What Do Unions Do? : A Twenty-year Perspective

ISBN-13: 9781412805940 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 662 str.

James T. Bennett; Bruce E. Kaufman

Opis

One of the best-known and most-quoted books ever written on labor unions is What Do Unions Do? by Richard Freeman and James Medoff. Published in 1984, the book proved to be a landmark because it provided the most comprehensive and statistically sophisticated empirical portrait of the economic and socio-political effects of unions, and a provocative conclusion that unions are on balance beneficial for the economy and society. The present volume represents a twentieth-anniversary retrospective and evaluation of What Do Unions Do? The objectives are threefold: to evaluate and critique the theory, evidence, and conclusions of Freeman and Medoff; to provide a comprehensive update of the theoretical and empirical literature on unions since the publication of their book; and to offer a balanced assessment and critique of the effects of unions on the economy and society. Toward this end, internationally recognized representatives of labor and management cover the gamut of subjects related to unions. Topics covered include the economic theory of unions; the history of economic thought on unions; the effect of unions on wages, benefits, capital investment, productivity, income inequality, dispute resolution, and job satisfaction; the performance of unions in an international perspective; the reasons for the decline of unions; and the future of unions. The volume concludes with a chapter by Richard Freeman in which he assesses the arguments and evidence presented in the other chapters and presents his evaluation of how What Do Unions Do? stands up in the light of twenty years of additional experience and research. This highly readable volume is a state-of-the-art survey by internationally recognized experts on the effects and future of labor unions. It will be the benchmark for years to come.

Spis treści

1: What Do Unions Do? A Twenty-Year Perspective; 2: What Unions Do: Insights from Economic Theory; 3: Historical Insights: The Early Institutionalists on Trade Unionism and Labor Policy; 4: What Effect Do Unions Have on Wages Now and Would Freeman and Medoff Be Surprised?; 5: Unions and Wage Inequality; 6: The Effect of Unions on Employee Benefits and Non-Wage Compensation: Monopoly Power, Collective Voice, and Facilitation; 7: What Do Unions Do for Economic Performance?; 8: Union Voice; 9: What Do Unions Do to the Workplace? Union Effects on Management and HRM Policies; 10: Unionism and Employment Conflict Resolution: Rethinking Collective Voice and Its Consequences; 11: The Impact of Unions on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Turnover; 12: De-Unionization and Macro Performance: What Freeman and Medoff Didn’t Do; 13: Two Faces of Union Voice in the Public Sector; 14: Unionism Viewed Internationally; 15: Has Management Strangled U.S. Unions?; 16: Organized Labor’s Political Scorecard; 17: What Do Unions Do? Evaluation and Commentary; 18: What Do Unions Do? A Management Perspective; 19: What Do Unions Do? A Unionist’s Perspective; 20: What Do Unions Do? The 2004 M-Brane Stringtwister Edition

O autorze

Thomas S. Barrows