Labor Relations Commons^™

It Takes More Than House Calls: Organizing To Win With A Comprehensive Union-Building Strategy, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Tom Juravich

Kate Bronfenbrenner

[Excerpt] Until recently, some national and local union leaders still argued that labor should circle the wagons and take care of existing members rather than spend scarce resources on organizing nonunion workers. Today those voices have largely been silenced by the hard numbers of labor's dramatic decline. As expressed in the platform of the new AFL-CIO leadership slate, the American labor movement must "organize at an unprecedented pace and scale." The question unions face today is no longer whether to make organizing a priority but how that can best be achieved.

The Evolution Of Strategic And Coordinated Bargaining Campaigns In The 1990s: The Steelworkers’ Experience, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Tom Juravich

Kate Bronfenbrenner

"With the refocusing of attention of the labor movement on organizing, an increasing number of scholars have been directing their research toward the nature and practice of current union organizing efforts. These scholars have begun updating a literature that had grown sorely out of touch with the organizing experience of America’s unions and have provided the foundation for a more sophisticated understanding of the organizing process. While we applaud this resurgence in organizing research, there has not been a comparable resurgence in research on collective bargaining…"

Labor Rights In The Generalized System Of Preferences: A 20-Year Review, Lance A. Compa, Jeffrey S. Vogt

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt]In the fall of 1982, a small group of labor, religious, and human rights activists began charting a new course for human rights and workers' rights in American trade policy. The principles of these labor rights advocates were straightforward: 1. No country should attract investment or gain an edge in international trade by violating workers' rights; 2. No company operating in global trade should gain a competitive edge by violating workers' rights; and, 3. Workers have a right to demand protection for labor rights in the international trade system, and to have laws to accomplish it. The coalition that took …

...And The Twain Shall Meet?, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] No country or company should gain a commercial edge in international trade by jailing or killing union organizers, crushing independent union movements, or banning strikes. Gaining an advantage in labor costs should not depend on exploiting child labor or forced labor, or discriminating against women or oppressed ethnic groups. Deliberately exposing workers to life-threatening safety and health hazards, or holding wages and benefits below livable levels should not be permissible corporate strategies. But these are exactly the abuses that happen all too often in a rapidly globalized world trading system based on "free trade."

Corporate Social Responsibility And Workers’ Rights, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] Corporate social responsibility (CSR) brings an important dimension to the global economy. CSR can enhance human rights, labor rights, and labor standards in the workplace by joining consumer power and socially responsible business leadership—not just leadership in Nike headquarters in Oregon or Levi Strauss headquarters in California, but leadership in trading house headquarters in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and leadership at the factory level in Dongguan and Shenzhen. Ten years ago, I would not have said this. I viewed corporate social responsibility and corporate codes of conduct as public relations maneuvers to pacify concerned consumers. Behind a facade of …

Industrialization Strategy And Industrial Relations Policy In Malaysia, Sarosh C. Kuruvilla

Sarosh Kuruvilla

[Excerpt] In this chapter, a different view is taken of the relationship between industrialization strategies and industrial relations policy and practice. I argue that it is not the logic of industrialism or the levels of industrialization per se but the choice of an industrialization strategy and the shifts between such strategies that influence changes in industrial relations policies.

International Labor Standards, Soft Regulation, And National Government Roles, Sarosh C. Kuruvilla, Anil Verma

Sarosh Kuruvilla

[Excerpt] In this article, we briefly describe the different approaches to the regulation of international labor standards, and then argue for a new role for national governments based on soft rather than hard regulation approaches. We argue that this new role shows potential for significantly enhancing progress in international labor standards, since it enables governments to articulate a position without having to deal with the enforcement issues that hard regulation mandates. We justify this new role for governments based on the increasing use of soft regulation in the international arena. Of course, this approach is not without its own problems, …

Linkages Between Industrialization Strategies And Industrial Relations/Human Resource Policies: Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, And India, Sarosh Kuruvilla

