IRL 401 - Collective Bargaining
Definitions: THE BARGAINING ENVIRONMENT

Appropriate Bargaining Unit - A group of employees deemed suitable by the National Labor Relations Board for representation by a single bargaining agent.

Authorization Cards - Cards signed by bargaining unit members which authorize a specific union to repre sent them for purposes of collective bargaining.  May be used to demonstrate adequate interest to justify an election.

Business Cycle - The periodic rise and fall in the levels of economic output and employment.

Concentration - A measure of the degree to which an industry is monopolized.

Elasticity - A measure of the relationship between two variables.  The elasticity is how much one variable changes in response to a one unit change in the quantity of the other variable.

"Good Faith" Bargaining - Negotiating with a genuine desire to reach mutual agreement.  Each party must be willing both to try to convince the other and to try to be convinced by the other.

Impasse - A stage of negotiations at which the two sides have ceased to make progress toward settlement and do not see how further progress can be made.

Incomes Policy - An attempt by government to control prices, wages and other incomes directly, outside the usual monetary and fiscal means.

Macroeconomic Variables - Factors which affect the bargaining environment throughout the nation.

Mandatory Topic of Bargaining - A topic on which either party may bargain to impasse.  That is, a party may refuse to conclude an overall agreement based on a continuing dispute over such an item.

Microeconomic Variables - Factors which affect specific bargaining relationships.

Pattern Bargaining - Involves the outcome of particular negotiations being affected by comparisons with the outcomes of other negotiations.

Productivity - A measure of the efficiency with which a given input is used.  Labor productivity is the ratio of the level of output to the level of labor input used to produce that output.

Prohibited Topic of Bargaining - A topic which may not be negotiated since it is illegal.

Unfair Labor Practice - An illegal (but not criminal) action which denies employees their legal rights under the Taft-Hartley Act.

Voluntary Topic of Bargaining - A topic on which the parties are free to agree but which may not be bargained to impasse.  That is, a party may not refuse to conclude an overall agreement based on a continuing dispute over such an item.

Whipsawing - Striking against only some of the firms that compete in a particular market. 

Zipper Clause - Language in the collective bargaining agreement providing in essence that the written agreement is the whole agreement between the parties and that all prior understandings are cancelled or merged into the agreement.