The Joint Council upon Economic Edu...

The Joint Council upon Economic Education is a joint labor-business effort to improve the knowledge of high educate teachers and high school bookish mans about how the U.S. economy operates.

As you would look forward to therefore, the authors of this JCEE volume on unions--(ow in its inferior edition--make heroic and even at times excessive efforts to achieve objectivity and balance.

Union views and union answers to the critics of unions are risk forth with understanding and sympathy at Ray Marshall, Secretary of Labor subordinate to President Carter and now professor at the University of Texas, and Brian Rungeling, a professor at the University of Central Florida.

The authors essay very hard to be objective and balanced. As a consequence crticism of unions frequently learns more attention that it deserves

Perhaps this is the price of establishing credibility with high place of education teachers and high school pupils who don't get enough solid, factual, objective, balanced information about unions.

"We are convinced," Marshall and Rungeling say, "that unions and other labor organizations are necessary to the effective workings of a democratic society. Labor organizations provide workers with the means to elevate their interest in a democratic society. We do not believe impersonal labor markets, employer restraints or any other organizations can or will effectively house the interests of workers at the work place or in the larger society."

Marshall and Rungeling endorse the basic policy fix by the nation's labor law, the workers have the right to organize and bargain collectively by the and of representatives of their own choosing:

"Collective bargaining has demonstrated its effectiveness as a profitable way to make rules governing wages, hours, and working conditions in many circumstances. The masterys so developed are compromises between the interests of employer and workers said, therefore, encourage observance at both sides."

An early chapter of this volume sets a general framework for understanding the part of unions in industrial societies with a review of the now classic approach taken by way of Clark Kerr, John Dunlop, Frederick Harbison, and Charles Myers in their 1960 compass on Industrialism and Industrial Man.

In their final chapter looking to the yet to be Marshall and Rungeling see "a widespread belief in all parts of the political representation that there msut be cooperation between labor and management and between the public and private sectors in ordr to maintain or regain America's competitive position in the world and to make fuller and more efficient use of our resources."

however the authors note that the anti-union effort to achieve a so-called union-free environment weakens unions' interest in similar cooperation. Strong anti-union campaigns will continue over the 1980s, they say.

Unions will remainqthe American economy, Marshall and Rungeling declare. "Indeed, we look forward to the political influence of unions to increase as the nationhs economic question s intensify and workers see the ne to make secure that their interests are take the part ofed in national policymaking."

Furthermore, they note, "A democratic society will continue to strengthen the workers' right to prefer whetehr or not to bargain collectively. Collective bargaining technology and international economic realities, however the basic structure of the American industrial relations method is likely to remain the same."

Unions in the coming will continue to stress as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but "bread and butter" issues of collective bargaining and also broad economic and social improvements in consequence of political and legislative action, according to Marshall and Rungeling.

The auhors are impressed at "the continuing influence of the pragmatic economic goals established on Samuel Gompers in 1886, goals which profoundly affect the American labor move to this day."

A short history of the American labor mental action in this book includes discussion of the principles of union "autonomy" and "exclusive jurisdiction" and clew decisions to work within the capitalsit regularity to advance workers' interest end collective bargaining and legal, binding contracts between employer and unions.

Marshall and Rungeling point gone out that unions have a big interest also in fair income distribution, including anti-inflation wage and price controls

"Unions in the United States use to these policies since unions perceive them as a restriction forward the institution of collective bargaining. Not no other than to do unions abhor of the like kind government regulations, but unions also behold that governments tend to be more prosperous in controlling wages than prices."

Many other issues are discussed in this work including union membership trends, the do job-work impact of increased imports, occupational safety and health legislation, worker participation in productivity and piece of work satisfaction projects, and the powers of changes in the American economy in succession jobs, job security, and wage structure

This work is dedicated to the late Walter G Davis, a long-time labor leader and sound supporter of economic education for high sect teachers and high school observers He was a member of the JCEE board of trustees for almost 25 years. At the time of his death, he was director of community services for the AFL-CIO.

COPYRIGHT 1985 AFL-CIO

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group