Open shop
Encyclopedia
An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union
(Closed shop
) as a condition of hiring or continued employment. Open shop is also known as a Merit Shop
.
members, and employees must remain members of the union at all times in order to remain employed. The closed shop system ceded great power to union representatives over an organisation's workforce. In many workplaces that were closed shops, personal connections with union decision makers by dint of friends or family were required by an outsider to gain employment.
The open shop was the slogan adopted by United States
employers in the first decade of the twentieth century in their attempt to drive unions out of the construction industry. Construction craft unions
have always relied on controlling the supply of labor in particular trades and geographical areas as a means of maintaining union standards and establishing collective bargaining relations with the employers in that field.
In order to do that, construction unions—and to a lesser extent unions representing musicians, longshore workers
, restaurant employees and others who work on a transitory and relatively brief basis—must require that employers hire only their members. By refusing to hire exclusively union members, construction employers effectively undercut many of the conditions, such as the eight hour day, that unions had achieved over the past several decades.
The open shop was also a key component of the American Plan introduced in the 1920s, when employers attempted to reverse the gains made by unions during World War I
. In that era the open shop was directed not only at construction unions but also unions in mass production industries; the open shop represented not only the right to discriminate against union members in employment but also a steadfast opposition to collective bargaining of any sort.
, mostly in reference to construction contractors that have at least a partially non-union workforce. Canadians enjoy the freedom to associate, guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, inherently including the right not to associate.
United States labor law
outlaws the open shop in its extreme form: it prohibits private sector employers from refusing to hire employees because they are union members. This is still significant in the construction industry in which construction employers frequently impose obstacles to keep union members out of their workforce. Construction unions, for their part, have used this as a weapon against targeted employers by sending "salts", union members sent to a non-union contractor in the hope that the employer will either discriminatorily refuse to hire them, thereby leading to potentially significant financial liability on the employer's part for this illegal labor practice, or hire these members, giving the union a foothold in attempting to organize it.
The open shop in its milder form, in which the open shop represents only an employer's refusal to favor union members for employment, is legal. Although the National Labor Relations Act
permits construction employers to enter into pre-hire agreements, in which they agree to draw their workforces from a pool of employees dispatched by the union, employers are under no legal compulsion to enter into such agreements.
Non-union construction employers have also adopted the phrase "merit shop" to describe their operations. In the view of construction unions, "merit shop" is a codeword that signifies the extreme form of the open shop. Like labor unions, merit shop employers have established apprenticeship programs of their own. This allows such contractors to draw from a pool of non-union employees who can be hired without the complications entailed in hiring construction workers whose union background and sympathies are unknown.
The open shop is also the legal norm in those states that have adopted right-to-work laws. In those cases, employers are barred from enforcing union security arrangements and may not fire an employee for failure to pay union dues.
In various provinces, these employers have joined forces to create associations to promote the principles of the open shop contractor. These organizations claim that small contractors are not adequately protected by current labour legislation. One of their major functions is to provide a voice for their point of view at the policy-making table Another is to provide human resource services, such as a benefits package.
As labour law is a provincial jurisdiction in Canada, the laws vary from province to province. However, there is some common ground. Despite opposition from open shop contractors, in Ontario, the Liberal government recently reinstituted the card-based certification system that was in place for most of the post-World War II period. Card-based certification was reinstated only for the construction industry. It allows workers to certify an exclusive bargaining agent on the basis of membership, sometimes known as "majority sign-up." Some observers claim that this system creates a risk of employees being misled by business agents. Others assert that it overcomes the natural advantage that employers in opposition to unionization have over their employees.
In terms of human resource services, many construction employers realize that providing benefits, training, and apprenticeship tuition refunds is a good way to attract and retain capable workers. The open shop associations in Canada share the responsibility of running an Hourbank style benefits package. This plan is priced by the hour allowing the contractor to predict what the cost of giving employees benefits will be for each job.
These associations in many ways are competing with unions for membership. The critical difference is that they represent the construction contractor, and not the employee and hence there is no collective "voice" for employees in the establishment of conditions for employment.
Some of these associations permit construction contractors that are unionized to join. Several companies whose employees are represented by the Christian Labour Association of Canada
or CLAC, a union with non-traditional rules of membership, are members of the association. CLAC's roots trace to the Christian labour movement in the Netherlands. It believes in cooperation rather than confrontation. Because of its non-adversarial approach to employment relations, the CLAC is regarded by many "mainstream
" unions as suspect.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
(Closed shop
Closed shop
A closed shop is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times in order to remain employed....
) as a condition of hiring or continued employment. Open shop is also known as a Merit Shop
Merit Shop
A merit shop is a firm or organization whose employees have chosen to perform hiring, promotion, salary adjustments, bonuses and termination based on the laws of the state and federal government, along with the individual's ability to accomplish the tasks assigned to them by their employer...
.
Open shop vs closed shop
A closed shop is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to only hire unionTrade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
members, and employees must remain members of the union at all times in order to remain employed. The closed shop system ceded great power to union representatives over an organisation's workforce. In many workplaces that were closed shops, personal connections with union decision makers by dint of friends or family were required by an outsider to gain employment.
