CH02 - Labor Union

The four schools of thought show that labor problems can be traced to certain possible underlying causes. Which of the following are these causes? (Check all that apply.)

Lack of good manegement, Market failure, The domination of labor by the capitalist class

Absence of worker savings and constant unemployment

Lead individual workers to have inferior bargaining power than do employers

Contrary to the New Deal policies of the 1930s, postwar public policies on labor recognize employees' dependence on employers by _____.

necessitating nondiscrimination and disclosure requirements for employer-controlled terms and conditions of employment

In the context of the underlying causes of labor problem as identified by the four schools of thought, the industrial relations school of thought believes that _____.

labor unions are required to counter corporate bargaining power

According to the critical industrial relations school of thought, the division of labor is considered a strategy to _____.

make labor easily replaceable and therefore weak

Employers and employees are equal in the labor market and the legal arena if the basic assumptions of the _____ school of thought are fulfilled.

neoliberal

Unions are bad.

Alternative mechanisms attain a better balance among efficiency, equity, and voice than unions.

Why were labor laws protecting employees' rights to form unions passed? (Check all that apply.)

Because of the belief that it is not wise to depend on managerial benevolence Because of the belief that employee voice is significant in a democratic society

According to the critical industrial relations school of thought, conflict is not limited to higher wages or better benefits; it is a social conflict of unequal power relations or ____________

Class Conflict

Identify a true statement based on the unitarist view of employment relationship conflict.

Conflict is considered a manifestation of interpersonal clashes such as personality conflicts.

Which of the following are the views of the critical industrial relations school of thought on employment relationship conflict? (Check all that apply.)

Conflict is not restricted to higher wages or better benefits. Conflict is remarkably broader than the limited economic conflict in the pluralist view.

refers to fairness in the distribution of economic rewards, theadministration of employment policies, and the provision of employee security.

Equity

In the context of the effects of unionism, which of the following refers to a shock effect?

Existence of a union moves managers out of complacency and pressures them to create better managerial strategies that improve workplace efficiency.

True or false: According to the human resource management, industrial relations, and critical industrial relations schools of thought, labor is considered just a commodity in the production process.

FALSE

True or false: Research finds that unionized workers are more likely to quit than similar nonunion workers.

FALSE

According to the proponents of the pluralist view of employment relationship conflict, which of the following balance conflict by reaching a balance among efficiency, equity, and voice? (Check all that apply.)

Independent labor unions Government laws

Identify a statement that refers to the significance of the Occupy movement.

It brought the issue of 21st-century social and economic inequality into the public consciousness.

The critical industrial relations school

It forms the basis for the movement to revitalize unions by changing them into an aggressive protest movement that champions the working class.

The human resource management school

It is the basis for today's corporate human resource policies.

The neoliberal school

Its laissez-faire emphasis is predominant in national and international policy debates.

A social movement in which workers and unions from multiple workplaces join together to pursue common interests, most frequently in the political and social arenas, is known as a(n) .

LABOR MOVEMENT

Which of the following statements are true about the nature of labor according to the neoliberal school of thought? (Check all that apply.)

Labor is a commodity or machine in the production process. Work is an unpleasant task that one endures only to earn money.

The industrial relations school

Labor movements represent workers in the political domain just as the Chamber of Commerce represents business and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) represents senior citizens.

The critical industrial relations school

Labor movements that are active in the social and political domains are crucial for countering the dominant power of employers and finance.

Neoliberalism

Labor unions are bad.

Critical industrial relations

Labor unions are important but inadequate.

Human resource management

Labor unions are unnecessary.

Flawed information, mobility costs, and tilted benefit structures

Make it possible for firms to gain monopsony (single-buyer) power

Which of the following is true about a nonunion employee representation plan?

Managers usually control the way in which it is structured.

U.S. political and legal thought during the 1800s and early 1900s was dominated by laissez-faire perspectives consistent with the _____ school of thought.

Neoliberal

Which of the following is true about new U.S. laws pertaining to labor in recent decades, or the latter part of the 20th century?

New laws to empower worker bargaining power through unions and social safety nets have been largely nonexistent.

Which of the following refers to the anarcho-syndicalist perspective within the critical industrial relations school of thought?

Radical labor unions are the crucial revolutionary vehicle to overthrow capitalism and build a society controlled by workers.

Human resource management

School of thought: Effective management policies are the best, and labor unions contribute to unproductive conflict.

Industrial relations

School of thought: Labor unions are required to balance equity, efficiency, and voice in capitalist, democratic societies.

Neoliberalism

School of thought: Monopolies benefit a few at the expense of others.

True or false: According to a pluralist perspective, the relationship between a vibrant, independent labor movement and a healthy, balanced democratic society must be considered when evaluating labor unions.

TRUE

True or false: An individual's belief about his or her preferred mechanism for balancing efficiency, equity, and voice in the workplace is linked to how he or she thinks the employment relationship works as captured by the intellectual foundations of the options for determining employment terms and conditions.

TRUE

True or false: Labor movements give a voice for workers in the political arena.

