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Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 1225

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Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 1225 A Guide to Labor-Management Relations in the United States Bulletin No. 1225 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR James P. Mitchell, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis A Guide to Labor-Management Relations in the United States Bulletin No. 1225 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR lames P. Mitchell, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner March 1958 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. - Price $2.00 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Special Note Ten or more additional chapters are planned fo r this Guide. I f you wish to be notified when new chapters are available and how they might be obtained, fill out the form below and return it to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To: U. S. Department o f Labor No. 500 Bureau o f Labor S ta tistics Washington 25, D. C. Please notify me when new chapters are available for Bull. 1225, A Guide to Labor-Management Relations in the United States. Name _________ Organization _ Street address City and State i i i Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Preface The reports included in this bulletin were originally requested and prepared to furnish a brief guide to labor-management relations in the United States fo r visitin g trade unionists and management representatives of other countries. Their principal pur­ pose was to provide a larger perspective into which individual ob­ servations, reading, or experience might be fitted. The reports have also proved useful in various ways abroad, wherever b rie f and relatively simple descriptions of union and union-management activ­ itie s in the United States were needed. Many o f the reports have been translated into other languages for wider distribution. Similar needs exist at home. As evidenced by the requests received by the U. S. Department of Labor, there appears to be a continuous demand from students, workers, union members, and others, for brief descriptions and explanations of various facets of union a ctivity and labor-management relations. Many who seek to learn or to understand do not have, near at hand, a well-stocked labor library or other source from which answers to their questions might be obtained. The U. S. Department o f Labor's Bureau o f Labor S ta tistics, vdaose regular program in the field of industrial relations is geared largely to the needs of Government and of specialists in labor- management a ffa irs , has always regretted it s in a b ility , because o f s ta ff lim itations, to be o f greater service to the inquiring worker or student. Thus, the opportunity first to prepare these reports and then to make them generally available was welcomed by the Bureau. Labor-management relations in the United States are complex and dynamic. To scholars and to the people who participated in the developments described in these reports, it w ill be immediately apparent that the goal o f brevity sought in these reports might have been achieved at the cost of oversimplification. In order to con­ centrate on the current scene, and thus to f u l f i l l the purpose o f a guide, the evolution o f particular aspects o f labor-management rela­ tions and the historic struggles to gain union recognition are not accorded the attention they would merit in detailed histories. An annotated bibliography, now in preparation, will be added to these reports to enable the reader to examine more extensive sources in the fie ld . Hie initial audience for these reports, it must be remem­ bered, were people of other countries. The topics were selected primarily with their needs and interests in mind. Except fo r the deletion of appendices containing data already available in greater volume and detail in the United States, and the changes necessary to v Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Preface - Continued bring the reports reasonably up to date, the reports have not been significantly revised for domestic use. The 31 reports included in this volume are divided into four sections: (1) trade union activities; (2) collective bargaining; (3 ) labor-management relations in selected industries; and (4 ) gen­ eral. Additional reports now in preparation will be issued later fo r insertion in this volume. These reports were prepared in the Bureau's Division o f Wages and Industrial Relations by or under the direction o f Joseph W. Bloch. Theodore W. Reedy and Gwen V. Bymers prepared the in it ia l drafts o f most o f the reports in this series; Earl C. Smith, Harry P. Cohany, and P atricia B. Smith also made valuable contributions. Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Contents 1. Trade union a c tiv itie s : 1:01 Growth o f the trade union movement 1:02 Structure of the trade union movement 1:03 Administration of national unions 1:04 Administration of local unions 1:05 The unionization of white-collar workers 1:06 Workers' education 1:07 Trade union uses o f economic data 2. Collective bargaining: 2:01 The development o f co lle ctiv e bargaining 2:02 Grievance procedures 2:03 Voluntary arbitration 2:04 Mediation and conciliation 2:05 Union adjustment to technological change 2:06 Sharing productivity gains through collective bargaining 2:07 Union-management cooperation 2:08 Union participation in safety programs 2:09 Fringe benefits under co lle ctiv e bargaining 3. Labor-management relations in selected industries: 3:01 The automobile industry 3:02 The basic steel industry 3:03 Coal mining 3:04 The railroad industry 3:05 The apparel industries 3:06 The textile industries 3:07 The meatpacking industry 3:08 The petroleum industry 3:09 The construction industry 3:10 E lectric and gas u t ilitie s 3:11 The local transit industry 3:12 The maritime industry 3:13 Nonferrous metals mining 3:14 Agriculture General: 4:01 Glossary of current industrial relations terms v i i Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 1. Trade Union Activities Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 1:01 Growth of the Trade Union Movement 1 The growth and coming o f age o f the American labor move­ ment is linked in a very direct way to the economic, geographic, and political development.of the United States. In the Nation’ s formative years, many factors worked together to retard the growth o f unions, including the predominance o f small industries, the existence of the frontier and of free land for homesteading, a legislative and judicial climate frequently unfavorable to labor organization, and a widespread hostility among employers. As the Nation grew, most of these obstacles to unioniza­ tion disappeared. The frontier and free tillable land disappeared early in the present century as a real or potential way of escape for the dissatisfied or footloose worker. Factories grew into larger and larger units and, as management became more remote, workers f e l t the need for strong union representation to protect their interests. On the legislation front, laws favorable to the development o f unions were enacted. As a result o f these and other factors, unions have had a spectacular increase in membership, par­ ticularly in the last quarter century. The fir s t unions to appear in the United States were small independent organizations, concerned primarily with problems arising within their immediate environment. However, even from the formative days of the Nation, these isolated unions moved to com­ bine with similar organizations, f ir s t in their own communities to increase their strength in dealing with mutual problems. The for­ mation of community labor councils followed as a natural step. These councils never attained any position of major importance in the labor movement, although they did encourage local organizations to work together. Development o f National Unions The organization of national unions of workers in speci­ fic trades began shortly before the Civil War. By 1859, the stone­ cutters, hat fin ish ers, molders, and machinists had formed such organizations. Other national unions were organized during the war years (1861-65), notably the locomotive engineers, plasterers, bricklayers, masons, and cigarmakers. 1/ Other chapters in this series deal in more detail with the development o f collectiv e bargaining, the structure o f the trade union movement, and other matters which are part of the story of growth o f the trade union movement. ( 1) Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 2 National unions continued to increase in number and strength after the C ivil War. In transportation, the Railway Con­ ductors and the Firemen and Bnginemen formed unions origin a lly as mutual benefit associations, but which soon became collective bar­ gaining organizations. In other fields, the machinists and printers formed new national unions, while others, previously organized, ex­ tended and strengthened their jurisdictions.
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