TE' RS COLLEGE DEC 2 8 1959 L u dA K Y Collective Bargaining Clauses: Bulletin No. 1266 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR James P. Mitchell, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Collective Bargaining Clauses-. COMPANY PAY FOR TIME SPENT ON UNION BUSINESS Bulletin No. 1266 October 1959 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR James P. Mitchell, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. - Price 35 cents Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Preface Workers designated or elected to serve as shop stew­ ards or committeemen, or who fulfill similar union functions, are frequently called away from their regular jobs to carry out such responsibilities. This study deals with provisions in collective bargaining agreements designed to protect these union representatives, when so engaged, from loss of wage income, or to limit the amount of compensable time available for these activitie s. Virtually all collective bargaining agreements in the United States covering 1, 000 or more workers, exclusive of railroad and airline agreements, were analyzed. The 1,631 ma­ jor agreements in this category covered approximately 7. 5 m il­ lion workers, or almost half of the estimated total agreement coverage in the United States, outside of the railroad and airline industries. The provisions of these agreements do not neces­ sarily reflect policy in smaller collective bargaining situations. The agreements studied were part of the file of current agree­ ments maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for public and governmental use in accordance with section 211 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947. Minor editorial changes were made in some of the clauses presented in this report to enhance clarity; irrelevant parts were omitted where feasible. The clauses are numbered and the agreements from which they have been taken are identi­ fied in an index (p. 42). Sections of a few agreements which cover company pay for union business in substantial detail are reproduced in their entirety in the appendix. This report was prepared in the Bureau*s Division of Wages and Industrial Relations by John N. Gentry, under the supervision of Harry P. Cohany. Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Contents Page S u m m a r y ---------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------- 1 Pay for grievance participation ----------------------------- 2 G rievan ce pay h o u r s -------------------------------------------- 4 Grievance activities defined -------------------------------- ----- 4 Rates of pay for time spent on grievance activities 7 Grievance pay limitations -------------------- --------------------- 9 Arbitration pay ------------------------------------ — --------------- — ------ 18 20 Safety committee pay -------------------------------------------- ----------- 22 Pay for other activities ---------------------------- ----------—--------- 24 T ables: 1. Pay for time spent on grievances in major collective bargaining agreements, by industry -------------------- --------------- -------------------------- ------ 3 2. Types of grievance activity paid for in selected collective 3. Personnel and time limitations in grievance pay provisions in selected collective bargaining agreements ---------------------------------- 10 4. Types of time limitation in grievance pay provisions in selected collective bargaining agreements ------------------------ —------ 11 5. Pay for time spent on grievance arbitration, agreement negotiations, and safety committee activities in major collective bargaining agreements ---------- —------------------------------------------ 19 Appendix: Sample clauses 29 Index of clau ses 42 v Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Collective Bargaining Clauses: Company Pay for Time Spent on Union Business Sum m ary Collective bargaining agreements frequently contain provisions dealing with absences from the job of employee representatives while engaged in activities on behalf of the union. In many instances, the agreements merely provide that such employees will be granted excused absences to attend to union business; others designate the type of activity for which absences will be recognized. Whether a company will allow time off with pay to employees fulfilling the functions of union representatives, shop stewards, shop chairmen, committee­ men, or other designations—depends largely upon the nature of the activity. As outlined in agreements, union business falls into two general categories; Matters which are primarily of concern to the union, such as attendance at union meetings, conferences, and conventions for which company pay is usually not provided and matters of more direct concern to the company such as, the implementation and administration of the collective bargaining agreement. Activities in the latter cate­ gory include grievance and arbitration work, contract negotiation, and participation in joint labor-management committees dealing with plant safety, apprenticeship, in­ centive plans, seniority, etc. Provisions for company pay are found most fre­ quently in connection with this second type of union activity. The Bureau of Labor Statistics examined 1,631 major agreements (each covering 1, 000 or more workers) for clauses providing company pay to employees engaged in various union activities. These agreements covered approximately 7.5 million workers (4.7 million in manufacturing industries and 2.8 in non­ manufacturing), or almost one-half of the estimated number of workers covered by all collective bargaining agreements in the United States, exclusive of rail­ road and airline workers. Seventy-five percent of the agreements expired after January 1, 1959; the remainder expired during the last half of 1958. Slightly more than two-fifths of the agreements studied (678), made pro­ vision for full or partial pay for time spent by some or all employees repre­ senting others in grievance cases. Another 112 agreements stipulated that the company would not pay for time spent on such matters; the remainder made no mention of grievance pay. Among the industries in which grievance pay pro­ visions were most prevalent were ordnance, petroleum and coal products, chemi­ cals, instruments and related products, transportation equipment, communications, and machinery. Pay provisions for other types of union activities were much less preva­ lent. Clauses providing for some form of arbitration pay appeared in only ^ agree­ ments, or about 1 percent of the total agreements studied. Pay for time spent in arbitration proceedings was expressly disallowed in 28 agreements. Negotiation pay was provided in 49 agreements, but 34 others prohibited such pay. Pay provisions for participation on safety committees were found in 66 agreements. In addition, 72 provisions called for company pay for various other types of committee activities. Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 2 It is important to note that this study relates only to pay provisions established under terms of collective bargaining agreements and does not take into account informal arrangements where the employee or union representative is permitted to leave his work for union business without a reduction in pay. The practice of granting time off without loss of pay while engaged in union activities—at least those activities which are of concern to both company and union— is undoubtedly more widespread than a study of formal contract provisions would indicate. In many instances, it is likely that a contract provision was negotiated to define or limit an existing informal practice, rather than to estab­ lish a new practice. Pay for Grievance Participation Participation in grievance procedures was the most prevalent type of union activity for which company pay was provided. Of the 1,631 agreements analyzed in this study, 678, or approximately 40 percent of the total (covering a like percentage of workers), contained provisions for full or partial pay for time devoted to grievance work by all or a limited number of employees (table 1). Grievance pay is generally extended on the theory that the expeditious settlement of grievances will work to the mutual advantage of both the company and the union. Agreements with grievance pay provisions sometimes preface the grievance clause with a statement outlining the philosophy of the parties in this regard, as the following clause from one of the contracts studied illustrates: It is mutually agreed that the prompt adjustment of grievances is desirable in the interest of sound relations between employees and the company. Subject to the provisions of • . /this agree­ ment/, a steward will be permitted to leave his work during his regular working hours without loss of pay as hereinafter provided . for the purpose of handling grievances in ac­ cordance with the grievance procedure provided in . this agreement,