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UNIT: LABOUR AGREEMENT

A. READING
The vast majority of labour-management negotiations are settled peacefully. When negotiations are concluded, the labour agreement becomes a formal binding document listing the terms, conditions, and rules under which employees and managers agree to operate. Two important items in any labour agreement pertain to the issue of management rights and the forms of security afforded the union. Management rights have to do with the conditions of employment over which management is able to exercise exclusive control. Almost without exception, the labour agreement will contain a management rights clause. This clause will state that managements authority is supreme in all matters except those it has expressly conceded in the collective agreement, or in those areas where its authority is restricted by law. Management rights might include the right of management to determine the products to produce, to determine the location of production or service facilities, or to select production equipment and procedures. The following is an example of a clause defining management rights in one labour agreement: It is agreed that the company possesses all of the rights, powers, privileges, and authority it had prior to the execution of this agreement; and nothing in this agreement shall be construed to limit the company in any way in the exercise of the regular and customary functions of management and the operation of its business, except as it may be specifically relinquished or modified herein by an express provision of this agreement. Unions must represent all bargaining-unit members equally regardless of whether employees join the union or not. In exchange for this obligation, union officials will seek to negotiate some form of compulsory membership as a condition of employment. Union officials argue that compulsory membership precludes the possibility that some employees will receive the benefits of unionization without paying their fair share of the costs. A standard union security provision is dues checkoff, which gives the employer the responsibility of withholding union dues from the paychecks of union members who agree to such a deduction. Other common forms of union security found in labour contracts are different types of shop agreements. These agreements in varying degrees attempt to require employees to join the union. For example, the union shop

provides that any employee who is not a union member upon employment must join the union within thirty days or be terminated. Another, the agency shop, provides for voluntary membership. However, all bargaining-unit members must pay union dues and fees. Few issues in collective bargaining are more controversial than the negotiation of these agreements. The most popular union security clause, the union shop, is illegal in twenty-two states having right-to-work laws. Right-towork laws ban any form of compulsory union membership.

Check your understanding


I. Read the text about labour agreement and answer these questions 1. 2. 3. 4. What contents are included in the labour agreement? What are two important items in a labour agreement? What do management rights deal with? What gives the employer the responsibility of withholding union dues from the paychecks of union members? 5. What does shop agreements mean? 6. What is the most popular union security clause? II. Mark these statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text. Find the part of the text that gives the correct information. 1. The management is able to exercise exclusive control over the conditions of employment. 2. Managements authority is supreme in all matters including those it has expressly conceded in the collective agreement. 3. Unions must represent all bargaining-unit members equally provided that employees join the union. 4. In order to be represented by unions, union officials will seek to negotiate some form of compulsory membership as a condition of employment. 5. Shop agreements are those agreements requiring employees to join the union. 6. Two typical types of shop agreements are union shop and agency shop. 7. The negotiation of shop agreements are more controversial than any issue in collective bargaining.

B. Language focus C. Vocabulary


I. Word-building: Complete the table with words and phrases from the box.

Some words have been done for you as examples.

Working time shift work

Employment status trial period

Absence annual leave

Ending employment

shift work trial period resignation six-day week flexitime

notice period annual leave part-time employment core time sick leave public holiday vacation dismissal fixed-time contract redundancy temporary employment probationary period holiday entitlement

II. Word families: Complete the following sentences with words related to the key word flex. (You might need to add prefixes or suffixes and change the form.)
1. We have a very . system in the company for our staff

who need time off work for childcare. 2. Weve been operating ..in the company since the early 90s. 3. There is little or no .for our staff in terms of hours of work as they have to be around when our customers need them. 4. Unfortunately, our managing director is very ..when it comes to deadlines. III. Matching Look at the list of points that should be mentioned in a contract of employment in the UK. Match them to the extracts from some model contracts (a-j). 1. Date of the employment begin 2. rate of pay and when/how paid 3. normal hours of work/ overtime/ shift patterns 4. holiday entitlement (including public holidays) 5. job title (or a brief description of the job) 6. location of workplace 7. notice period 8. sick pay provision 9. pension scheme terms 10. discipline rules and grievance procedure

a. the amount of notice you are required to give or be given by your employer in the first four years is four weeks.

e. Your employment begins on 1 January 20.


sic ur ba c. Yo e will b salary r 00 pe 35,0 payable , annum in arrears hly to mont t transfer edi by cr or bank ety. your ci ing so build

b. A co py of th e comp discipli anys nary pr ocedure this con to work on a is g. You may be requiredract a attache t asThe t you arenentitledotoe ked company d empnot offer a d to 1/2 l y es f. public holiday. If so,h. read does of work are 37 per o Normal hours are it care ully. pension scheme but fprovides Monday to Friday, time off in lieu week, 9am to 5.30 pm access with stakeholder pension. lunch each day. to a one unpaid hour for Details can be obtained from the personnel department.

i. You must inform the office by 10am on the first day of absence. Failure to do so may render you subject to disciplinary action and may also bar you from sick pay.

j. Your current job title and responsibilities are detailed in Schedule 1 and may be amended from time to time. Any changes will be discussed with you fully and notified to you in writing.

IV. Error correction In this contract there are 31 vocabulary mistakes. Either a word is spelt incorrectly, the form of the word is wrong, or a wrong word has been used. Identify and correct these words. Some of the mistakes occur more than once in the contract. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Name of employ: Name of employed: Job titel: Job descriptive: Job locally: Celery: Started date: Hours of labour: Term and conditionals of employment Avicenna Holdings plc Martha Jennings Personal Assistant to the Managing Director. To perform various secretarial and administrative duty for the MD. Head Office, Truro. 22,000 per anum (payable monthly in rears) 1 April 2005. Full time. 9.15am - 5.45pm Monday until Friday, 1 hour lunch.

d. Your normal place of work will be the above address. From time to time the company may require you to work at other sites on a temporary basis.

