WHAT ELEMENTS FOLLOW EMPLOYMENT, LABOR AND WAGES?
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index/?o_cid=mediaroomlink&cid=712877
THE HISTORIC STRUGGLE BETWEEN WORKERS AND EMPLOYEES:
COLONIAL TIMES THROUGH THE 1930S
- 1778- Printers in New York joined together to demand higher wages. This was the first attempt for organization or labor.
- At the time, most unions were skilled workers with strong bargaining power.
- Until 1820, most of the workforce was made up of farmers, small business owners, and the self employed.
- This was until the massive immigration that occurred with new immigration.
- This new “supply” of workers threatened unions.
- Public opinion was also against unions, as the viewed union members as troublemakers, and individuals believed they could bargain for themselves one on one.
- Civil War led to higher prices and a greater demand for goods and services. Manufacturing expanded while farm population declined.
- Working conditions were difficult, with cultural and linguistic differences between immigrants and American-born workers.
TYPES OF UNIONS:
CRAFT UNION/TRADE UNION
PERFORM SAME KIND OF WORK
INDUSTRIAL UNION
PERFORM DIFFERENT KINDS OF WORK
UNION ACTIVITIES
•STRIKE- WORK STOPPAGE DESIGNED TO MAKE EMPLOYERS MEET UNION DEMANDS.
•PICKET- DEMONSTRATE OR MARCH BEFORE A PLACE OF BUSINESS TO PROTEST A COMPANY’S ACTIONS.
•BOYCOTT- REFUSAL TO BUY PRODUCTS FROM AND EMPLOYER OR COMPANY
EMPLOYER RESISTANCE
•LOCKOUT- REFUSAL TO LET EMPLOYEES WORK UNTIL DEMANDS ARE MET.
•COMPANY UNIONS-UNIONS ORGANIZED, SUPPORTED OR RUN BY UNIONS.
THE LUDLOW MASSACRE
The Ludlow Massacre A lot more than 2,000 miles separated the Rockefeller estate from Southern Colorado when on Monday April 20, 1914, the first shot was fired at Ludlow. One of history's most dramatic confrontations between capital and labor — the so-called Ludlow massacre — took place at the mines of the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I).The face-off raged for fourteen hours, during which the miners' tent colony was pelted with machine gun fire and ultimately torched by the state militia. A number of people were killed, among them two women and eleven children who suffocated in a pit they had dug under their tent.
The deaths were blamed on John D. Rockefeller Jr. For years, he would struggle to redress the situation - and strengthen the Rockefeller social conscience in the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6kuvBnNNUsU6kuvBnNNUs
COURT ATTITUDE:
- UNFAVORABLE
- CONSIDERED CONSPIRACIES AGAINST BUSINESS AND WERE PROSECUTED
- SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT, CONSIDERED AN ACT TO CURB MONOPOLIES, WAS USED TO KEEP LABOR IN LINE.
- CLAYTON ANTI-TRUST ACT- EXEMPTED PROSECUTION.
- GREAT DEPRESSION DEEPLY AFFECTED LABOR AS THE GOVERNMENT PASSED LAWS THAT SUPPORTED IT FOR THE FIRST TIME.
- NORRIS-LAGUARDIA ACT- PREVENTED FEDERAL COURTS FROM ISSUING RULINGS AGAINST UNIONS ENGAGED IN PEACEFUL STRIKES, PICKETING, OR BOYCOTTS. FORCED COMPANIES TO NEGOTIATE DIRECTLY WITH UNIONS.
- NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD- UNIONS’ RIGHT TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. CREATED NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD TO POLICE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.
- FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT- APPLIED TO BUSINESSES THAT ENGAGE IN INTERSTATES COMMERCE AND SET THE FIRST MINIMUM WAGE. ESTABLISHED TIME AND A HALF, AND A FORTY HOUR WORK WEEK, PROHIBITED OPPRESSIVE CHILD LABOR.
- SHIFT POST WORLD WAR II FEELINGS DUE TO COMMUNIST FEAR- CREATION OF “RIGHT TO WORK LAWS” WHICH MADE IT ILLEGAL TO REQUIRE A WORKER TO JOIN A UNION. IF A STATE DOES NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO WORK LAW, A WORKER MAY BE REQUIRED TO JOIN A UNION, IF NOT THEY CAN DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES.
- LABOR-MANAGEMENT REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT- REQUIRED UNIONS TO FILE REGULAR FINANCIAL REPORTS.
AFL-CIO
•ORIGINALLY AFL CONSISTED AS AN ORGANIZATION OF CRAFT OR TRADE UNIONS.