Sarosh Kuruvilla

The case studies of Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and India presented in this paper support the author's contention that a country's industrialization strategy for economic development profoundly influences its industrial relations (IR) and human resources (HR) policy goals. The author finds that import substitution industrialization was associated with IR/HR policy goals of pluralism and stability, while a low-cost export-oriented industrialization strategy was associated with IR/HR policy goals of cost containment and union suppression. In countries that moved from a low-cost export-oriented strategy to a higher value added export-oriented strategy, the focus of IR/HR policy goals shifted from cost containment to …

Ethnic Democracy And Its Ambiguities: The Case Of The Needle Trade Unions, Gerd Korman

Gerd Korman

[Excerpt] During the years between World War I and World War II the conduct among well-known Jewish labor leaders seems to have foreshadowed events in the history of America’s nationality following the tumult of the 1960’s. In the 1920’s and 1930’s America’s elected or appointed officials still used a pecking order based on assumed inequalities of race, ethnicity, and gender in making policy decisions. They presumed that their private interests, those of the “insiders,” the “leading groups,” or “controlling minorities,” were the only appropriate ones for determining public policy. It was then, especially in the Depression years, when the New …

Silence In America Textbooks, Gerd Korman

Gerd Korman

[Excerpt] Although more than two decades separate us from the time when the Allied forces revealed the depth and dimensions of the Nazi horror, America’s textbook-writing historians still do not understand the demands the death camps place on each of them as scholar and as educator of the young in our public schools and universities. They continue to write in the tradition that prepared no one for the catastrophe, a tradition that still prevents us from attempting to assess and understand what happened; for with precious few exceptions they write of the years before 1945 as if the 1930’s and …

The Steward’S Role In Bargaining, Ken Margolies

Ken Margolies

[Excerpt] Bargaining a new contract is one of the biggest events in the life of a union, and one that offers stewards many opportunities to build a stronger organization. For many stewards, though, the bargaining process consists of responding the three big questions from the members.

Communicating Across Cultures, Ken Margolies

Ken Margolies

[Excerpt] Communication is the key to so many things a steward does, and good communication skills are something experienced stewards develop. But even experienced stewards have special challenges when the communication is between people of different cultures.

Working It Out, Ken Margolies

Ken Margolies

[Excerpt] Every steward knows that it’s almost always better to work out problems with management informally, without having to resort to filing a grievance. And ever steward knows that if you do have to file a grievance, it’s better to win it at the first step than have to go through the headaches that come with moving higher up the food chain, or, even worse, risk leaving things in the hands of an arbitrator.

Time Management For Stewards, Ken Margolies

Ken Margolies

[Excerpt] Too much to do? Too little time to do it? Stewards face that problem every day – and the smart ones do something about it. It’s called time management.

Talking Vs. Communicating, Ken Margolies

Ken Margolies

[Excerpt] There is a saying, "When all is said and done, more is said than done." Stewards who attend union meetings to decide how to handle and issue or grievance sessions with management probably agree. Why is it so difficult to get past the talk and make decisions, agreements, and well, get things done?

A Study Of Regulatory Intervention In Labor-Management Relations: School Desegregation In Los Angeles, Dade County, And Boston, Harry C. Katz

Harry C Katz

"This article analyzes the interaction between public school desegregation and labor relations in Los Angeles, Dade County, and Boston. First enumerating the ways in which desegregation led to specific changes in either personnel policies or collective bargaining agreements in the three school systems, then providing an evaluation of the performance of the court’s regulatory intervention within labor management relations in the three school systems. After comparing regulatory performance, the factors that influence the observed variations in performance are assessed. A distinction is found between those causal factors that are ‘environmental’ and those that are under the direct control of the …

Industrial Relations Performance, Economic Performance, And Qwl Programs: An Interplant Analysis, Harry C. Katz, Thomas A. Kochan, Kenneth R. Gobeille

Harry C Katz

"This study analyzes the relationship among plant-level measures of industrial relations performance, economic performance, and quality-of-working-life programs. The analysis employs pooled time-series and cross-section data from 18 plants within a division of General Motors for the years 1970-79. The empirical results show strong associations between industrial relations and economic performance measures and limited support for the hypothesis that quality-of-working-life efforts improve both kinds of performance."

