61. Answers will vary. The goal of the collective-bargaining process is to produce agreement on a binding labor contract
that will define various dimensions of the employment relationship for a specified period of time. Thus, it is incumbent on
both management and union leaders to be adequately prepared for a bargaining and negotiation period because the
outcome of a labor negotiation will have long-term effects on both parties. Management can take several actions to
prepare for collective bargaining. For example, a firm can look closely at its own financial health to work out a realistic
picture of what it can and cannot offer in terms of wages and salaries for its employees. Management can also conduct a
comparative analysis to see what kinds of labor contracts and agreements exist in similar companies and what this
particular labor union has been requesting—and settling for—in the past.A union can and should undertake several actions
to be effectively prepared for collective bargaining. It too should examine the financial health of the company through
sources such as public financial records. Like management, the union can also determine what kinds of labor agreements
have been reached in other parts of the country and can determine what kinds of contracts other divisions of the company
or other businesses owned by the same corporation have negotiated recently. See 11-4: The Collective-Bargaining Process
62. Answers will vary. Several prescribed steps must be followed if employees are to form and join a labor union. These
steps are as follows:
• First, employees must have some interest in joining a union. In some cases, this interest may arise from current
employees who are dissatisfied with some aspects of the employment relationship. In other instances, existing
labor unions may send professional union organizers to nonunionized plants or facilities to generate interest in
unionization.
• If interest in forming a union exists, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is asked to define the bargaining
unit, or the specifically defined group of employees who will be eligible for representation by the union.
• Once the bargaining unit has been defined, organizers must then strive to get 30 percent of the eligible workers
within the bargaining unit to sign authorization cards requesting a certification election. If organizers cannot get
30 percent of the workers to sign authorization cards, then the process ends.
• If the required number of signatures is obtained, the organizers petition the NLRB to conduct an election. The
NLRB sends one or more representatives, depending on the size of the bargaining unit, to the facility and
conducts an election. The election is always conducted via secret ballot. If a simple majority of those voting
approve union certification, then the union becomes the official bargaining agent of the eligible employees. But if
a majority fails to approve certification, the process ends.
• If the union becomes certified, then its organizers create a set of rules and regulations that govern the conduct of
the union. They also elect officers, establish a meeting site, and begin to recruit members from the labor force in