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Understanding workers’ rights in Arizona - YouTube
Channel: Arizona Public Media
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- In a state where union
membership falls well below
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the national average, lately
unions have made waves in a
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number of industries from
health care, to mining,
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and even journalism.
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We took a closer look at
some of the issues involved,
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but first, employment
attorney Barney Holtzman
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offered insight on
the role of unions
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and workers rights in Arizona.
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Remind us, Right to Work state,
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what that means here in Arizona.
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- So a Right to Work state
means that the employer can not
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force the employees to be
members of a union to work at
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their place, so Right to
Work really only deals with
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the union workforce.
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A lot of people confuse
with an at-will state,
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which Arizona is
an at-will state,
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which means that your
employment relationship
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can be terminated
with or without cause,
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and with or without notice.
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- Okay, right now there's
a conversation about unions
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in Arizona, there are in
fact unions in Arizona,
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but not every industry
has them, correct?
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- That's correct, the
National Labor Relations Act
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is what governs unions and the
unionization of work forces.
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It covers all private employees,
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other than some areas
of transportation,
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and some areas in agriculture.
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So, any industry that is
not those specific ones
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are allowed to unionize,
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but it requires a vote of the
membership of the employees
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to say "we want a union to
represent our interests,
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"instead of us having a one
on one relationship with
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"the employer, we want
a union to represent us
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"in terms of setting
our pay, our benefits,
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"the terms and conditions
of employment."
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- How does the work place
change once an industry is not
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a union and then becomes one.
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I mean, is there a difference
in the environment?
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- So it can change the
environment, at that time,
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once a union is in place
they have to bargain with
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the employer, and so
you have representatives
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and that's what you see
in the news today going on
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at the hospitals
with the nurses,
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is their union is
negotiation with the hospital
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about what the terms and
conditions are going to be;
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"what are we gonna
pay our employees?
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"How many breaks are
they going to get?
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"How many vacation
days will they get?"
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and then, the relationship
is managed through that
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contract that is created,
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it's called a Collective
Bargaining Agreement,
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as well as through the system
that is created in that,
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so oftentimes instead of
things being determined by
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the employer, specifically
how they're gonna deal with
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the situation, they look
to what the contract says,
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and the contract says for
this violation, for example,
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here is the punishment that
will happen to the employee.
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- Among the terms we've
heard in this conversation
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are an employer has to provide
basics in the workplace.
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What constitutes "basics
in the workplace"?
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- So there are very
little in Arizona,
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a lot of it is based on
state law in terms of
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what are the basics.
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For example, one thing
that I know a lot of people
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are always surprised
by is that employers
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do not have to give you a break.
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In Arizona there's
no requirement of a
mid-morning break,
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there's no requirement
of a lunch break,
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or anything like that and
so the real requirements
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are you have to pay
the minimum wage,
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and you have to pay over
time if the employee doesn't
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qualify for an exemption from
the over time requirements.
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You have to provide a
safe working environment,
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and that's pretty much I think
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the minimum
requirements in Arizona.
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- Sometimes employers have
been known to say things,
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"if you don't wanna do this
work I can find someone
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who will, or if the pay
is not appropriate for you
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there is someone else out
there chomping at the bit."
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That may not be tactful,
but it is done, is it legal?
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- It is not tactful and
it's not good for morale,
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but it is generally legal,
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as long as what the person
is complaining about is their
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pay or some conditions
of employment.
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And if it's just them,
individually saying
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"I don't like my pay"
that's where we get to that
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at-will work state, and
you're an at-will employee,
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and if you don't like
that then you can quit,
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or if you come back to work
then you're under that.
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Now if you bond together
with your co-workers
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and you come to your
employer together and
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the three of us, for example,
three people come and say
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"we don't like the
way you're doing this"
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and you say, as an employer,
"well I'm sorry, leave"
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you may have very well
violated the National
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Labor Relations act which
says you as an employee
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can bind together with your
co-workers and come and
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complain about the terms and
conditions of employment.
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And that's what we call
concerted activity,
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they're working together
to complain about terms
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and conditions of employment
and they're protected
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by the Nation
Labor Relations act
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even though they haven't
formed an official union.
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In the sense that's their own
little union, so to speak.
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