Bottom-Up Organizing In The Trades: An Interview With Mike Lucas, Ibew Director Of Organizing, Jeff Grabelsky

Jeffrey Grabelsky

[Excerpt] Like the bottom-up organizers who built the IBEW 100 years ago by traveling from city to city, working at their trade and preaching the union creed, Lucas has been around the block. From Florida to Oklahoma, Indiana to Tennessee, he worked from 1954 to 1959 as a member of the Laborers and Teamsters unions. He began his organizing career in the utility construction industry, and first volunteered his talents to the IBEW in 1960 by organizing the manufacturing workers at a new Studebaker plant in Bloomington, Indiana, which he had recently helped build as a union electrician. He served …

Ilr Impact Brief - Transcending Free Market Unionism: A New Alliance For New York State Unions, Jeff Grabelsky

Jeffrey Grabelsky

[Excerpt] In the few years since the AFL-CIO consolidated 25 of the 31 central labor councils in New York State into five area labor federations (ALFs), local union affiliates have begun to transcend the narrow interests that long divided one union from another. ALFs have begun to embrace new and more diverse leaders, strengthen their functional capabilities, forge coalitions with community groups, and help elect politicians who are more responsive to the concerns of working families. Whether the restructured labor movement has a greater ability to affect organizing drives and contract negotiations is still unclear.

Building And Construction Trades Unions: Are They Built To Win?, Jeff Grabelsky

Jeffrey Grabelsky

[Excerpt] The evidence of labor's declining power in the economic and political arenas is increasingly clear. Despite the tenacious efforts of talented leaders over the past ten years, the labor movement has still failed to turn the proverbial cornet. Some labor leaders now believe that a dramatic change in strategic direction may be necessary to revitalize labor's fortunes. The emerging debate about labor's future touches every sector of the movement. The building and construction trades are no exception.

Creating A Multipurpose Digital Institutional Repository, Suzanne A. Cohen, Deborah J. Schmidle

Suzanne Cohen

DigitalCommons@ILR is a multipurpose institutional repository (IR) for scholarship produced by faculty at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. Unlike most IRs, it also functions as a subject-based repository for workplace-related information. This paper will discuss the issues involved in the implementation of DigitalCommons@ILR, including the choice of software, collection scope and policies, organization, and staffing. Keys to success in developing repository content, including building administrative support and developing partnerships, will be noted.

Telecommunications 2004: Strategy, Hr Practices & Performance - Cornell-Rutgers Telecommunications Project, Rosemary Batt, Alex Colvin, Harry Katz, Jeffrey Keefe

Rosemary Batt

This national benchmarking report of the U.S. telecommunications services industry traces the tumultuous changes in management and workforce practices and performance in the sector over the last 5 years. This is a follow-up report to our 1998 study. At that time, when the industry was booming, we conducted a national survey of establishments in the industry. In 2003, we returned to do a second national survey of the industry, this time in a sector that was recovering from one of the worst recessions in its history.

Human Resource Management, Service Quality, And Economic Performance In Call Centers, Rosemary Batt, Lisa M. Moynihan

Rosemary Batt

This paper examines the relationship between human resource practices, operational outcomes, and economic performance in call centers. The study draws on a sample of 64 call centers serving the mass market in a large telecommunications services company. Surveys of 1,243 employees in the 64 centers were aggregated to the call center level and matched to archival data on service process quality, as measured by customer surveys; call handling time, revenues per call, and net revenues per call. Our path analysis shows that human resource practices emphasizing employee training, discretion, and rewards lead to higher service quality, higher revenues per call, …

Net Working: Work Patterns And Workforce Policies For The New Media Industry, Rosemary Batt, Susan Christopherson, Ned Rightor, Danielle Van Jaarsveld

Rosemary Batt

This report, based on a study of a group of highly accomplished professionals in New York City, is one of the first to take up labor market issues in the new media industry. It describes the challenges faced by professionals and employers alike in this important and dynamic sector, and identifies strategies for success in a project oriented environment with highly complex skill demands and rapidly changing technology. Our findings suggest three central issues.

