The question is should a worker have the ability to stop work as part of their collective bargaining rights at the expense of the public good. And, how much is the public good actually represented by the interests of the organization the company is striking against vs. its own selfish interests?
Ultimatately wokers should have the right to choose when they will work and under what conditions. The Taft-Harley Act is aply labeled the "slave-labor" bill. As economist Murray Rothbard explains,
There is no moral excuse, in a socity claiming to be opposed to slavery and in a country which has outlawed involuntary servicture, for any legal or judicial action probibiting strings-or jailing union leaders who fail to comply. Slavery is all too often more convenient for the slavemasters."
Further, if the public good is truly at stake, public pressure will help ensure that a strike is quickly resolved by placing pressures…...
mlaBibliography
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
Gordon, Jerry. "The Taft-Hartley Act: Why the American Labor Movement Called it a "Slave Labor Bill. http://www.owcinfo.org/campaign/ILWU/Slave%20Labor%20Act.htm
Harry S. Truman." The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=12675
Taft-Hartley Act. Labor Act http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0847620.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft-Hartley_Act "Taft-Hartley
American Labor Movement
The "labor question," its origins, components, and whether or not it is still relevant.
The "labor question" is the foundation of the American Labor Movement. Drawing from our classwork and paraphrasing Rosanne Currarino's modern restatement of the "labor question(s)": "hat should constitute full participation in American society? hat standard of living should citizens expect and demand?" (Currarino 112). Concerned with the ideal of an industrial democracy, including a more equitable society with social and financial betterment of working class people, the "labor question" arose during and in response to America's 19th Century (Second) Industrial Revolution. America's Industrial Revolution occurred within the "Gilded Age," named by Mark Twain (Mintz), and lasting roughly from the end of the U.S. Civil ar until the beginning of orld ar I (D.C. Shouter and RAKEN Services). Fueled in part by refined coal and steam power, the American Industrial Revolution transformed America from an agrarian…...
mlaWorks Cited
AFL-CIO. Samuel Gompers (1850-1924). 2012. Web. 7 February 2012.
Currarino, Rosanne. The Labor Question in America: Economic Democracy in the Gilded Age. Urbana, Chicago and Springfield, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2011. Print.
D.C. Shouter and RAKEN Services. "The Gilded Age - Industrial Revolution in America." 2011. Raken.com Web site. Web. 7 February 2012.
Dictionary.com, LLC. Xenophobia. 2012. Web. 7 February 2012.
labor movement in the United States started due to the need for protecting the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, the labor unions normally fought for various things including reasonable working hours, better wages and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts in stopping child labor, providing aid to workers that were injured or retired and even giving health benefits to them. The origins of this labor movement lay in the formative years of the American nation when there was the emergence of a free wage labor market in the artisan trades during the late colonial period. The earliest documented strike took place in 1768 when the New York journeymen tailors expressed their dissatisfaction with the wage reduction.in 1794 the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers in Philadelphia was formed which marked the beginning of sustained trade union organization among the workers in America (…...
mlaReferences
A&E Television Networks, LLC.(2014).Labor Movement.Retrieved May 13,2014 from http://www.history.com/topics/labor
Teamsters for a democratic union.(2014).Building Solidarity Beyond Your Workplace or Local. .Retrieved May 13,2014 from http://www.tdu.org/resources/building-solidarity-beyond-your-workplace-or-local
Status of the Labor Movement
While labor movements are not as conspicuous today as they were in previous years, they still assume an essential part in representing and protecting the American workforce. Sweatshop conditions that were eradicated at some point are back to the U.S. workplace. Poor workers from foreign countries have been continuous victims of sweatshops. As a result, unions, social activists, and labor groups have reacted by mobilizing campaigns on awareness and lobbying political leaders for action about employee contracts.
Labor movements are essential in the current labor market through the reporting and monitoring of exploitative working conditions. This is because they permit representatives to viably bargain for their wages and provide an emotionally supportive network for workers. Unions provide a check against employers who attempt to infringe the privileges of laborers. The destiny of the labor movement is premised on the destiny of American democracy. Lack of a strong…...
mlaReferences
Dubofsky, M. (2009). The state & labor in modern America. Chapel Hill u.a: Univ. Of North Carolina Press.
Sloane, A.A. & Witney, F. (2010). Labor relations (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wheeler, H.N. (2012). The future of the American labor movement. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press.
status labor movement? Make include viewpoint. eference the current state of the labor movement in contemporary times is somewhat tenuous. Although there are noticeable signs of progress and success within this movement, labor forces, and labor unions in particular, face a number of challenges that they have never had to face before. The primary difficulty that the labor movement faces is how to incorporate white collar workers into labor unions in a substantial manner so that union memberships can be at the levels that they once were at.