10. Undertime

Extra hours worked will be paid at the normal hourly rat. Saturdays will be paid at time x 1 , Sundays at time x 2. 20 days per anum. If for any reason you cannot come to work, you should telephone your manager as soon as possible. The company does not operate a pension sceme. You should arrange this separately. Information on these procedures are provided in the staff handybook, together with information on all company police. All appointments are subjective to three months' probbation, during which time employees may be terminated with two weeks'

11. Holiday enticement: 12. Absent from work:

13. Pension sceme:


14. Dissiplinary and

grieving procedures: 15. Probbation:

16. Terminator: 17. Referrals:


18. Singed: Martha

note on either side. After successful completion of the probbation period, the note period will be three months. All apointments are subject to satisfactory referrals. Date: 21 March 2005

Jennings V. Gap-filling Complete the sentences with an appropriate word or expression. Several of the sentences refer to shift work , when employees work for a period and then are replaced by others. Some of the sentences refer to flexible work systems, where employees can start or stop work at different hours of the morning or evening, provided that they work a certain number of hours per day or week. 1. When somebody is always on time for work, we say that they are ________. 2. When you record the time you leave work by putting a card into a special machine, you ________________. 3. A time for which work is paid at twice the normal rate (for example, at weekends or on public holidays) is called ________ time.

4. The act of changing an employee's shift or working hours is called shift ________. 5. In Britain, parents who have children under 6, or disabled children under 18, have a legal right to have their working hours arranged to help them with their responsibilities. This right is known as Flexible Work ________. 6. ________-________ is the fact of being on time for work (for example, He was warned for bad ____-____) 7. A duty ________ is a list of times showing when each employee is on duty at those times. 8. ________ is a person's right to something (for example, for a paid holiday, for a minimum of 30 minutes for lunch, for paid sick leave, etc) 9. Hours worked more than the normal working hours are called ________. 10. If a company does not operate a flexible time system, we say that the employees work ________ hours. 11. ________ shifts refers to a system where employees take turns in working different shifts. 12. The ________ shift is another name for the evening shift, just before it gets dark. 13. ________-________ is a form of employment in which two or more people share a single job, each person working part-time. 14. ________ is a working method where employees work at home on computer terminals, and send the finished material back to the office by email. 15. Employees who work ________-time work for the normal working time (i.e. about 8 hours a day 5 days a week). 16. ________ time is a period when employees working under a flexible time system must be present at work. 17. A company of organisation that puts too little emphasis on flexibility in its working practices is known informally as a ________. 18. ________ is a short form of the expression flexible time. 19. A time ________ is a record of when employees arrive at and leave work, or one which shows howmuch time an employee spends on different jobs each day. 20. When an employee is moved systematically from one job to another, this is known as job__________

D. Translation E. GLOSSARY
binding /'baindi/ (adj) Executed with proper legal authority - bt buc, rng buc clause /'klt/ (n) A separate section of a legal document (as a statute or contract or will) - iu khon (ca mt hip c...) concede /kn'si:d/ (v) Admit (to a wrongdoing) - nhn, tha nhn construe /kn'stru:/ (v) Make sense of; assign a meaning to - hiu, gii thch (li ni, hnh ng ca ai)
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controversial /,kntr'v:l/ (adj) Marked by or capable of arousing controversy - c th gy ra tranh lun, c th bn ci c (vn ...) customary /'kstmri/ (adj) In accordance with convention or custom - (php l) theo tc l, theo phong tc (lut php) deduction /di'dkn/ (n) The act of subtracting (removing a part from the whole) - s ly i, s khu i, s tr i due /dju:/ (n) A payment that is due (e.g., as the price of membership) - (s nhiu) hi ph, on ph exclusive /iks'klu:siv/ (adj) Not divided among or brought to bear on more than one object or objective - ring bit, dnh ring (cu lc b, ca hng...); c chim, c quyn execution /,eksi'kju:n/ (n) (law) The completion of a legal instrument (such as a contract or deed) by signing it (and perhaps sealing and delivering it) so that it becomes legally binding and enforceable - s thc hin, s thi hnh, s tha hnh, s chp hnh exercise /'ekssaiz/ (n) S thi hnh, s thc hin; s s dng (quyn, ngh nghip, chc nng...) modify /'mdifai/ (v) Cause to change; make different; cause a transformation - sa i, thay i negotiation /ni,goui'ein/ (n) a discussion intended to produce an agreement - s iu nh, s m phn, s thng lng, s dn xp preclude /pri'klu:d/ (v) Keep from happening or arising; make impossible - loi tr, tr b; ngn nga; y xa privilege /privilege/ (n) A right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group (especially a hereditary or official right) - c quyn, c n provision /provision/ (n) A stipulated condition - iu khon (ca giao ko...) relinquish /ri'likwi/ (v) Part with a possession or right - b, t b (thi quen, hy vng, quyn li...) restrict /ris'trikt/ (v) Place limits on (extent or access) - hn ch, gii hn, thu hp supreme /sju:'pri:m/ (adj) Greatest in status or authority or power ti cao terminate /'t:mineit/ (v) Bring to an end or halt - lm xong, kt thc, hon thnh, chm dt
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