The Indian Call Centre Industry: National Benchmarking Report Strategy, Hr Practices, & Performance, Rosemary Batt, Virginia Doellgast, Hyunji Kwon, Mudit Nopany, Priti Nopany, Anil Da Costa

Rosemary Batt

Report of the Global Call Centre Industry Project

The dramatic growth of the call center industry is a world-wide phenomenon, fueled by advances in information technologies and the precipitous decline in the costs of voice and data transmission over the last two decades. As part of this global industry, call centres in India have experienced spectacular growth in the last five years. They generate seventy percent of the revenues of the Indian Business Process Outourcing (BPO) industry, according to estimates by Mckinsey (www.nasscom.org).

This rapid growth has also brought managerial challenges in terms of recruitment,staffing, training, and retention of workers …

The Impact Of Employee Voice And Compliance Mechanisms On Absenteeism, Discipline, And Turnover, Alexander J.S. Colvin, Rosemary Batt, Jeffrey Keefe

Rosemary Batt

This study examines the impact of employee voice and compliance mechanisms on voluntary turnover and other workplace behaviors. Results from analysis of a unique, nationally representative sample of establishments in the telecommunications industry show that voice mechanisms in the form of unions and problem-solving groups are associated with significantly reduced quit rates and dismissal rates. In addition, voice mechanisms in the form of self-directed work teams are associated with lower absenteeism and discipline rates. By contrast, compliance mechanisms in the form of electronic monitoring are associated with higher discipline rates, while the compliance mechanism of strict work rules is associated …

How High Performance Human Resource Practices And Workforce Unionization Affect Managerial Pay, Alexander Colvin, Rosemary Batt, Harry C. Katz

Rosemary Batt

Using data from a nationally representative sample of telecommunications establishments, this study finds that HR practices and workforce unionization influence managerial pay levels and the ratio of manager-to-worker pay. High performance HR practices, including investment in the skills of the workforce, in computer-based technologies, and in performance-based worker pay practices, are all positively related to managerial pay; but the use of workforce teams, which shift some managerial responsibilities to workers, has the opposite association. High performance HR practices also are associated with lower manager to- worker pay differentials. In addition, workforce unionization is positively associated with managerial pay levels, with …

What Are The Effects Of Work Restructuring On Employee Well-Being And Firm Performance? Evidence From Telecommunications Services, Rosemary Batt

Rosemary Batt

The purpose of this study was to assess whether there are benefits to employees and firms associated with new forms of work organization and human resource and industrial relations practices. I examine a series of interrelated questions that may be summarized as follows. First, does participation in either total quality improvement teams or self-directed teams have benefits for workers, managers, and firms? If benefits exist, are they undermined by the negative effects of understaffing and job insecurity associated with downsizing? And finally, is there a coherent set of work organization, human resource, and industrial relations practices that provides mutual gains …

Worker Participation In Diverse Settings: Does The Form Affect The Outcome, And If So, Who Benefits?, Rosemary Batt, Eileen Applebaum

Rosemary Batt

[Excerpt] This paper utilizes extensive surveys of workers in three occupational groups (network craft workers, semi-skilled office workers, and semi-skilled machine operators) in two very different industries (telecommunications and apparel)i to examine the outcomes of workplace innovations. Our central . question has two parts. First, what are the outcomes of off-line employee participation programs versus on-line work reorganization experiments? Second, who benefits from which type of innovation: employees, employers, or both? To answer these questions, we consider the effects of off-line versus on-line innovations on workers' satisfaction with their jobs, on their commitment to the companies they work for, and …

How Much Should We Care About Changing Income Inequality In The Course Of Economic Growth?, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

This paper asks how much we should care about changes in Lorenz curves and standard inequality measures when economic growth takes place. I conclude that these changes are of some importance but that other aspects of inequality and poverty are more important.