Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses labor relations and the relative merits or weaknesses of certain collective bargaining agreements. The paper explains that when an employer and a union representative engage in a bilateral decision making process, it is termed labor contract negotiations, or more recently a collective bargaining situation. The paper relates that the effect of the collective bargaining agreements on major league sports in the United States has been very significant to all labor relations. The paper offers a recent example of the uses of collective bargaining as was seen in the application of a contract for the players of the National Football League. The paper concludes that ultimately, the advent of the collective bargaining agreement within sports has been beneficial since it decreases the number of strikes and lockouts and keeps the players, owners and fans happy.

From the Paper:

"For many years, players of team sports were not considered to be workers who labored in a way that would be covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). In fact, in 1922, the Supreme Court stated that baseball clubs were accepted from anti-trust regulations and this effectively thwarted any attempts by baseball players to unionize for even the most basic protections. What one must remember is that these sports teams, while generally only focusing on the players, have other employees and so sport protection came with the allowance of the baseball players to engage in collective bargaining in 1969."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Buidens, Wayne, and others. "Collective Gaining: A Bargaining Alternative." PHI DELTA KAPPAN 63 (1981): 244-245.
• Herman, Jerry J. "With Collaborative Bargaining, You Work WITH the Union--Not Against It." THE AMERICAN SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL 172 (1985): 41-42, 47.
• Huber, Joe; and Jay Hennies. "Fix on These Five Guiding Lights, and Emerge from the Bargaining Fog." THE AMERICAN SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL 174 (1987): 31.
• McMahon, Dennis O. "GETTING TO YES." Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Association of School Administrators, New Orleans, LA, February 20-23, 1987. ED 280 188.
• Namit, Chuck; and Larry Swift. "Prescription for Labor Pains: Combine Bargaining with Problem Solving." THE AMERICAN SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL 174 (1987): 24.

More papers on Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations:

• Essay # 47359 : "Collective Bargaining and Baseball"
• Research Paper # 39822 : "Collective Bargaining and Contract Administration"
• Essay # 98474 : "Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining"

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