Private-sector collective bargaining in the United States is under siege. Many factors have contributed to this situation, including the development of global markets, a continuing antipathy toward unions by managers, and the declining effectiveness of strikes. This volume examines collective bargaining in eight major industries--airlines, automobile manufacturing, health care, hotels and casinos, newspaper publishing, professional sports, telecommunications, and trucking--to gain insight into the challenges the parties face and how they have responded to those challenges.The authors suggest that collective bargaining is evolving differently across the industries studied. While the forces constraining bargaining have not abated, changes in the global environment, including new security considerations, may create opportunities for unions. Across the industries, one thing is clear--private-sector collective bargaining is rapidly changing.
A study of the long-term decline of the labour movement in America, exploring the outlook for labour and unions in the 21st century. There are insights from contributors from a range of backgrounds - academic and non-academic, domestic and foreign, pro- and anti-union.
Overview This book offers the detailed historical background required for a holistic appreciation of current problems faced and the possibilities for revitalisation. In two volumes it provides introductory overviews of trade union development since the end of World War II in 26 countries from every corner of the globe. Each chapter explains the main contours of trade union growth and development in one country from the pivotal year 1945 to the present. Each chapter assesses the often dynamic expansion of trade unionism in the 1950s and 1960s; the role of trade unionism in the movements for national liberation in the Global South and the erection of social welfare systems in the developed North; the economic shocks that resulted in membership decline and loss of political influence from the late 1970s onward; the economic restructuring and growing labour market diversity of the 1980s and 1990s that undercut the traditional bases of trade union membership; and the historical roots of the contemporary political and economic context in which revitalisation efforts are taking place.
In this third edition of his highly acclaimed and influential study, Albert Rees updates his material to reflect the major changes in the labor scene occurring during the 1970s and 1980s. New to this edition is a chapter on the decline of private sector unions, and other chapters have been substantially revised. The treatment of the effect of unions on relative wages has been completely recast to reflect the results of recent research. Students of labor economics will find that Rees's well-balanced account provides an excellent, comprehensive view of all aspects of the activities of unions, from their early development and history, through analysis of their sources of power, to the effects of their policies. In the final chapters, Rees broadens his evaluation to survey noneconomic as well as economic aspects of union activity.