FMCS reports

FMCS reports

Multiple Choice Questions and a two page essay
Project instructions:
? Do not consult sources other than those we have already used in the course. The exam tests your understanding of the existing reading material, not your ability to do research. Please do use APA to reference your essay/case response. Create a reference list at the end and use the (author, year) format within the text; or, if it is a direct quote, the (author, year, page number) format. Please do not start a new page only for the reference list; just space down after your last response.

? Please do not retype the information or annotate your multiple-choice response. Any confusion in the answer will be interpreted as an error. Just list the response by the number on the Answer Sheet.

? Remember to process Part C through Turnitin and include the originality score on your answer sheet. Departmental policy requires the score to be available before the work is submitted to your assignment folder for grading. The document in your assignment folder must match the final one submitted to Turnitin. Be sure to allow time for multiple submissions in case you need them. Turnitin often requires at least 24 hours to process a revision.
Part A (This is worth 40% of the test score. Each question is worth 2 points.)
1. True or False: The use of strikes has increased in the last decade such that the FMCS reports now show a 10% utilization rate.
2. In which type of strike does the employee have the least risk of losing his/her job:
a. An economic strike
b. An unfair labor practice strike
c. A dispute about a permissive bargaining item
d. A wildcat strike
3. True or False: If the President thinks a strike will be dangerous to the national health or safety, the Taft-Hartley Act empowers the President to halt a strike while an arbitrator investigates and issues a final and binding decision.
4. A month before negotiations begin, which of the following indicates that management may expect a strike:

a. The warehouse inventory is low.
b. Cross-training programs are cancelled.
c. HR withdraws job postings in the local newspapers.
d. Security cameras at the entrances are repaired.

5. True or False: Picketing rights are similar to solicitation rights in that they both are balanced by property rights.
6. True or False: If you are picketing your employer for higher wages and your neighbor is hired to replace you only while you march, the Mackay Doctrine says that, when the strike is over, your neighbor may have the position instead of you but you will have priority over a brand new employee.
7. True or False: Since low union density makes labor?s lobbying efforts to ban permanent strike replacements more difficult, logically, unions likely see the Employee Free Choice Act as an indirect means of aIDressing the Mackay doctrine.
8. True or False: A work-to-rule campaign risks non-coverage by the NLRA and a corporate campaign exceeds the bounds of the Wager Act.

9. True or False: Since arbitration imposes the final decision of a third party, the public sector cannot be required to use it.

10. True or False: Seniority can have various provisions, such as bumping rights; but, the overall goal is to reduce arbitrary or discriminatory treatment of employees by using a quantifiable, objective standard for decision-making (an equity issue).

11. True or False: Certification of a union does not automatically require a company to provide convenient communication channels, to pay shop stewards for time spent conducting legitimate union business, or to enable dues check-off.

12. True or False: John, an employee in the bargaining unit, campaigned against the union during the organizing phase and did not join the union after it won. If John files a grievance, the union must process his complaint as it would any other, based on the merits of the case.

13. True or False: Joyce is a problem employee. She is often late and does low-quality work. The shop steward sees the performance problems. One day a new position s and Joyce applies for it but does not get it. She files a formal grievance. The basis for the selection was strictly seniority, which Joyce has. In this case, the union can legally dismiss the grievance.

14. True or False: The collective bargaining agreement is silent about the selection of employees to work on the night shift. An employee files a grievance for being chosen. The reserved rights doctrine says that management will likely be allowed to do this.

15. True or False: Compared to a court proceeding, an arbitration hearing allows the parties more flexibility in presenting evidence to support their views.

16. True or False: The ?common law of the workplace? means an arbitrator?s decision needs to be tailored to a particular work unit, such that the same issue might be decided differently at Ford vs. General Motors.
17. True or False: ?Just cause? is an important contractual provision because it protects an employee from being terminated under the employment-at-will doctrine.
18. True or False: A non-union workplace might adopt a grievance system that ends in arbitration to avoid expensive lawsuits and to discourage unionization.
19. True or False: Unions who advocate employee involvement in management decision-making to ensure that new flexibility initiatives do not hurt employees are sometimes viewed as sellouts by other labor leaders.
20. True or False: The WTO, which does not promote labor standards, has legal teeth while the ILO, which does advocate labor protection, must rely on non-legal enforcement methods.
Part B (This section is worth 10% of the test score. Each item is worth 2 points. )
Use the Safety Gloves case on p. 335-337 of the BuID text to answer the following questions. Using the facts in the case, is the following a logical management/union position?
1. Yes or No: Management will say the employee refused to obey the policy. The union will claim the employee did not have a proper understanding since the policy was not posted according to the contract stipulations.
2. Yes or No: Management will say the union did not contest the October 28 suspension. The union will say it did not see a written warning, so it didn?t file a grievance.
3. Yes or No: Management will say it used progressive discipline, so the dismissal is appropriate. The union will say a dismissal for such an alleged infraction is too harsh, especially for a person with 20 years of seniority.
4. Yes or No: Management will say that safety concerns were the motivations for the discharge. The union will say that age discrimination may have been a factor since it isn?t clear that others who did not use gloves were treated in the same manner.
5. Yes or No: Management will say that Article XX, Section 1 must be used in conjunction with Section 2. The union will say that each section can be used separately.

Part C (This is worth 50% of the test score.)
Use the case, Concealment of Education on a Job Application, in BuID on pages 337-338. Answer questions 12, 2, and 3 at the end of the case. You should be able to answer these in less than 3 double-spaced pages.