ANSWER KEY
Chapter 24 Labor-Management Relations Law
Opening Case Questions
1. The College Athletes Players Association (CAPA or “the Union”) filed a petition with the
2. The text tells us that the arguments made by NU are: “(1) the football players are not employees
no matter how the term is defined but are, instead, students, as determined by an earlier case
known as Brown University, 342 NLRB 483 (2004); (2) if the NLRB decides that the students
3. The text tells us that: “The NLRB rejected the argument, saying, that the CAPA clearly qualified
as a union because it “exists for the purpose . . . of dealing with employers on their (the
employees) behalf regarding wages, hours of employment and other conditions of
employment.” As for the second argument, well, the NLRB easily ruled that the players are full
4. Both the second and third arguments are dismissed. The NLRB says first that the CAPA is
clearly a bargaining unit because its job is to handle work related issues (such as wages, hours,
5. The ruling should be that the football players are employees no matter how the term is defined
and are not students when operating in their “player identities.” This ruling should be made
A QUESTION OF ETHICS-1
Creative Destruction or Government Regulation:
The Austrians v. The Keynesians.
Special Directions to the Instructor: Teachers often have a tough time as they examine the many
responses that learners make to ethcal questions like this one, especially when those learners have a
choice as to which ethical theory to use (market value ethics, social contract ethics, utilitarianism, or
A QUESTION OF ETHICS-2
Freedom of Speech for Public and Private Employees:
An Unequal Standard
Special Directions to the Instructor: Many instructors struggle to unravel the different solutions that
students have for ethical problems, especially when the students have a choice (as they do here) as to
which ethical theory to use (market value ethics, social contract ethics, utilitarianism, or rational ethics)
Questions for Review and Discussion
1. One of the first successful union organizing efforts took place in 1886 in Columbus, Ohio, when
Samuel Gompers organized the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL, however, limited its
membership to skilled workers such as tailors and coppersmiths. It was not until 1935 when John L.
2. The legal tug-of-war between Congress and the federal courts began with the Sherman Antitrust
Act in 1890. The act was also used by big business with the support of the courts to outlaw union
activities in a way that had not been intended. One tool the courts used against strikes was the
injunction. Big business argued that the net effect of a strike was to hurt a company’s ability to compete
with rival companies. As such, it was an illegal restraint of trade under the Sherman Act. The courts
agreed and willingly issued injunctions even when a union simply threatened to strike against a
company as a bargaining tactic. Congress reacted to this by passing the Clayton Act in 1914 which was
3. The basic aims of labor unions are: (1) to create a seniority system to protect workers’ jobs from
arbitrary layoffs and replacement with cheaper wage earners; (2) to upgrade worker status through
4. Over the last few years, the battle over unions has started once again. Stymied by the recent
economic meltdown caused by subprime loans, falling real estate prices, and uncontrolled debt, state
governments have elected to use an odd hybrid of Keynesian-Austrian tactics on themselves. In a
strangely schizophrenic pattern of activity, the state governments have decided that labor unions that
represent state workers must be eliminated. In essence, the governors and the state legislatures of
several mid-western states, notably Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan, created and passed legislation that
6. The Wagner Act created the National Labor Relations Board; authorized the NLRB to conduct
7. The Taft-Hartley Act outlawed certain practices by unions as unfair labor practices, allowed states
to legislate right-to-work laws, provided an eighty-day cooling off period in strikes that endangered
8. The Landrum-Griffin Act established a bill of rights for union members; required unions to adopt
9. The National Labor Relations Board has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce the Taft-Hartley Act and
Cases for Analysis
1. Yes. The Ninth Circuit declared that, because the union was the exclusive representative of all
union members, it had an affirmative duty to be fair to all those members. The court distinguished
decisions about whether to place members on a hiring list and decisions about whether to hear
2. The provision suggested by Franco and Allanson on behalf of the union amounts to what is called
a closed shop. The concept of the closed shop was outlawed by federal labor law. In contrast, the
provision suggested by the company involves establishing what is known as a union shop. Union shops
3. The judgment was for the NLRB. The Court explained that the Wagner Act does not prevent an
employer from making and enforcing reasonable rules covering the conduct of employees on company
time. It is, therefore, the right of an employer to make and enforce a rule prohibiting the solicitation of
union members during working hours, absent evidence that it was adopted for discriminatory purposes.
4. The judgment was for the NLRB. The Court ruled that conferring benefits while a representation
election was pending was an unfair labor practice. The Court explained that the practice induced the
employees to vote against the union and interfered with the employees’ protected right to organize. The
5. The judgment was for the NLRB. The Court set aside the judgment of the court of appeals. The
Court agreed that so far as the Wagner Act is concerned, an employee has the absolute right to
6. Yes. The U.S. Supreme Court found that the practice of the union prevented the fair and free
choice of a bargaining representative contemplated by the Wagner Act. The Court complained that the
union was buying indorsements. That is, some employees might sign cards merely to hedge against
possible payments of the initiation fee; others would infer that their fellow workers actually supported
END CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR