An Investigation of Employee Involvement Schemes and Governance Structures in Professional Employment.

N

10

Compliance (Legal); Faculty; Faculty College Relationship; Federal Regulation; Governance; Higher Education; Labor Relations; Management Teams; Negotiation Agreements; Participative Decision Making; Professional Personnel; Unions

0737-9285

Employee Involvement Schemes (EIS) are modeled after Western European worker participation models. These are grounded in collaborative labor relations and encourage employees to participate in work place decision-making. If employees, as the term is defined in the National Labor Relations Act, take part in EIS decision-making processes, they may be adjudged managerial or supervisory and risk losing their status under collective bargaining. The Commission on the Future of Worker Management Relations (1993), also called the Dunlop Commission, recognizes the need for labor law reform. Recent National Labor Relations Board decisions have found "Action Committees" to be prohibited as unlawfully dominated labor organizations. There is ambiguity about the definition and status of the terms "managers" and "supervisors" as applied to professionals. Most of the EIS debate has concerned industrial settings. Empowerment projects have included professional employees who may also supervise others and thus their status is unclear. In college governance, the faculty senate may be viewed as a labor organization in so far as they deal with terms of employment. Academic unionists should not seek the end of these exclusions but should work to ensure that faculty are not deemed managerial or supervisory, based on their participation in institutional governance. Possible changes to the National Labor Relations Act to facilitate this are explained. (JLS)

1997

ED398828