•CIO WAS SEPARATE ORIGINALLY AND SET UP UNIONS IN INDUSTRIES THAT THE AFL DID NOT.
•JOINED TOGETHER IN 1955.
- INDEPENDENT UNIONS- UNIONS THAT DO NOT BELONG TO MAJOR LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.
- CLOSED SHOP-WORKERS MUST JOIN UNION BEFORE THEY ARE HIRED. RULED ILLEGAL UNDER TAFT-HARTLEY ACT DUE TO INTERSTATE COMMERCE.
- UNION SHOP- WORKERS DO NOT HAVE TO BELONG TO THE UNION TO BE HIRED, BUT MUST JOIN SOON AFTER TO REMAIN A MEMBER.
- MODIFIED UNION SHOP- WORKERS DO NOT HAVE TO BELONG TO A UNION TO BE HIRED AND CANNOT BE MADE TO JOIN THE UNION TO KEEP THEIR JOBS, HOWEVER, IF THEY VOLUNTARILY JOIN THE UNION THEY MUST REMAIN MEMBERS AS LONG AS THEY HOLD THEIR JOBS.
- AGENCY SHOPS- DOES NOT REQUIRE A WORKER TO JOIN A UNION AS A CONDITION TO GET A JOB OR KEEP A JOB. IT DOES REQUIRE THE WORKER TO PAY UNION DUES.
- CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE- MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE 16 YEARS OLD AND OVER WHO ARE EITHER WORKING OR ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR A JOB.
WAGE DETERMINATION: - WAGE RATE-STANDARD AMOUNT OF PAY GIVEN FOR WORK PERFORMED AND CAN DIFFER FROM ONE OCCUPATION TO THE OTHER.
NON-COMPETING CATEGORIES OF LABOR:
UNSKILLED
•NO SPECIAL TRAINING AND SKILLS
•WORK WITH HANDS
SEMI-SKILLED
•ENOUGH MECHANICAL SKILLS TO OPERATE MACHINES FOR WHICH THEY NEED A MINIMUM AMOUNT OF TRAINING. (BASIC)
SKILLED
•OPERATE COMPLEX EQUIPMENT AND PERFORM MOST OF THEIR TASKS WITH LITTLE SUPERVISION. HIGHER INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING.
PROFESSIONAL
•HIGHEST LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE BASED TRAINING AND MANAGERIAL SKILLS.
MARKET THEORY OF WAGE DETERMINATION:
- LOW DEMAND = LOW PAY
- HIGH DEMAND = HIGH PAY
- EACH MARKET INTERSECTION WOULD LEAD TO THE EQUILIBRIUM RATE- THE WAGE THAT LEAVES NEITHER A SURPLUS NOR A SHORTAGE IN THE LABOR MARKET.
THEORY OF NEGOTIATED WAGES:
- POWER OF UNIONS- THEORY STATES THAT BARGAINING STRENGTH OF ORGANIZED LABOR IS A FACTOR THAT HELPS TO DETERMINE WAGES.
- SENIORITY- LENGTH OF TIME SOMEONE HAS BEEN ON THE JOB.
- SIGNALING THEORY- EMPLOYERS ARE WILLING TO PAY MORE TO PEOPLE WITH CERTIFICATES, DEGREES, AND OTHER INDICATORS THAT “SIGNAL” SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE OR ABILITY.
- INJUNCTION- A COURT ORDER NOT TO ACT.
- SEIZURE- A TEMPORARY TAKEOVER OF OPERATIONS WHILE THE GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATES WITH A UNION.
- COULD HAVE PRESIDENTIAL INTERVENTION.
- COLLECTIVE BARGAINING- PROCESS OF NEGOTIATION BETWEEN THE UNION AND MANAGEMENT REPRESENTATIVES OVER PAY, BENEFITS, AND JOB-RELATED MATTERS.
- GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES- PROVISION IN A LABOR CONTRACT THAT OUTLINES HOW FUTURE DISPUTES AND DISAGREEMENTS WILL BE RESOLVED.
- MEDIATION- PROCESS OF RESOLVING A DISPUTE BY BRINGING IN A NEUTRAL THIRD PARTY.
- ARBITRATION/ BINDING ARBITRATION- AGREEMENT BY TWO PARTIES TO PLACE A DISPUTE BEFORE A THIRD PARTY FOR BINDING SETTLEMENT.
- FACT-FINDING- AGREEMENT BETWEEN UNION AND MANAGEMENT TO HAVE A NEUTRAL THIRD PARTY COLLECT FACTS ABOUT A DISPUTE AND NON-BINDING RECOMMENDATIONS.