To that extent, it is important to discuss the difficulties encountered by labor unions when attempting to recruit white collar workers. These difficulties certainly include media perceptions, as is denoted in Labor elations. The media, which is always ready to vilify its subjects and to shape public perception by scaring it about the current events taking place, has routinely depicted unions and…...
mlaReferences
Sloane, A.A. & Witney, F. (2010). Labor relations (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
21, 388). Steinbeck's tone throughout is one of the owners' impending doom. ut their violent and cruel methods keep them in control.
The labor perspective is posed against this. Tom angrily mentions a strike. He says, "Well, s'pose them people got together an' says, 'Let 'em rot.' Wouldn't be long 'fore the price went up, by God!" (ch. 20, 336). He is told that the owners find out who the labor movement leaders are and jail or kill them. y the end of the novel, there is not much redeeming. The workers are exploited. The closest they come to organizing in unions is in the migrant camps. This does not help them overcome the powerful owners. Strikes are broken up because there are just too many people who are desperate for anything. Yet the Joad family falls into luck with cotton picking. This is symbolized in chapter twenty-eight with their…...
mlaBibliography
Denning, Michael. The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century. London: Verso, 1996.
Kannenberg, Lisa. "Great Depression: 1930s." In Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History, ed. Eric Arnesen, vol. 2: G-N, 542-547. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Levant, Howard. "The Fully Matured Art: The Grapes of Wrath." In John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath, ed. Harold Bloom (Modern Critical Interpretations), 17-44. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.
Pizer, Donald. "The Enduring Power of the Joads." In John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath, ed. Harold Bloom (Modern Critical Interpretations), 83-98. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.
Amico, Deborah.(2011).Providing Worker Education and Building the Labor Movement: The Joseph S. Murphy Institute of City University of New York. Adult Learning; Winter2011, Vol. 22 (1)
In this paper, D'Amico discusses the provision of worker education as well as the building of the labor movement activities that takes place at Joseph S. Murphy Institute of City University of New York (CUNY).This educational facility is dedicated to the provision of worker education as well as the building of the city's labor market. The author indicates that the institute is active in the provision of workers access to education as well as advancement should they seeks it. The article also mentions that the institute is also involved in the coalescing of the labor-management education funds as well as academic departments with the widely accepted industry expertise in order to create the best programs that can adequately serve the union members.
Martin, Larry C.,…...
mlaReferences
D'Amico, Deborah.(2011).Providing Worker Education and Building the Labor Movement: The Joseph S. Murphy Institute of City University of New York. Adult Learning; Winter2011, Vol. 22 (1) p12-17
Martin, Larry C., Smith, Regina O (2011).Pre-Apprenticeship Urban Workforce Training Programs. Adult Learning; Winter2011, Vol. 22 (1), p23-27
Maslow, A.H. (1998). Maslow on management. New York: Wiley.
In regards to the on-going projects hosted by the UFE (United for a Fair Economy), two current campaigns include preserving the U.S. Federal Estate Tax and global economic justice. With the Federal Estate Tax, the UFE sees this as crucial to defending a progressive taxation system and wishes to "continue the fight to keep a reformed estate tax" ("UFE Programs and Projects," 2007, Internet) in order to assist Americans who live mostly in the middle classes as compared to the wealthy who would greatly benefit from the elimination of the estate tax. As to global economic justice, the UFE sees this as mandatory in order to help low-wage workers in all parts of the world and considers this as part of the acial Wealth Divide program which addresses the racial disparities of wealth. Clearly, these projects, if successfully implemented, will greatly assist low-wage and dispossessed workers and laborers by providing…...
mlaReferences
UFE Programs and Projects." (2007). UFE: United for a Fair Economy. Internet. Retrieved January 25, 2009 at http://www.faireconomy.org/about_ufe/programs_and_projects.
UNI Global Union." (2005). Internet. Retrieved January 25, 2009 at 26?OpenDocument.http://www.uniglobalunion.org/uniflashes.nsf/by%2BDate/832E3AA27FC18A17C1256FDC00392D
Labor Organizations
Discuss the similarities and differences between at least three labor organizations discussed in Chapter 3.
The Knights of Labor was a standard labor union comprised of individual workers across the nation. They were inclusive in terms, employing both skilled workers in crafts industries as well as unskilled laborers such as coalminers. (Rayback, 1966, p. 168). They had limited political objectives such as the eight-hour workday and the prohibition of child and convict labor. Their broader objectives were social: to improve the image and social status of the working man.
The AFL was not a labor organization, but a federation of affiliated labor unions. (Dubofsky & Foster, 2004, p. 138). The AFL was exclusive, accepting skilled workers in crafts industries and skilled workers in industry. The AFL's goals were economic, they provided financial and political support for affiliated labor unions in contract negotiations with employers. (Dubofsky & Foster, 2004, p. 139). The…...
mlaWorks Cited
Chaison, G. (2006). Unions in America.
