few questions, due 5 hours, easy I supply other student answers
nyc promo
student_answer_-_assignmemt_2.docxStudent answer
(a) In US business unionism focuses on benefits to existing members, (opposed to other countries like Britain) employers’ organizations are not prominent at any level, however, employer’ organizations that seek to maintain unions away from employees have been prominent.
(b) Diversity creates a wider range of variation employment practices, (to mention one factor) but Britain lacks such factor, in addition, the government does not support employment regulation as it happens in US. (i) New modernized methods of union organizing have been implemented such as intensive direct communication with prospective members through young well-educated organizers. (ii) In the US diversity has been a strong factor leading to wider employment arrangements.
(c) (i) (i) according to Olson the likelihood of cross-national cooperation confronts different barriers such as, divergent interests, national differences in language, culture, law and union structure. However the potential exists.
Student answer
US employers are amongst the most anti union employers in the world because unions tend to hurt productivity and reduce profit margin.
Business Unionism uses the principle that unions should operate like a business. It has been attractive to the US employees because business union jobs pay better wages than non-union equivalents. It is operated by employers and employees, therefore the interest of all parties is advocated.
To expand union membership, the US confederation, the AFL-CIO tried to modernise and broaden issues that attract union members such as child care and equal pay. They have also used young well-educated organisers and involve extensive direct communication with prospective members and links to community groups such as churches.
The union density plummeted in the US because of the split of the major unions forming a coalition called the CTW - change to win coalition. In the UK the fall was due to state labour policies, management resistance and workplace practices, changing composition employment and the labour force and issues internal to unionism.
Non union personnel practices have developed the furthest in the US.
Cross-national cooperation is possible through trade and treaty agreements. The major difference between liberal and coordinated is the ability to obtain capital without having to plead with a bank. The liberal has the access to capital via public markets such as stocks and bonds while this is not so with the coordinated.
Olson will say that cross-national cooperation will break barriers and economic incentives such as increased trade will be gained.
Student answer
(a) The U.S. operates on "Employment at will" where employers do not have to provide just cause for dismissal, reasonable notice or severance pay on dismissal of an employee. The U.S. business unionism, focuses narrowly on providing benefits to existing members.
(b) The AFL-CIO tried to modernize and broaden issues that attract union members, (child care and equal pay). They used young, educated organizers and involve extensive direct communication with prospective members and links to community groups such as churches.
Union density plummeted because of these reasons: macro-economic context, changing composition employment and of the labor force, management resistance and workplace practices, state labor policies andinternal issues in unions.
Nonunion personnel practices developed furthest in the U.S
(c) Cross national allows nations to trade amongst each other. Olson would say that cross-national cooperation would help a country's economy grow. The economic incentives would be giving all barriers to trade between countries ex) tariffs and non tariffs.
Student answer
Historically, US employers have been the most antiunion, but the British system was probably the worst among the industrialized nations from the standpoint of competitiveness. Until a couple of decades after the Donovan Commission report Britain had multiple craft unions in each plant represented by a single shop steward; in part in response to the needs of US multinationals doing business in Britain, the article says that the trend has favored single-union plants.
a) Why are US employers among the most anti-union employers in the world? What is business unionism, and why has it been attractive to US employees but not to employees in most other countries?
a. The US economy is arguably the most market-driven economy in the world, with policies that more often reflect the interests of free-market competition and a lack of government interference or corporate activity. American businesses see unions as antithetical to those ideas, and are subsequently more anti-union than businesses in any other country. Business Unionism is the idea that unions should be run like businesses, in that they reflect the industries and companies, as opposed to representing classes or revolutionary ideas. Unlike other countries, US unionism did not develop out of a class system (because class systems never really existed), and the idea of class-based unionism never really took hold.
b) In Britain there has been less regulatory stability than in the US as alternative Conservative and Labor governments have passed laws antagonistic to (e.g., the 1971 Industrial Relations Act) and friendly to (e.g., the 1999 national minimum wage under Tony Blair) unions, but the union density is much higher, more than double, than in the US.
a. What are steps the US confederation, the AFL-CIO has taken, including internecine conflict and departures of unions from the AFL-CIO, to expand union membership?
i. US labor groups have adopted proposals such as membership rebates to encourage organizing activity by smaller unions. This reflects a bit of a shift in policy from increased political activity. Smaller unions have also taken to become part of larger unions in an attempt to increase resources and gain appeal through increased bargaining power.
b. Why has union density plummeted in both countries?
i. Union density plummeted in Great Britain as a result of the conservative policies of Thatcher’s government in the 1980s. In the United States, globalization forces have made union labor less appealing to management, and have driven many workers to non-union sectors.
c. In which country have nonunion personnel practices developed furthest?
i. Because of the historically low union density, non-union practices in the US have developed further than any other country.
c) According to Katz and Colvin, the authors of the piece on US labor relations, a solution to labor's global woes is cross-national cooperation among labor movements in different countries. At the same time, Bamber et al., in their introduction to the book, claim that there are two or more fundamentally different varieties of capitalism, liberal and coordinated.
a. If there are two fundamentally different kinds of capitalism, how is cross-national cooperation possible? Are the kinds really different?
i. Even though there are two different types of capitalism, there are enough smaller variations to find some common ground. That being said, the different forms of capitalism in different countries are identified by the authors as the single largest obstacle to cross-national cooperation in unions.
b. What would Olson say about the likelihood of cross-national cooperation? Where are the economic incentives?
i. Olson would say that such cross-national cooperation would not be likely, because of the increased regulation that would come with increased governmental involvement. The only incentives for cross-national cooperation, Olson would argue, is for the union—in that it would increase the number of dues-paying members, and the potential political clout for the union.
