BUS 305 Midterm 1 Review

Chapter 1
1. Distinguish between industrial relations and human resources
Industrial relations- is the relationship between a union (a
organization run by the workers) and the employer (the
organization or organizations the workers in the union work
for.
Industrial relations are a broad interdisciplinary field of
study and practice that encompasses all aspects of the
employment relationships. Meaning that industrial relations
include both non unionized and unionized work places.
The difference between human resource management and
industrial relations is to say that the former has a broader
range and is generally applied to employment issues of
importance to all organizations.
The distinction between human resource
management and industrial relations can be
summed up as follows: industrial relations deals
primarily with employee-employer relationships in
unionized organizations, while human resource
management deals with employer- employee or
organization-worker relationships in all types of
organizations.
2. Define jurisdiction
The legal responsibility for an issue between federal and
provincial legislatures
If an employers business has an interprovincial
component that is when the employers activities
regularly cross provincial boundaries then the union
employer relationship is federally regulated.
Whereas of an employers activities take place with a
single province or territory, the union-employer
relationships is governed by the labor relations
legislation of that province or territory.
90% of union employer relationships in Canada are
under provincial jurisdiction and 10% are federally
regulated.
3. Labor relation laws
1. Right to belong to a union
2. Protection of that right with a LRB- quasijudicial
3. Union as representative of majority of workplacecertification
4. Protection from unfair labor practices for employees,
employers and unions

5. Collective Bargaining- time frames and results

6. Procedures for legal strikes and lockouts
7. Collective agreement minimum requirements-term-tech
change
8. Dispute resolution procedures during the term of a
collective agreement
9. Procedures for changing or eliminating the relationship
4. Understanding public sector and parapublic sector and why its
important?
Public Sector- Government, Crown Corporations (highest
unionized group in Canada)
Para Public- Funded by the government: health care,
colleges, technical institutes, universities
Why its important?
o Government and employees have unique
employment relationships
o Governments are intended to have more power than
an ordinary employer and therefore rules and terms
are in place that allow this to be recognized within
the workforce.
o And public and para public sector employees often
provide services that are needed for communities
and provinces to function effectively, such as fire
protection, social services, and health care
Chapter 2
5. John Dunlops Systems Theory
He analyzed how unions interacted with other organizations and
what guidelines existed to regulate or shape those interactions
Three interdependent components: inputs, processes, and
outputs
Actors can either be the government, unions, and the employer
What keeps the system functioning is the shared ideology
about the value of the system and each actors role.
The actors are committed to participation in the system as a
method of interaction and conflict resolution.
External inputs
o Legal system
o Economic subsystem
o Ecological subsystem
o Political subsystem
o Socio cultural subsystem
Internal inputs
o Values

o Goals
o Strategies
o Power
Conversion mechanisms
o Collective bargaining
o Grievances
o Third-party interventions
Outcomes
o Employer outcomes- management rights, efficiency,
profitability, and productivity
o Employee outcomes- union rights, and security, work rules,
fairness and equity issues
o Perceptions-work climate
o Conflict resolution
Summary
o Systems theory of industrial relations
o Parties as actors
o Actors operating with contexts, technological context, the
market context, the budgetary context, and the power
context
o Web of rules- governs the interactions between the parties
within the system. 1. Collective agreement, 2. Grievances,
3. Third party interventions
o Eventual convergence of industrial relations systems in
industrial countries

Chapter 4
5. Structure of the local union
Local union- same occupation/same employer
Union structure- executive elected; shop stewards
workplace representatives, business agents
Union democracy
6. Define Shop Stewards
Are union members who investigate individual work
complaints or grievances and act as the workers advocate
to management. The first line representative may be
elected or may be volunteers.
7. Business Agents
Are paid and are responsible for day to day union functions
and assist the executive members in there jobs.
8. Functions of local unions
Workplace grievances
Collective bargaining

 Political/Social activity
9. Parent unions
The generic term for regional, national, and international
unions is parent union
Elected by locals
Functions of parent unions
o Organizing support for locals
o Dispute resolution
o Lobby, education, and assistance in bargaining
10.
Labor Councils
Delegates from different local unions generally volunteers
and an example is the Olympics
11.

Canadian labour congress

National labor federation- in Ottawa-Federal level

Functions- organization, education
Codes- code of union citizenship, code of organizing
pratices, and a code of ethical pratices