Lecture 1 Contingent Employment and Employment Conditions Contemporary Period Lecture 1 Contingent Employment and Employment Conditions

Administrative Reading for next time – Material in Boris and Lichtenstein (Article by Ross, “Temp Blues” and “Sweatshop Workers Speak Out”) and Perspectives on Work (Article by Sleigh)

Review 1970s and 1980s New patterns of unionism, bargaining and conflict Government anti-unionism Post-industrial society Women in the labor force White men in the labor force New approaches to union organizing

Today Growth of Contingent Employment New Technology and Employment Conditions

I. Growth of Contingent Employment Categories workers classified as contingent Temporaries Part-timers Seasonal workers Consultants Contractors Free-lancers

Characteristics of Contingent Employment Insecurity No career ladder No fringe benefits No unionization Lack of legal protections Many “temps” are really “perma temps” working for the same company for years

Defenders of Contingent Employment Claim employees want the flexibility Provides employment that wouldn’t be there otherwise for people who need it Employers need this to be able to compete in the global market place

Opponents of Contingent Employment In Europe, in several countries, temporary agencies are required to provide benefits Part-time employees are entitled to proportional benefits Employers will find employees unwilling to learn skills and insufficiently loyal

II. New Technology and Employment Conditions Physical difficulty of work Injuries at work Repetitive stress injuries Ergonomics Authoritarian rules “on call”

Growth of Sweat Shops Both in older technologies (shoes and textiles) and in newer technologies (computers) Employers increasingly demand that work comes before anything else “Full service” employers

Privacy at Work (and off) Electronic Monitoring Computer software that tracks how many key strokes you do per minute, how many seconds you are not working at the keyboard, what web sites you visit Reading employees’ e-mail

Privacy at Work (and off) Telephone Monitoring Camera monitoring Supermarkets and Department stores School buses Hired Investigators At work – to check for theft Away from work – to check on absences

Next Time Unions in the contemporary period

Lecture 2 Unions and Strikes Contemporary Period Lecture 2 Unions and Strikes

Administrative Reading on Union Organization, Employers and the Law Grady Roth Neither in B&L

Review Growth of Contingent Employment New Technology and Employment Conditions

Today Union Membership and Organizing AFL-CIO Strikes in the Contemporary Period

I. Union Membership and Organizing What happened to union membership and union density in the 1990s? Tremendous number of union mergers Union interest in corporate governance

Union Organizing Continued failure of unions to organize fast enough to offset membership losses Growing organization among new groups, especially of low wage and powerless workers Successful organizing not based on the NLRB model

Union Organizing Organization of home health aids Dramatic growth of unionization among graduate student teaching assistants Union Network International

Unionization in Higher Education AAUP Yeshiva Decision (1980) Supreme Court Result was halt to faculty unionization in private universities Sudden and dramatic growth of Graduate student unions in 1990s Favorable NLRB decisions Employers responded as they always do

II. AFL-CIO No seriously contested election for president since 1900 1995 coalition challenged Lane Kirkland with President of Service Employees, John Sweeney Forced Kirkland’s resignation in favor of Secretary-Treasurer Tom Donahue Donahue still lost to Sweeney

II. AFL-CIO New officers represented the new work force and the new unionism Sweeney – Service Employees Richard Trumka – United Mine Workers Linda Chavez-Thompson - AFSCME

II. AFL-CIO AFL-CIO accepted need to diversify its own governing structures Attempted to increase dramatically resources devoted to organizing Developed the “union summer” program for college students “Union City” campaign

II. AFL-CIO: the split of 2005 Underlying issues “Change to Win” coalition failed to gain majority at 2005 AFL-CIO Convention SEIU and Teamsters disaffiliated Retaliation New Federation

III. Strikes in the Contemporary Period Continued frequent use of strike replacements and threat of strike replacements What happened to the pattern of strikes in the 1990s? UPS strike - 1997

Opportunities for Effective Strike Tactics Tactics of graduate teaching assistants Opportunities due to lean production and just-in-time inventory management Beginnings of international union cooperation

Next Time Union Organization, Employers and the Law