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Labor Relations Virtual Summit: Optimizing Employee Relations in a Union Shop - on DVD

If your organization is now having to deal with union representatives and manage a unionized workforce, there's much work to be done by HR. Do you know your employer obligations under the NLRA? Do you know how often you're required to meet with the union reps during the CBA process? Do you know the provisions your CBA must have and the ones that management must avoid at all costs?

Get the answers to these questions and more when you participate in the interactive extended webinar, Labor Relations Virtual Summit: Optimizing Employee Relations in a Union Shop.

Join us from the comfort of your office or conference room for this extended web seminar and learn your organization's rights in a unionized legal landscape. In just one day, we'll cover:

• Management rights in the face of a union election
• How to counter union advantages in collective bargaining agreement negotiations
• What to do when faced with the threat of a strike or other work disruptions
• How to push back and send a union packing
• Bonus: What REALLY happens at the bargaining table, and how to assert your rights and defend your interests, from attorneys who’ve fought in the trenches of collective bargaining.
• And there's more...

Your Virtual Summit Agenda will include:

• Session 1: Your Company Just Lost the Union Election. Now What?
• Session 2: The Collective Bargaining Process: What Does the Law Require?
• Session 3: At The Bargaining Table: Best-Practice Negotiating Strategies for Employers
• Session 4: De-Unionization: Legal Strategies for Employers
• BONUS Q&A SESSION: In this last segment, pose your toughest labor relations questions to our expert faculty live via e-mail or Twitter.

Labor Relations Virtual Summit: AGENDA - on DVD

Session 1: 10:00 a.m.-10:45 a.m. (All times Central)
Your Company Just Lost the Union Election. Now What?
If your company has just gone through a union election, and the union has won, there’s much that needs to be done. In this opening session, we’ll review the immediate legal steps that employers must take when faced with the new reality of dealing with union representatives and managing a unionized workforce. This session also will provide good insights for companies that already work with unions.

• Terms and conditions of employment that employers can no longer change
• Exceptions to the rule: Management’s right to run business and make changes to terms and conditions of employment in accord with past practice
• Immediate employer obligations under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), including duty to bargain with the union for a collective bargaining agreement
• The first 30 days after the election: What you need to know about dealing with and working with your employees’ new union representative
• Steps employers can take to bring employees who have been through a union election back together as a team

Morning Break:     10:45 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

Session 2: 11:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m.
Collective Bargaining Process: What Does the Law Require?
Want to get a leg up in the collective bargaining process? Learn the rules of the game before entering the negotiations. In this session, we’ll review the NLRA’s provisions regarding the bargaining process, outlining your rights and obligations as employers and how far union representatives can go in negotiating a final agreement.

• How the NLRA defines “good faith” bargaining
• How often are employers required to meet with the union representative during the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) process?
• Stipulations regarding written proposals and the authority of negotiators
• Employer rights during the bargaining process
• What is a bargaining impasse? What are the major elements and how employers can use an impasse to their advantage?
• Legal obligations for unions and employers if a strike or lockout ensues
• Employer rights during a strike or lockout

Extended Conference Break     11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Session 3: 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
At The Bargaining Table: Best-Practice Negotiating Strategies for Employers
Union representatives involved in CBAs are tenacious negotiators who are skillful in gaining the upper hand during contract negotiations. In this session, you’ll get a bird's-eye view of the negotiating table, seeing what it takes for employers to get what they want during the bargaining process. You’ll learn how to manage the dynamics of bargaining, address the issues that come up during negotiations, and respond to the union’s tactics and demands.

• How to prepare a negotiating strategy that evaluates your bargaining objectives and negotiating position
• Critical opposition research that will provide valuable intelligence about your union counterparts
• Selecting negotiating team members and how to function as a unified bargaining team
• Nuts and bolts of negotiating: determining whether to “go first” and the role pacing plays in negotiations
• How to negotiate terms regarding employment issues such as employee leave, health care benefits and pensions
• How to conduct yourself during the bargaining process
• How to respond to union provocations and manage interpersonal conflicts during negotiations
• “Guts” of the CBA: 5 provisions that management must have and 3 that management must avoid at all costs
• At The Bargaining Table: During this session, your instructors will simulate portions of the bargaining process, where you’ll learn how effective bargaining techniques and strategies can help you gain the upper hand during the CBA process.

Session 4: 1:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m.
De-Unionization: Legal Strategies for Employers
Just because a union has won an election, it doesn’t mean it’s there for life. Like all things, union representation in the workplace can come to an end. With this session, we’ll review the conditions under which a union can lose majority support and discuss employees’ ability to remove a union under the NLRA. Plus, you’ll learn about union decertification and employer rights and obligations during this complex process.

• Time periods when employees have the right to vote a union out
• Understanding how the Certification Bar and Contract Bar impact employees’ rights to challenge a union
• The conditions under which a union majority can be challenged
• Step-by-step review of the decertification process
• What employers are allowed to communicate to employees during decertification
• The NLRB’s rules for employers during decertification and how to sidestep common violations

Session 5: 2:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
Q & A with Summit Attendees
In this last segment, get answers to your labor relations questions by listening to this informative question and answer session.

Your Virtual Summit Leaders

Attorney James F. Kilcur is a partner in the Philadelphia office of Saul Ewing. He served 8 years as General Counsel with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. He has extensive experience, having tried cases in federal and state courts, along with providing guidance and advice to senior management working strategically to improve labor relations. His practice includes arbitration representation, employment discrimination defense, contract negotiations, union avoidance campaigns, and all other issues relating to the employer/employee relationship.

Attorney Christopher J. Murphy is a partner in the Philadelphia office of Saul Ewing. Mr. Murphy has handled a wide range of matters including union avoidance and organizational/representation issues, proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, mass picketing and injunction litigation, collective bargaining, workplace safety, wage and hour matters, grievance administration, and labor arbitration. Mr. Murphy regularly counsels employers and multi-employer employee benefit plans on issues of regulatory compliance. He has litigated numerous ERISA, COBRA, and other benefits-related cases.

Attorney Robert C. Nagle is a partner Saul Ewing and represents clients in numerous facets of labor and employment law, including collective bargaining, arbitrations, union elections, proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, defense of discrimination claims, wage and hour disputes, collective actions under the FLSA and wrongful discharge and other employment torts. Mr. Nagle has lectured and written extensively on various employment law topics, and has conducted numerous seminars on labor relations for union and nonunion employers.

Have a specific question related to the topic of this audio conference? Post it here and get an answer during the event, time permitting, or in a follow-up e-mail from the audio conference presenter. This is only available to audio conference registrants.

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