Foner, P.S. (1997). History of the Labor Movement in the United States, Vol. 4: The Industrial Workers of the World 1905-1917.
Rayback, J.G. (1966). A History of American Labor.
Dubofsky, M. & Foster, R. (2004). Labor in America: A History.
Labor
The Department of Labor is present today to promote, foster and develop the welfare of the employees or the labor force in the United States. The labor system focuses on the improvement of the working conditions and the fulfillment of opportunities for more profitable employment. As it would be known, rules and regulations are there to keep things in order. Similarly, the Labor system in the country is guided by laws that guarantee the rights and privileges of the labor force of the country.
The Department of Labor has made laws concerning working conditions, minimum hourly wage, and freedom from employment discrimination, worker's compensation and unemployment insurance. The labor system also aids in job training programs and it helps workers find jobs. Everyone needs a decent source of income and if a person has some sort of skill or talent, they should definitely make use of it.
The basic feature of the…...
mlaReferences
Baron, J.N., Jennings, P.D. & Dobbin, F.R. (1988). Mission control? The development of personnel systems in us industry. American Sociological Review, pp. 497 -- 514.
Bronfenbrenner, K. (1996). Role of union strategies in nlrb certification elections, the. Indus. & Lab. Rel. Rev., 50 p. 195.
Democratizing the Global Economy: Empowering Workers, Building Democracy, Achieving Shared Prosperity. (2005). [e-book] Available through: AFL-CIO [Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].http://www.aflcio.org/content/download/6904/74567/file/res_6.pdf
Lindsey, A. (1964). The pullman strike. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.
Movements
Whether or not it was the direct intention of our forefathers, it has been the Bill of Rights that has allowed for the existence of various movements throughout U.S. history. he right to assembly, the right of free speech and the guarantee of a free press have allowed for the various movements to be tolerated, even when they represented but a small minority of society. heir existence has served as a safety valve to keep internal pressure from building and exploding.
Every movement --whether we are speaking of civil rights, anti-war, and progressive, as well as labor, anti-nuclear, prohibition, and suffrage -- moved from the fringe where its diehard constituents kept the flame burning, no matter the political climate, to the forefront through the building of coalitions and partnerships that coalesced with a common, usually homogenized sense of purpose. Movements in this country have not only developed to spread the gospel…...
mlaThe anti-war movements in this country have probably had the most tenuous grip, as except for the most determined pacifists, the ending of conscription at various times (another example of government co-opting a movement's ideals) has taken the wind out of its sails.
The progressive movement a label that has been adopted by many throughout history was most prominent as an active force in this country in the period between 1900 and 1920. It held the unique distinction of being an anti-movement movement and was largely the result of the fear of socialism. Ironically it was probably responsible for the largest number of institutionalized changes in this country as Roosevelt and the captains of industry sought to head-off more sweeping reforms that would have been enacted without their presence. In that way it had always been co-opted by the government.
All movements are problem-based, have traditionally required charismatic leaders, and the self-righteous attitude that its ideals are the realization of the ideals of our forefathers. The best way to kill any movement has always been to either eliminate the problem or the perception of such, or to have its mission adopted by the powers in control.
Labor and Union Studies in ashington and Oregon States
The United States labor movement has its roots in the complex trappings of the industrial revolution. Laborers were just starting to come to the United States from foreign countries because they had learned that there were many jobs available for even the most unskilled worker. People were also moving from rural areas in America to the cities in an attempt ti have a better life also without the uncertainties that governed farm profits. The growth in many industries was a result of new technologies that allowed people to purchase items that had previously been made by hand far cheaper because the products could now be mass produced in the factories. The problem was that the owners of these factories did not care how the workers were treated because there were many more begging to have a low-paying job in a factory filled…...
mlaWorks Cited
Bloom, Nick, Toby Kretschmer, and John van Reenen. Work-Life Balance, Management Practices and Productivity. London: London School Of Economics -- Center for Economic Performance, 2006. Print.
Brundage, Michael. "Working at Microsoft." qbrundage. Web.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Union Membership in Oregon -- 2010." United States Department of Labor (2010). Web.
Grant, Michel, and Jean Harvey. "Unions and Productivity: Convergence or Divergence in Perspectives." International Studies of Management & Organization 22.4 (1992): 93-98. Print.
The open and free market economies proved successful from a management perspective, and government supported the primacy of the profit motive.