Union arguments
Open shop is where a factory, office, or other business establishment in which a union, chosen by a majority of the employees, acts as representative of all the employees in making agreements with the employer, but in which union membership is not a condition of employment.The open shop was the slogan adopted by United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
employers in the first decade of the twentieth century in their attempt to drive unions out of the construction industry. Construction craft unions
Craft unionism
Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level...
have always relied on controlling the supply of labor in particular trades and geographical areas as a means of maintaining union standards and establishing collective bargaining relations with the employers in that field.
In order to do that, construction unions—and to a lesser extent unions representing musicians, longshore workers
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
, restaurant employees and others who work on a transitory and relatively brief basis—must require that employers hire only their members. By refusing to hire exclusively union members, construction employers effectively undercut many of the conditions, such as the eight hour day, that unions had achieved over the past several decades.
The open shop was also a key component of the American Plan introduced in the 1920s, when employers attempted to reverse the gains made by unions during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In that era the open shop was directed not only at construction unions but also unions in mass production industries; the open shop represented not only the right to discriminate against union members in employment but also a steadfast opposition to collective bargaining of any sort.
The legal status of the open shop
The term open shop is also used similarly in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, mostly in reference to construction contractors that have at least a partially non-union workforce. Canadians enjoy the freedom to associate, guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, inherently including the right not to associate.
United States labor law
United States labor law
United States labor law is a heterogeneous collection of state and federal laws. Federal law not only sets the standards that govern workers' rights to organize in the private sector, but also overrides most state and local laws that attempt to regulate this area. Federal law also provides more...
outlaws the open shop in its extreme form: it prohibits private sector employers from refusing to hire employees because they are union members. This is still significant in the construction industry in which construction employers frequently impose obstacles to keep union members out of their workforce. Construction unions, for their part, have used this as a weapon against targeted employers by sending "salts", union members sent to a non-union contractor in the hope that the employer will either discriminatorily refuse to hire them, thereby leading to potentially significant financial liability on the employer's part for this illegal labor practice, or hire these members, giving the union a foothold in attempting to organize it.
The open shop in its milder form, in which the open shop represents only an employer's refusal to favor union members for employment, is legal. Although the National Labor Relations Act
National Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act , is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions , engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in...
permits construction employers to enter into pre-hire agreements, in which they agree to draw their workforces from a pool of employees dispatched by the union, employers are under no legal compulsion to enter into such agreements.
Non-union construction employers have also adopted the phrase "merit shop" to describe their operations. In the view of construction unions, "merit shop" is a codeword that signifies the extreme form of the open shop. Like labor unions, merit shop employers have established apprenticeship programs of their own. This allows such contractors to draw from a pool of non-union employees who can be hired without the complications entailed in hiring construction workers whose union background and sympathies are unknown.
The open shop is also the legal norm in those states that have adopted right-to-work laws. In those cases, employers are barred from enforcing union security arrangements and may not fire an employee for failure to pay union dues.
Open shop movement in Canada
There exists a movement for open shop construction contractors in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 70 per cent of the Canadian construction industry is open shop.In various provinces, these employers have joined forces to create associations to promote the principles of the open shop contractor. These organizations claim that small contractors are not adequately protected by current labour legislation. One of their major functions is to provide a voice for their point of view at the policy-making table Another is to provide human resource services, such as a benefits package.
As labour law is a provincial jurisdiction in Canada, the laws vary from province to province. However, there is some common ground. Despite opposition from open shop contractors, in Ontario, the Liberal government recently reinstituted the card-based certification system that was in place for most of the post-World War II period. Card-based certification was reinstated only for the construction industry. It allows workers to certify an exclusive bargaining agent on the basis of membership, sometimes known as "majority sign-up." Some observers claim that this system creates a risk of employees being misled by business agents. Others assert that it overcomes the natural advantage that employers in opposition to unionization have over their employees.
In terms of human resource services, many construction employers realize that providing benefits, training, and apprenticeship tuition refunds is a good way to attract and retain capable workers. The open shop associations in Canada share the responsibility of running an Hourbank style benefits package. This plan is priced by the hour allowing the contractor to predict what the cost of giving employees benefits will be for each job.
These associations in many ways are competing with unions for membership. The critical difference is that they represent the construction contractor, and not the employee and hence there is no collective "voice" for employees in the establishment of conditions for employment.
Some of these associations permit construction contractors that are unionized to join. Several companies whose employees are represented by the Christian Labour Association of Canada
Christian Labour Association of Canada
The Christian Labour Association of Canada is a labour union which represents workers in the construction, health care and food industries. The association was established in 1952 to represent workers on the basis of "Christian social principles"...
or CLAC, a union with non-traditional rules of membership, are members of the association. CLAC's roots trace to the Christian labour movement in the Netherlands. It believes in cooperation rather than confrontation. Because of its non-adversarial approach to employment relations, the CLAC is regarded by many "mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....
" unions as suspect.
See also
- Employers GroupEmployers GroupEmployers Group was founded as the Merchants and Manufacturers Association in 1896 in California. It has become a worldwide organization advocating for employers and giving guidance about employment laws and regulations, professional development, consulting projects, and compensation and workplace...
, former the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, fought for the open shop