The Safety Division of the Arkansas Department of Labor, the largest unit in the department with six subdivisions, enforces safety laws and regulations and is responsible for enforcing health and safety regulations covering all employees in the state. The purpose of OSHA is to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for employees. OSHA also provides for research, information, education, and training in occupational safety and health. Collective Bargaining The Mediation and Conciliation Divisions of the state and federal departments of labor are concerned with collective bargaining. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service helps resolve employee and management disputes involving interstate commerce by providing mediators to bring the disputing parties together.
Mediators have no law enforcement authority and rely wholly on persuasive techniques.
Specifically, the National Labor Relations Board is vested with the power to safeguard employees' rights to organize, to determine through elections whether workers want unions as their bargaining representatives, and to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices created to provide fair representation for bargaining purposes and orderly procedures for adjudication of unfair labor practices charges.