Editorial Reviews
Book Description
There are no prerequisites to this book beyond an interest in labor-management relations. It has been designed to serve as an aid to all readers whether undergraduate students, graduate students, or practitioners who desire a basic understanding of unionism in its natural habitat. With such a thrust, however, the volume focuses on certain areas, necessarily minimizing the treatment of others. Labor Relations brings in, for example, sufficient economic material to allow a fundamental appreciation of the union-management process and stops at that point. Throughout, it has tried to make the various topic treatments short enough to be interesting while at the same time long enough to do justice to the subject. On the other hand, it in no way restricts itself to what is commonly described as collective bargaining. Its focus is on the negotiation and administration of labor agreements, with emphasis on the more significant bargaining issues as they now appear between the covers of the contracts. And these topics cannot profitably be studied in isolation. Labor relations can best be viewed as an interaction between two organizations management and the labor union and the parties to this interaction are always subject to various, often complex, environmental influences. Only after the reader gains an understanding of the evolving management and labor institutions, and only after the environment surrounding their interactional process has been appreciated, can he or she attempt to understand bargaining itself in any satisfactory way. The book consequently begins with a broad overview of the general nature of the labor-management relationship as it currently exists in the United States (Part I). It then moves to a survey of the historical, legal, and structural environments that so greatly influence contractual contents and labor relations behavior (Part II). Finally, it presents a close examination of the negotiation, administration, and major contents of the labor agreement itself (Part III). Through description, analysis, discussion questions, minicases (many of them with ethical dimensions) and selected arbitration cases drawn from the authors' own experiences, understanding of all these aspects of labor relations will, hopefully, be imparted. This eleventh edition, the second one written since Fred Witney's 1999 death, is marked by many changes. These are mainly additions, although all of the chapters have been given some streamlining and the new volume is essentially the same in size as its predecessors. Even in the three years since the tenth edition, developments in the field have called for the inclusion of new material on such topics as labor's increased emphasis on both organizing the unorganized and political action, George W. Bush and labor, unions and cyberspace, the remuneration of labor leaders, the U.S. Supreme Court and labor arbitration, collective bargaining in major league sports, and a host of other subjects. I have also enlarged upon the book's prior treatment of white collar unionism, unions and public opinion, union finances, national emergency strikes, and the merger of AFL-CIO affiliates, to cite only a few other recipients of greater journalistic attention. And the discussion of many additional topics has, of course, been given a significant updating. A multitude of new visual aids are included also, as are several new arbitration cases, an extensively revised bibliography, an amended mock negotiation problem, and quite a few added discussion questions. Nonetheless, I have exercised self-restraint in the rewriting. Only changes that can be defended on the grounds of general improvement of Labor Relations have been incorporated. I have always firmly believed in the old Puritan dictum that "nothing should ever be said that doesn't improve upon silence," and also share with the late Calvin Coolidge the conviction that "if you don't say anything, no one will ever call upon you to repeat it."
Book Info
(Pearson Education) A broad and balanced overview of labor relations, including historical, legal and structural environments, arbitration cases, and an examination of the negotiation, administration, and major contents of the labor agreement itself. Also offers a new glossary and revised bibliography. Previous edition: c1997. DLC: Industrial relations--United States.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Labor Relations, 11th Edition
Labor Relations, 11th Edition,Arthur A. Sloane,Fred Witney,Prentice Hall,0131006827,Business/Economics,Collective Bargaining,Development - Business Development,Entrepreneurship,Industrial And Labor Relations,Industrial relations,Labor & Industrial Relations - General,Political Science,Politics / Current Events,United States,Business & Economics / Human Resources & Personnel Management
English Books:
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