Mg 420 - Dl Labor Relations - Collective Bargaining

MG420 DL Labor Relations

Research Assignment

James E. Martin Jr.

February 20, 2011

Frank Incalcaterra

1. Define and discuss the term "collective bargaining."

Collective bargaining is the process of negotiations involving the representatives of the employer and employee for terms and conditions of employment that will apply to the employee. In the United States the negotiations that happen between concerning parties are written into legally binding contracts and usually last from one to five years. (Budd, 2009 , p. 229)

Amanda Terkel, a writer for the Huffington Post website writes about the recent labor unrest in the states of Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana. The governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker is trying to deprive the state's public-employee unions from having collective-bargaining rights. The governor states that this will make it possible to shore up the states expected 3 billion shortfall. This legislative action has caused some major protest in Madison, Wisconsin, with crowds that are estimated to be around 25,000 protestors while Wisconsin's Democratic senators have fled the state to stop the bill from being voted on. Consequently, thousands of opponents of the Ohio's Senate proposed collective-bargaining overhaul surrounded the Statehouse with chants of kill the bill prior to the latest hearing on Ohio's Senate Bill 5. This bill is written to do away with the collective-bargaining rights for state employees and cut back on the rights of local-level government employees. While the Indiana legislature is considering a bill that will strip Indiana teachers of their collective bargaining rights between local districts and teachers' unions. The object of this bill is to focus on wages and wage-related benefits. This bill would also limit teacher contracts to a span of two years to coincide with the length of Indiana's state budget cycle. The article makes a point to tell the audience that the middle class of the United States of America is under attack from many newly elected and establish representatives from the Republican political party in several states. However several labor unions are now mobilizing to fight back this tide of attacks on the American workers by the pro business state executive and legislative branches of government. (Terkel, 2011)

Works Cited

Budd, J. W. ( 2009 ). Labor Relations: Striking a Balance. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Terkel, A. (2011, February 17). DNC Expands Role in Labor Protests to Ohio, Indiana. Retrieved February 18, 2011, from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/dnc-expands-mobilization-protests-ohio-indiana_n_824743.html