The consequences of these fluctuations has been a system that favors management in the United States. Labor unions have been systematically ridiculed socially, lumped together with communism and therefore derided by the American public. Similarly, labor unions have lost their political clout to a certain degree, and management has secured political power over laborers. Wages have remained deplorably low, so low that income disparity in the United States resembles that of Third World nations. Income disparity in the United States is the steepest of any other industrialized nation. Countries with strong labor laws such as the nations of northern Europe tend to be more egalitarian societies with fewer class distinctions and less of a wealth gap. The American model allows unbridled business growth at the expense of social justice.
eferences
Freeman,…...
mlaReferences
Freeman, R. (1996). Solving the new inequality. Boston Review. Retrieved April 13, 2007 at http://bostonreview.net/BR21.6/freeman.html
Labor and Monopoly Capital
HAY BAVEMAN's book Labor and Monopoly Capital carries the tradition of Marxist schools. The author focuses on the labor process under the Fordism, arguing that how the work, under the discipline of scientific management, becomes disjointed, dull, and repetitive. According to him, the work is degraded. Like Marx, Braverman is a deterministic and looks into the question of how technological change in Fordism affected the attributes of work and the discrimination of working class.
The labor process under capitalism is one of the central themes of Braverman. Its main emphasis lies in providing a voice to the working-class movement. Taking his insights from Marx, Braverman is considered the latest follower that has accurately appreciated the profundity of Marx's work. Supporting his work from Marx himself, and drawing on his own experience as a trained craftsman, a socialist militant and journalist, and a manager of two publishing concerns in…...
mlaReferences
Harry Braverman, "Automation: Promise and Menace," The American Socialist, October, 1955, pp. 7-12.
Harry Braverman, "The World of Work," The American Socialist, June 1959, pp. 12-18.
The Great ailroad Strike of 1877 was the nations' first major rail strike and witnessed the first general strikes in the country's history. The strikes and the violence it brought about temporarily paralyzed the country's commerce and led governors in ten states to mobilize sixty thousand militia members to reopen rail traffic. The strike would be broken within a few weeks, but it also helped set the stage for later violence in the 1880's and 1890's, including the Haymarket Square bombing in Chicago in 1886, the Homestead Steel Strike near Pittsburgh in 1892, and the Pullman Strike in 1894 (1877: The Great ailroad Strike, 2006).
There have been many protests in American history against corporations, industrialists, bankers, Wall Street and the economic devastation their unregulated activities including the 19th-century labor movement that featured thousands of strikes and protests. The current protest that can be compared to that of the Great ailroad…...
mlaReferences
1877: The Great Railroad Strike. (2006). Retrieved from http://libcom.org/history/articles/us -rail-strikes-1877
Hogarty, R.A. (2001). Leon Abbett's New Jersey: the emergence of the modern governor.
Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society.
Mullen, S. (2011). The Strikes of 1877 & 1886: Historic Precedents For Occupy Wall Street.
1. The impact of the Salt March on the Indian independence movement
2. The role of women in the Harlem Renaissance
3. The influence of Chinese immigrants on the development of the American railroad system
4. The forgotten history of the Mexican Repatriation during the Great Depression
5. The impact of the Stonewall Riots on the LGBTQ rights movement
6. The role of Native American code talkers during World War II
7. The history of Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War II
8. The significance of the Zoot Suit Riots in the history of civil rights in America
9. The contributions of Filipino farmworkers....
Labor Unions: Uniting Workers for Collective Empowerment
Labor unions have played a pivotal role in shaping the modern workforce, empowering workers to collectively bargain for better working conditions, wages, and benefits. Through their advocacy efforts, unions have been instrumental in establishing crucial labor laws and safeguarding workers' rights. However, their impact extends beyond the economic sphere, fostering a sense of solidarity and community among members and contributing to broader social and political change.
The Historical Role of Labor Unions
The origins of labor unions can be traced back to the early days of industrialization, when workers faced rampant exploitation and unsafe working conditions.....
International Women's Day: An Evolving Movement for Gender Equality
International Women's Day (IWD), celebrated annually on March 8th, has played a pivotal role in the advancement of gender equality over more than a century. Its evolution has been marked by shifting priorities, innovative strategies, and measurable achievements.
Early Origins (1908-1950s): Labor Rights and Suffrage
The origins of IWD can be traced back to the early 20th century, amid growing industrialization and the emergence of women's labor movements. The first IWD was celebrated in 1908 in the United States, organized by the Socialist Party of America. It primarily focused on advocating for women's labor....
Friedrich Engels' Influence on the Development of Socialist Thought
Friedrich Engels, a German philosopher, sociologist, and political economist, played a pivotal role in the development of socialist thought alongside his close collaborator, Karl Marx. Engels' ideas, particularly his contributions to historical materialism, class struggle, and internationalism, left an enduring mark on the socialist movement and continue to shape socialist thought today.
Historical Materialism
Engels collaborated with Marx in formulating the theory of historical materialism, which holds that the mode of production - the way in which a society produces its goods and services - is the primary determinant of its social, political, and....
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