TRUE

True or false: The industrial relations school of thought does not believe it is enough to depend on economic markets to fairly mediate the conflicting interests of employers and employees.

TRUE

True or false: The pluralist view of employment relationship conflict is that conflict has mixed motives; some problems are conflictual and some include mutual interests.

TRUE

The nonunion human resource management model of workplace governance came to dominate in the latter part of the 20th century instead of collective bargaining, which was an important model of workplace governance in the postwar period. What are the causes of this transformation? (Check all that apply.)

The development of nonunion companies Heavily unionized companies becoming less unionized because of the establishment of new nonunion plants in the southern United States

Which of the following schools of thought has a unitarist view of conflict in the employment relationship?

The human resource management school

In the context of the critical industrial relations school of thought, which of the following are considered strategies to prevent workers from unionizing? (Check all that apply.)

The perception of input through nonunion voice procedures, Building pro-company attitudes through the development of unique corporate cultures, Fair treatment using progressive human resources policies

The neoliberal school

The political activities of a labor movement are considered the use of power to benefit unionized workers at the expense of others.

According to the critical industrial relations school of thought, what is the cause of the labor problem?

The regulation of society's institutions and the means of production by specific classes or groups

Which of the following dominated U.S. political and legal thought during the 1800s and early 1900s?

The supremacy of the freedom to enter any kind of economic relationship without union or government interference

The neoliberal school

The union wage premium and reduced profitability are bad.

The industrial relations school

The union wage premium and reduced profitability lead to a more equitable distribution of economic prosperity than the inequalities created by imperfectly competitive labor markets and their inherent bargaining power imbalances.

The neoliberal school

The union wage premium and reduced profitability reflect the extent to which unions interfere with and distort optimal competitive results.

The industrial relations school

The union wage premium and reduced profitability signify a socially beneficial redistribution of income.

Which of the following is a finding of the research on the effects of unions on U.S. workers and workplaces?

There is a compressed, or less unequal, wage structure.

Identify the findings of the research on the effects of unions on U.S. workers and workplaces. (Check all that apply.)

There is a requirement for management to bargain with a certified union., There is an increased likelihood of benefits being offered.

According to recent research, identify a true statement about the effects of unions in the workplace.

There is no notable union-nonunion differences in job satisfaction once one accounts for differences in working conditions and workplace climate.

Labor unions

They are required to counter corporate bargaining power and also provide voice that is independent of managerial authority.

Statutory government regulations

They can attempt to establish labor standards, but they do not include employee voice.

In the context of the critical industrial relations school of thought, identify a true statement about the proponents of socialism.

They envisage a political rather than revolutionary movement away from capitalism.

Unionized workers in the United States are generally estimated to have wages approximately 15 percent higher than comparable nonunion workers. This is called the .

UNION WAGE PREMIUM

Unions are good.

Unions attain a better balance among efficiency, equity, and voice than do alternative mechanisms.

Identify a true statement about the effects of unionism.

Unions diminish employment growth but are unlikely to drive firms out of business.

Which of the following is a feature of a nonunion employee representation plan?

Which of the following is a feature of a nonunion employee representation plan?

According to the human resource management, industrial relations, and critical industrial relations schools of thought, identify the true statements about work. (Check all that apply.)

Work satisfies significant psychological and social needs of individuals. Work gives more than extrinsic, monetary rewards that reinforce consumerism.

According to the industrial relations school of thought, the labor market is characterized by _____.

bargaining between employers and individual employees

National labor policy is based on the supposition that the pluralist conflict in the employment relationship is best resolved through _____ to balance efficiency, equity, and voice.

collective bargaining

According to the neoliberal school of thought, work _____.

does not give intrinsic rewards

Many proponents of the various perspectives within the critical industrial relations school of thought are critical of the pragmatic, collective-bargaining focus of U.S. unions. This focus of U.S. unions _____.

fails to do enough to challenge the power of capital in and out of the workplace

According to the industrial relations school of thought, _____, independent of managerial authority, give checks and balances in the workplace and are crucial for protection and participation—equity and voice.

independent labor unions

The U.S. system of labor relations is based on the beliefs of the _____ school of thought in the context of the early 20th-century labor problem.

industrial relations

The intellectual bases of the U.S. system of labor relations originate from the _____ school of thought.

industrial relations

According to the critical industrial relations school of thought, the solution to the labor problem is to _____.

restructure the nature of capitalism

An effect of unions on U.S. workers and workplaces is that unions _____.

strengthen the likelihood of employee benefits

The thousands of complaints of quid pro quo sexual harassment filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that _____.

the arbitrary power of supervisors continues to exist

The U.S. labor relations system is based on the belief of the industrial relations school of thought that _____.

unequal bargaining power characterizes the employment relationship

U.S. labor law was fashioned and upheld by the courts based on President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. As a result, U.S. laws pertaining to labor unions and collective bargaining reflect the central belief of the industrial relations school that _____.

unions are required to counter corporate bargaining power and provide industrial democracy