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Contemporary Period

Contemporary Period. Lecture 1 Contingent Employment and Employment Conditions. Administrative. Reading for next time – Material in Boris and Lichtenstein (Article by Ross, “Temp Blues” and “Sweatshop Workers Speak Out”) and Perspectives on Work (Article by Sleigh). Review. 1970s and 1980s

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Contemporary Period

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  1. Contemporary Period Lecture 1 Contingent Employment and Employment Conditions

  2. Administrative • Reading for next time – Material in Boris and Lichtenstein (Article by Ross, “Temp Blues” and “Sweatshop Workers Speak Out”) and Perspectives on Work (Article by Sleigh)

  3. Review 1970s and 1980s • New patterns of unionism, bargaining and conflict • Government anti-unionism • Post-industrial society • Women in the labor force • White men in the labor force • New approaches to union organizing

  4. Today • Growth of Contingent Employment • New Technology and Employment Conditions

  5. I. Growth of Contingent Employment Categories workers classified as contingent • Temporaries • Part-timers • Seasonal workers • Consultants • Contractors • Free-lancers

  6. Characteristics of Contingent Employment • Insecurity • No career ladder • No fringe benefits • No unionization • Lack of legal protections • Many “temps” are really “perma temps” working for the same company for years

  7. Defenders of Contingent Employment • Claim employees want the flexibility • Provides employment that wouldn’t be there otherwise for people who need it • Employers need this to be able to compete in the global market place

  8. Opponents of Contingent Employment • In Europe, in several countries, temporary agencies are required to provide benefits • Part-time employees are entitled to proportional benefits • Employers will find employees unwilling to learn skills and insufficiently loyal

  9. II. New Technology and Employment Conditions • Physical difficulty of work • Injuries at work • Repetitive stress injuries • Ergonomics • Authoritarian rules • “on call”

  10. Growth of Sweat Shops • Both in older technologies (shoes and textiles) and in newer technologies (computers) • Employers increasingly demand that work comes before anything else • “Full service” employers

  11. Privacy at Work (and off) • Electronic Monitoring • Computer software that tracks how many key strokes you do per minute, how many seconds you are not working at the keyboard, what web sites you visit • Reading employees’ e-mail

  12. Privacy at Work (and off) • Telephone Monitoring • Camera monitoring • Supermarkets and Department stores • School buses • Hired Investigators • At work – to check for theft • Away from work – to check on absences

  13. Next Time • Unions in the contemporary period

  14. Contemporary Period Lecture 2 Unions and Strikes

  15. Administrative • Reading on Union Organization, Employers and the Law • Grady • Roth • Neither in B&L

  16. Review • Growth of Contingent Employment • New Technology and Employment Conditions

  17. Today • Union Membership and Organizing • AFL-CIO • Strikes in the Contemporary Period

  18. I. Union Membership and Organizing • What happened to union membership and union density in the 1990s? • Tremendous number of union mergers • Union interest in corporate governance

  19. Union Organizing • Continued failure of unions to organize fast enough to offset membership losses • Growing organization among new groups, especially of low wage and powerless workers • Successful organizing not based on the NLRB model

  20. Union Organizing • Organization of home health aids • Dramatic growth of unionization among graduate student teaching assistants • Union Network International

  21. Unionization in Higher Education • AAUP • Yeshiva Decision (1980) Supreme Court • Result was halt to faculty unionization in private universities • Sudden and dramatic growth of Graduate student unions in 1990s • Favorable NLRB decisions • Employers responded as they always do

  22. II. AFL-CIO • No seriously contested election for president since 1900 • 1995 coalition challenged Lane Kirkland with President of Service Employees, John Sweeney • Forced Kirkland’s resignation in favor of Secretary-Treasurer Tom Donahue • Donahue still lost to Sweeney

  23. II. AFL-CIO • New officers represented the new work force and the new unionism • Sweeney – Service Employees • Richard Trumka – United Mine Workers • Linda Chavez-Thompson - AFSCME

  24. II. AFL-CIO • AFL-CIO accepted need to diversify its own governing structures • Attempted to increase dramatically resources devoted to organizing • Developed the “union summer” program for college students • “Union City” campaign

  25. II. AFL-CIO: the split of 2005 • Underlying issues • “Change to Win” coalition failed to gain majority at 2005 AFL-CIO Convention • SEIU and Teamsters disaffiliated • Retaliation • New Federation

  26. III. Strikes in the Contemporary Period • Continued frequent use of strike replacements and threat of strike replacements • What happened to the pattern of strikes in the 1990s? • UPS strike - 1997

  27. Opportunities for Effective Strike Tactics • Tactics of graduate teaching assistants • Opportunities due to lean production and just-in-time inventory management • Beginnings of international union cooperation

  28. Next Time • Union Organization, Employers and the Law

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