Page 14 - November 2015

PAT FIORETTO
LODGE 7 LABOR CORNER
Defining key concepts in labor relations
With Labor Day and warm weather behind us, we want to review some of the terminology and concepts used when discussing union members’ rights in the context of labor relations. Although some members might be intimately familiar with certain concepts and phrases, it is important that our membership understand what rights they have, how those rights came to be, and how they can be enforced, not only under our collective bargaining agreement but also by statute.
In 1984, legislators passed the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (Act), granting public sector employees and employers the right to bargain collectively.
Private sector employees are protected under the federal statute known as the National Labor Relations Act (initially passed in 1935).
The Illinois Labor Relations Board is the state agency that administers the Act, governing the relationship between unions, members and public employers. The Act, in its most basic form, is a state labor law guaranteeing that employees in the public sec- tor, such as police officers, have the right to organize and to bar- gain collectively with employers. The Illinois Labor Relations Board is divided into two panels – the State Panel and the Local Panel.
In essence, the State Panel has jurisdiction over collective bar- gaining matters between employee organizations and public employers, such as the state of Illinois and units of local govern- ment, with a population of less than 2 million people. Meanwhile, the Local Panel has authority over collective bargaining matters between unions and units of local government with a population of more than 2 million people, which would include Lodge 7 and the City of Chicago.
The State Panel is made up of five members, each appointed by the governor and approved by the Illinois Senate; the Local Panel is made up of three members, one appointed by the governor, one appointed by the Cook County Board Chairman and one appointed by the mayor of Chicago. Board members have a wide range of background and are experienced in labor- management affairs. They can be union labor leaders, members of the academia, government employees
and attorneys.
The Act protects the rights of public employees, in part, to organize and join a union, which is the cornerstone of all employ- ees’ rights. It allows employees to act “in concert,” or together with one another and with a union, to address workplace issues. Once an employer agrees to recognize a union to represent a group of employees (known as a “bargaining unit’), or the Labor Board conducts an election and the union wins, the employer will be
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14 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ NOVEMBER 2015