HRIR 3450 - Chapter 1 Exam 2025
Questions and Answers
What percentage of the Canadian workforce is unionized? - ✔✔30%
Labour relations affects...? - ✔✔1. Costs
2. Productivity
3. Profitability
4. Wages
5. Working conditions
Industrial Relations - ✔✔A broad interdisciplinary field of study and practice that
encompasses all aspects of the employment relationship
Labour Relations - ✔✔The study of all aspects of the union - management relationship.
Including the establishment of union bargaining rights, the negotiation process, and the
administration of a collective agreement.
Labour Relations Legislation - ✔✔Law regulating union management relations
Employee Relations - ✔✔Activities and processes aimed at maintaining a productive
workplace while meeting the needs of employees.
What does employee relations include? - ✔✔1. Communication
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,2. Workplace discipline
3. Employee involvement
4. Diversity management
5. Employee rights
How do some authorities distinguish between union and non union employees? -
✔✔By using "employee relations" to refer to non-union employees and "labour
relations" to refer to unionized employees.
Human Resources Management - ✔✔A set of interrelated workplace programs and
services that attract, retain, and motivate the desired number of people at the right time,
with the required knowledge, skills, abilities and other attributes in order to achieve
and organizations goals and objectives.
Can labour relations be viewed as part of human resources management? - ✔✔Yes
In larger workplaces... - ✔✔There might be a dedicated human resources specialist or a
separate labour relations department just as there are separate departments dealing
with staffing or training.
In smaller workplaces... - ✔✔Labour relations activities may be carried out by and HR
generalist, with support from outside consultants or legal advisors.
Do HR managers and labour relations specialists have different perspectives on unions?
- ✔✔Yes.
Human resources management tends to view unions as an external factor, which could
be avoided through sound practices.
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, Labour relation specialists are more inclined to think that employee interests and
management interests are not the same and that employees may logically seek to
protect their interests through a union.
Do the HRPA and the CPHR/CRHA identify labour relations as a competency required
to be a human resource practitioner? - ✔✔Yes.
What governs the employment relationship with out a union? - ✔✔Common law
What is Common Law - ✔✔Rules of law that originate from the decisions of court
judges.
Union vs. Non Union
Legal basis for relationship - ✔✔Non Union - Individual contracts of employment
Union - Collective Agreement
Union vs. Non Union
Terms of employment negotiated - ✔✔Non Union - By individual employees
Union - By the Union
Union vs. non-union
Nature of employment terms - ✔✔Non Union - Possibly unique for each employee
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY OLIVIA WEST, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
Questions and Answers
What percentage of the Canadian workforce is unionized? - ✔✔30%
Labour relations affects...? - ✔✔1. Costs
2. Productivity
3. Profitability
4. Wages
5. Working conditions
Industrial Relations - ✔✔A broad interdisciplinary field of study and practice that
encompasses all aspects of the employment relationship
Labour Relations - ✔✔The study of all aspects of the union - management relationship.
Including the establishment of union bargaining rights, the negotiation process, and the
administration of a collective agreement.
Labour Relations Legislation - ✔✔Law regulating union management relations
Employee Relations - ✔✔Activities and processes aimed at maintaining a productive
workplace while meeting the needs of employees.
What does employee relations include? - ✔✔1. Communication
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY OLIVIA WEST, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,2. Workplace discipline
3. Employee involvement
4. Diversity management
5. Employee rights
How do some authorities distinguish between union and non union employees? -
✔✔By using "employee relations" to refer to non-union employees and "labour
relations" to refer to unionized employees.
Human Resources Management - ✔✔A set of interrelated workplace programs and
services that attract, retain, and motivate the desired number of people at the right time,
with the required knowledge, skills, abilities and other attributes in order to achieve
and organizations goals and objectives.
Can labour relations be viewed as part of human resources management? - ✔✔Yes
In larger workplaces... - ✔✔There might be a dedicated human resources specialist or a
separate labour relations department just as there are separate departments dealing
with staffing or training.
In smaller workplaces... - ✔✔Labour relations activities may be carried out by and HR
generalist, with support from outside consultants or legal advisors.
Do HR managers and labour relations specialists have different perspectives on unions?
- ✔✔Yes.
Human resources management tends to view unions as an external factor, which could
be avoided through sound practices.
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY OLIVIA WEST, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
, Labour relation specialists are more inclined to think that employee interests and
management interests are not the same and that employees may logically seek to
protect their interests through a union.
Do the HRPA and the CPHR/CRHA identify labour relations as a competency required
to be a human resource practitioner? - ✔✔Yes.
What governs the employment relationship with out a union? - ✔✔Common law
What is Common Law - ✔✔Rules of law that originate from the decisions of court
judges.
Union vs. Non Union
Legal basis for relationship - ✔✔Non Union - Individual contracts of employment
Union - Collective Agreement
Union vs. Non Union
Terms of employment negotiated - ✔✔Non Union - By individual employees
Union - By the Union
Union vs. non-union
Nature of employment terms - ✔✔Non Union - Possibly unique for each employee
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY OLIVIA WEST, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3