Labor Relations: Labor Union Perspective Term Paper

1 that in the event of a layoff, the employer must lay off individual employees in reverse order of seniority, provided that the remaining employees have the skill and ability to do the job required. However, this could alienate younger workers from becoming members of the union, particularly since Section 8.2 reads that employees will be recalled in order of seniority (provided that they have the skill and ability to do the job required). This could, within the union, result in charges of age discrimination and ultimately undermine the union's power in the workforce.

According to Article 10 regarding bereavement leave, 10.1 stipulates that bereavement leave shall be granted over the course three regularly scheduled consecutive workdays' leave without loss of regular pay and benefits, in the case of the death of a member of the immediate family. However, the consecutive nature of this may be questionable -- a worker may need to take a day off on the family member's death, and then take another day off later in the week for the wake and then the funeral the day afterwards, or take off nonconsecutive days to settle legal matters or to make arrangements for the deceased member's family members. Additionally, different types of bereavement leave may need to be offered, as the death of a child may require a longer period of mourning, or the death of a spouse may require additional days off regarding legal protocols, to settle matters of estate. This may be contrasted with the death of an older or more distant family member, for which only a few days might be necessary for the social obligations of going to the funeral -- although different faiths, such as the Orthodox Jewish faith, requires longer periods of up to a week for mourning the…