IRL 201 - History of American Labor and Management
Definitions - from 1920s to the contemporary period
Adverse Impact - when an employment "test" disproportionately affects a racial, religious, ethnic or gender group
Affirmative Action - policies designed to allow underrepresented minorities and women to demonstrate their qualifications
American Plan - the "open shop" strategy of employers in the early 1920s
Automation - the replacement of workers with technologically sophisticated machinery
Boring from within - strategy of radical (especially Communist) unions to win leadership of the working class by working within the existing trade unions and gaining control of them
Cafeteria Benefit Plans - fringe benefits in which workers are given some choices as to which benefits they receive
Closed Shop - a union security arrangement in which employers are required to hire only union members
Company
Concession Bargaining - collective bargaining negotiations in which workers make "give backs" so that they're wages and conditions are worse than in the previous agreement
Contingent Employment - jobs which tend to be temporary, insecure, are often part-time, and usually provide no fringe benefits
Corporate Campaigns - attempts by unions to bring pressure on employers in unconventional ways including through boards of directors and pension funds
Dual Labor Market - one which is segmented so that workers and/or employers in each segment don't really compete with workers and/or employers in the other. In such a case, wages and working conditions may be considerably better in one segment than in the other
Dual Unionism - the establishment of alternative unions for one group of employees
Employee Representation Plan - see company union
Ergonomics - the science of designing work places to reduce injuries, especially repetitive stress injuries
"Full Service' Employers - those who take care of many of the personal needs of employees so that the employees are not distracted from work by these needs
Globalization - the transformation of national economies into a trans-national economy as a result of changes in transportation and communication
"Harmony of Interest" Doctrine - the notion in welfare capitalism that the interests of employees were the same as the interests of employers
Lump Sum Payments - the negotiation of wage payment that take place in the form of bonuses that do not raise the base wages of employees
Maintenance of Membership Agreements - required union members to remain union members for the duration of the collective bargaining agreement
McCarthyism - investigation by smear and guild by association
McKay Radio - the Supreme Court case that said it is not an unfair labor practice for employers to replace strikers permanently
"No Raiding" Pact - agreement between the AFL and the CIO that affiliated unions would not try to organize members already belonging to a union affiliated with the other federation
Organizing from Below - when workers demand that unions organize them
Perma Temps - employees hired by a company on a temporary basis who continue to work for that company long-term
Post-Industrial Society - requires only a small fraction of the labor force to produce the agricultural and industrial good that we consume
Raiding - unions "stealing" each others members by organizing workers who had already been organized by another union
"Right-to-Work" law - a state law forbidding the negotiation of the union shop or other compulsory union arrangements
Sitdown Strikes - strikes in which workers occupy the work place but refuse to work
Sovereignty Doctrine - the idea that it is improper for government to share its power with unelected parties, thus it is improper for government to engage in collective bargaining with its employees
Stagflation - the simultaneous existence of slow economic growth, high levels of unemployment, and high rates of increase in the overall level of prices
Sweatshop - a work place where people are employed at low wages, for long hours, under poor conditions
Sweetheart Contracts - collective bargaining agreements favorable to the employer because the employer has provided illicit benefits to the union leadership
Trusteeship - when a subordinate union body (e.g. a local union) is placed under the direct control of the national union
Two-tiered Bargaining - negotiating inferior wages and conditions for new employees compared with those negotiated for existing employees
Unfair Labor Practices - union-management relations activities were are illegal (but not criminal) banned by the National Labor Relations Act
Union Density - the percentage of the labor force (or of employment or non-farm employment) affiliated with labor unions
Union Shop - a union-security arrangement in which all employees are required, after being hired, to join the union
War Labor Board - the body created during World War II to handle labor disputes affecting the war effort
Welfare Capitalism - the "open shop" strategy of employers in the late 1920s