic Union. (2007). Central States Pull-Out: The Proposed New UPS Pension Plan. Retrieved from http://tdu.org/node/1542
The Employee Free Choice Act - the "Card Check" Bill. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.uschamber.com/issues/labor/employee-free-choice-act-card-check-bill