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l How to recognizethose areas ofemployment that mustbe included in anycollective bargainingprocessl How to identify theobjectives of the Taft-Hartley Actl How to identify thegoal of the Landrum-Griffin Actl How to identify childlabor lawsYou need to know thelaws that protect unionactivities because youmay be asked to join aunion in the future.l closed shopl union shopl right-to-work lawsl featherbeddingl child labor lawsLegislation AffectingEmploymentRegulating Collective BargainingAs mentioned earlier in the chapter, employment contracts are oftennegotiated by groups of employees organized into unions. Called collectivebargaining, this process is now firmly established as a way ofdefining working conditions and industrial relations. The governmenthas played an active role in regulating collective bargaining. As we shallsee, the government at both the federal and state levels is also very interestedin regulating the employment of minors.In the past, the courts held collective bargaining to be an illegal conspiracy.As attitudes changed, the courts began to accept collective bargaining.Eventually, the government began to encourage collectivebargaining, and people felt that the government should regulate theprocess to some extent.Wagner ActThe first federal law addressing collective bargaining was theNational Labor Relations Act of 1935, also called the Wagner Act. Thepurpose of this act was to encourage collective bargaining, discouragecertain unfair labor practices, and provide federal assistance in obtainingfair bargaining.The Wagner Act also established guidelines for determining whichemployment concerns had to be included in the collective bargainingprocess. The act states that employers must negotiate “wages, hours,and conditions of employment.” Subsequent court decisions have helpedinterpret what “conditions of employment” might include. For example,business decisions that are at the very heart of an executive’s abilityto control the company, such as decision on how to invest corporatefunds, would be outside the scope of collective bargaining.Example 7. Wilma Durrell, chief executive officer of Collier-Ansen Laboratories, Inc., decides to discontinue a line of overthe-countermedications that had been the object of tampering.Unfortunately, the discontinuation caused the shutdown of one ofCollier-Ansen’s manufacturing plants. The union incorrectlyclaimed that the decision to close the plant should have been submittedto collective bargaining. The decision to discontinue thatline of medication was clearly within the discretion of corporatemanagement.442 Unit 4: Being an Agent and Getting a Job