The urgency and national conversation around union membership have been rebounding in recent years. From Lyft and Uber to Starbucks, Amazon, silicon valley, and more, the relationship between management and labor has taken a spotlight in headline after headline. This resurgent labor atmosphere increases the emphasis HR departments must put on supporting employee engagement and satisfaction. It also means avoiding the types of escalations that can lead to bad PR or anger-driven union formation.
This field of priorities, taken together, is called "labor relations" — the relationships between employers and the unions that represent their employees in collective bargaining negotiations. Since not all employees are members of unions, the term can also refer to employers’ efforts to address issues that affect large numbers of employees.
This is often a significant challenge for employers. If they have unionized employees, they must abide by complicated collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). Employers without unionized employees must work to keep their workers happy so they do not seek to join or form a union. In either case, employers must abide by various federal and state laws that protect employees’ rights to organize and advocate for themselves.A labor management system (LMS) can help employers manage all of their labor relations obligations, including sensitive processes such as:
Read on to learn more about these and other key benefits of an LMS for employers.
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Modern LMS software provides an all-in-one, cloud-based platform that employers can use to handle all aspects of labor relations, including:
In addition to providing easy, secure access to labor management information, LMS software enables employers to take advantage of new technologies that assist with changes in the workplace, and new or changed legal obligations.
The workplace has gone through many changes in recent years. Employees may be located at multiple worksites. Remote employees might work virtually from anywhere in the country or the world. Paper files are largely a thing of the past, with most businesses moving toward cloud computing. These and other changes affect how employers interact with their employees.
Understanding employees’ needs in today’s landscape is vitally important for employers. One aspect of this involves the distinction between employee and labor relations:
Employers engaged in labor relations efforts should also understand that the presence of a labor union (and a CBA) that represents employees can have both pros and cons:
LMS software can help employers manage these complex and sometimes challenging relationships.
Numerous federal statutes regulate labor relations, and employers may also be subject to state or local laws. LMS software provides an all-one platform with up-to-date information on the laws in the relevant jurisdictions. Which statutes apply depends on factors like an employer’s location and the nature of its operations.
LMS software offers substantial benefits for employers of almost any size. It can streamline the labor relations case management process, which improves efficiency and accuracy. When employers can automate many labor relations tasks and have assurance that their records are in good order, they can focus more resources on making sure their employees are happy.
Many of the advantages that LMS software provides involve improvements in productivity:
Employers generally prefer that their employees not unionize, as it leaves the decision-making power about workplace expectations and compensation more in the hands of the employer. While laws like the NLRA prohibit employers from directly interfering with employees’ efforts to organize themselves, various methods are available to discourage employees from unionizing. “Union avoidance” should not violate the NLRA when employers are not threatening or coercing employees.
Some of the most effective union avoidance strategies involve showing respect and fairness to workers. LMS software can help employers in these efforts by enabling them to be more responsive to employees’ needs and concerns. If employers can proactively address issues like workplace safety or wages, employees might not think about unionizing in the first place.
You can't improve what you're not measuring. Labor Management Software makes it possible to retain a comprehensive history of collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) and case data. This treasure trove of historical data gives HR everything they need to improve their collective bargainint strategies with a better understand recurring challenges and trends.
Analytics tools can pour over past case information to provide actionable insights into frequent disputes, grievance causes, and the specific terms in agreements that lead to friction. This helps preempt potential roadblocks in future negotiations and ensures that decisions are data-driven. Over time, labor analytics solutions transform historical data into a powerful resource for strategic improvement. By identifying recurring pain points and measuring the impact of CBA terms, organizations can refine their strategies to address root causes rather than surface-level symptoms.
LMS software can help employers deal with both big-picture labor relations issues and the day-to-day details.
Broadly speaking, it is in employers’ interests to maintain good relations with their employees’ chosen representatives. This could be a large labor organization or a union that the employees formed themselves. The exact nature of these relationships may depend on the laws in the employer’s state, particularly if it is a “right-to-work state” or a state that allows union security agreements.
The laws governing an employer’s labor relations may affect the types of agreements they have with unions representing their employees. In a right-to-work state, for example, whether an employee is a union member might affect what resources are available to them in a grievance. Employers need access to accurate, up-to-date information at all times to facilitate communication with union representatives. A Labor Management System can help by providing a unified and cohesive repository for case data, CBA information, and documented processes and steps for arbitration (especially important if there is an arbitatration agreement in place).
Employers can also foster goodwill with labor representatives by establishing transparent and efficient procedures for handling disputes. Inaccurate information relayed between the two parties and documentation errors during negotiations can cause breakdowns in communication. LMS software can help with this by providing a central hub for communication and documents, providing the latest information on compliance requirements, and tracking progress and deadlines. These features have the added benefit of mitigating employers’ risks during labor disputes.
Employers have important obligations under laws like the NLRA. Those laws also provide employers with significant protections against coercion and unfair or dishonest practices by unions. LMS software can help employers keep track of their legal duties and avoid potential legal liability, such as:
These and other acts could lead to investigations, fines, and other legal consequences.
The NLRA is far from the only statute governing labor relations and related issues, and employers need to know about their duties under all of them. Many federal and state statutes require employers to post labor law compliance notices in prominent locations where employees can see them, such as break rooms. Various federal and state agencies provide up-to-date posters that employers can download and print. LMS software can keep employers informed about what they need to post. Consequences for failure to post required notices can include:
Labor relations in the public and private sectors are shaped by unique legal frameworks, compensation structures, and negotiation dynamics.
Labor management software (LMS) bridges the gap between these complex environments by streamlining processes and tracking sector-specific requirements. It centralizes case data, documents, and compliance details, helping employers maintain organized and transparent interactions with unions and employees. Whether navigating legislative negotiations in the public sector or managing at-will employment complexities in the private sector, LMS tools offer the flexibility and insights needed to build positive, productive relationships across all labor landscapes.
Labor disputes can hurt the bottom line for everyone involved, especially if an inability to resolve the dispute leads to a strike or other work stoppage. Employers lose money when their economic output stops. Workers lose money when paychecks stop along with the work. It is in everyone’s interest to resolve disputes quickly but also fairly. No one is likely to come away from a compromise completely satisfied, but as long as everyone believes the process was fair and everyone came to the table in good faith, the relationship should be able to proceed amicably without the need for strikes or other interruptions.
LMS software can help employers avoid work stoppages by keeping bargaining and grievance processes organized. Much like how employers can use proactive union avoidance strategies to keep employees too happy to consider unionizing, an efficient, organized approach to union relations can keep workers at their posts.
LaborSoft’s labor relations software helps employers address their employees’ needs and navigate disputes efficiently. Contact us today to set up a customized demonstration of our software for your business.