Synopses & Reviews
This provocative book makes the case that trade unions must intervene in economic restructuring in order to halt the erosion of job quality in today's economy. The author, who is a professor at the Kogod College of Business Administration at The American University in Washington, D.C., specializes in labor-management relations and the social responsibilities of business and has brought both of these disciplines into focus for this book. Jacobs forcefully argues that collective bargaining is not merely a means to determine wages and benefits, but is also a powerful social tool that can move the corporation toward more socially responsible and responsive forms. While American unions are currently very weak, their regeneration should be a matter of public concern.
Jacobs considers shopfloor organization, health-care delivery, and public education in the United States, as well as the process of democratization in Poland and South Africa, and explains how transformational bargaining by trade unions may promote favorable outcomes. The author explores the conventional wisdom in industrial relations theory and argues that business unionism, which focuses on bread and butter, is not an adequate model for American labor. Instead, unions can and must negotiate profound change in organizations. Unions can win bargains that preserve jobs, alter product lines, extend ownership, and redraw organizational boundaries. These possibilities are illuminated in case studies on such topics as auto manufacturing, public schools and Italian unionism.
Synopsis
This provocative essay makes the case that trade unions must intervene in economic restructuring in order to halt the erosion of job quality in today's economy. Jacobs argues forcefully that collective bargaining is not merely a means to determine wages and benefits. It is a powerful social tool that can move the corporation toward more socially responsible and responsive forms. Jacobs challenges labor to be audacious in a moment of crisis and challenges corporations to be more forthright in developing and communicating employee involvement plans.
Synopsis
Asserts that trade unions must intervene in economic restructuring in order to halt the erosion of job quality in today's economy.
About the Author
DAVID C. JACOBS is Associate Professor of Labor, Business, and Society at the Department of Management, Kogod College of Business Administration, American University.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Adversary Participation and Transformational Bargaining
Business Unionism
Pragmatism, Social Intelligence, and Action
Management-Sponsored Reform
The Auto Workers Union
Teachers and Transformational Bargaining
Grand Bargains
Obstacles to Transformational Bargaining in the United States
International Experience with Transformational Bargaining
Conclusions: The Concept of Social Enterprise
A Dialogue
Appendix: The Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations