Workers, Managers, and Technological Change

Workers, Managers, and Technological Change: Emerging Patterns of Labor Relations contributes significantly to an important subject. Technological change is one of the most powerful forces transforming the American industrial relations In fact, the synergistic relationships between technology and indus­ system. trial relations are so complex that they are not well or completely understood. We know that the impact of technology, while not independent of social forces, already has been profound: it has transformed occupations, creating new skills and destroying others; altered the power relationships between workers and managers; and changed the way workers learn and work. Tech­ nology also has made it possible to decentralize some economic activities out of large metropolitan areas and into small towns, rural areas, and other coun­ tries. Most important, information technology makes it possible for interna­ tional corporations to operate on a global basis. Indeed, some international corporations, especially those based in the United States, are losing their national identities, detaching the welfare of corporations from that of particu­ lar workers and communities. Internationalization, facilitated by information technology, has trans­ formed industrial relations systems. A major objective of the traditional American industrial relations system was to take labor out of competition.

I. Introduction.- 1 Workers, Managers, and Technological Change.- I. Introduction.- II. The Growing Concern with Control.- III. Labor’s Changing Responses to Technological Change.- A. From Provider to Advocate: The Changing Role of the Unionin Responding to Technological Change.- B. Labor’s Measures for Preventing TechnologicalUnemployment.- C. Relief for the Displaced Worker.- IV. Plan of the Book.- II. Toward Unilateral Managerial Control?.- 2 Microchips and Macroharvests: Labor-Management Relations in Agriculture.- I. Political Economy of Agriculture and Unionization.- II. Structural Change and Its Consequences.- III. A Different Approach to Unionization.- A. Stability.- B. Product Boycotts.- IV. The Technological Challenge to Labor-Management Relations.- A. Tomatoes: The Mechanical Solution.- B. Lettuce: Squeezing the Labor Market.- V. Conclusion.- 3 The Eclipse of Craft: The Changing Face of Labor in the Newspaper Industry.- I. Introduction.- II. The Context of Technological Change: Industrial Dualism in theNewspaper Industry.- III. Technological Change and the Decline of Craftsmanship.- A. Composing Room.- B. Platemaking.- C. Pressroom.- D. Mailroom.- IV. Changes in Labor-Management Relations.- A. The Decline of Craft Consciousness and Control.- B. Craft Unionism in Transition: Toward Industrial Unionism?.- V. Conclusion.- 4 Technology and Control of the Labor Process: Fifty Years of Longshoring on the U.S. West Coast.- I. Introduction.- II. Control and Technology.- III. Technological Changes in Longshoring.- IV. Longshore Employment.- V. Collective Bargaining and Technology.- A. The Early Years (1934-1960).- B. The Mechanization and Modernization Agreements (1961-1970).- C. Post Mechanization and Modernization (1971-1984).- VI. The Shift in Control.- VII. Conclusions.- 5 Technological Change and Labor Relations in the United States Postal Service.- I. Introduction.- II. Theoretical Issues in the Analysis of Technology and LaborRelations.- A. Labor-Management Relations in Public Sector Organizations.- B. Technology and Labor Relations.- III. Technological Change in Mail Processing.- A. Mechanized and Automated Mail Processing.- B. The Nationwide Bulk Mail System.- C. Computerization of Mail Forwarding and Window Service.- IV. Labor Relations in the Post Office Prior to Reorganization.- A. Executive Orders 10978 and 10988 and Formal UnionRecognition in the Post Office.- V. Changes in the Postal Organization Structure after Passage of theReorganization Act.- VI. Postal Labor Relations, 1971-1985.- A. Conflicts over Wages and Job Security.- B. Further Conflict over Economic Control: Hiring, Promotion, Overtime, and Training.- C. Deskilling and Degradation of Postal Jobs.- D. Political Control: The Pace of Change and Work Standards.- E. Reassignment.- F. Safety and Health.- VII. Summary and Conclusion.- 6 Office Automation, Clerical Workers, and Labor Relations in the Insurance Industry.- I. Introduction.- II. Occupational Sex Segregation in Insurance.- III. The Impact of Technological and Organizational Change on The Insurance Industry Work Force.- A. Technological Change and Diffusion in the Insurance Industry.- B. Technology-Related Shifts in the Insurance Occupational Structure.- C. Displacement, Reassignment and Retraining.- D. Job Satisfaction and Interpersonal Work Relationships.- E. Declining Real Earnings in Insurance.- IV. Clerical Labor Relations in Insurance.- A. Clerical Workers: Organization and Issues.- B. Management’s Stance toward Clerical Labor.- C. The Disjunction between Clerical Labor and Management.- 7 Computerized Instruction, Information Systems, and School Teachers: Labor Relations in Education.- I. Introduction.- II. Conceptual Approach.- III. The Nature of Educational Organizations and Professional Autonomy.- IV. Teachers and Their Associations.- V. Technological Change in Education.- A. Computers in Education.- B. Development and Diffusion of Computers.- VI. The Effect of Technological Change on Teachers and Principals.- A. Computers, Educational Reform and Autonomy: National Developments.- B. Technological Change and Schools: The Local Level.- C. Computers and Professional Autonomy.- VII. Conclusions.- 8 Technology, Air Traffic Control, and Labor-Management Relations.- I. Introduction.- II. Developments in Air Control Technology.- III. Growing Concern with Hardware Adequacy.- IV. Changes in Air Control Labor Relations.- V. The 1981 Negotiations.- VI. Patco Decertification.- VII. Labor-Management Conflict over Workplace Control.- VIII. Conclusion.- III. Toward Labor-Management Cooperation?.- 9 Changing Technologies and Consequences for Labor in Coal Mining.- I. Introduction.- II. A Changing Industry.- A. Changes in the Use of Coal.- B. Technological Changes in the Production of Coal.- III. Changes among Miners and Managers.- A. Changes among Miners.- B. Changes among Managers.- IV. The Relations of Coal Miners and Coal Managers.- A. Miners, Managers and Mediation, 1945-1950.- B. Miners and Managers in Accord, 1950-1972.- C. Miners and Managers Without Accord, 1972 to Present.- V. Conclusion.- 10 Conflict, Cooperation, and the Global Auto Factory.- I. Introduction.- II. The Legacy of Conflict and Post-War Labor Relations.- A. Origins in Conflict—Pre-1950.- B. Post-War Balance of Power.- C. Collective Bargaining Issues and Agreements.- III. Causes of the Shift in Labor Relations.- A. Technological Change.- B. Economic Transition and Corporate Revitalization.- C. The Conflict over Control.- D. The Shift in the Balance of Power.- IV. The Emergence of New Labor Relations.- A. Job Security Measures.- B. Sharing the Wealth.- C. QWL and Cooperative Work Practices.- D. Strategic Planning and Decision Making.- V. Conclusion.- 11 Technological Change, Market Decline, and Industrial Relations in the U.S. Steel Industry.- I. Introduction.- II. The Steel Industry: A Brief Portrait.- III. Technological Change in the Steel Industry.- A. Technological Changes.- B. Management’s Failure to Introduce New Technologies.- IV. The Impact of Technological Changes on Skill Requirements.- V. The Emergence of Cooperative Labor Relations in Steel.- A. Labor-Management Relations over the Last Two Decades: The Collective Bargaining Agreements.- B. Labor’s Response to Technological Change.- C. Rise in Cooperative Arrangements and USWA Changes.- 12 Computer-Based Automation and Labor Relations in the Construction Equipment Industry.- I. Introduction.- II. Changes in Product Demand and Employment.- III. Technological Change and Employment Trends.- IV. Labor Relations.- A. Labor Relations History, 1960-1984.- B. Analysis of Changes in Labor Relations.- V. Conclusion.- 13 The Impact of Technological Change on Labor Relations in the Commercial Aircraft Industry.- I. Introduction.- II. Technological Change in Aircraft Production.- III. The Issue of Job Security.- IV. Unions in the Aircraft Industry.- V. Collective Bargaining in Aricraft Production: Recent Trends.- VI. Conclusions.- 14 Technological Change in the Public Sector: The Case of Sanitation Service.- I. Characteristics of Sanitation Service.- II. Conceptualizing Technological Change and Public Sector Labor Relations.- III. Quantitative Analysis of Technological Change, Sanitation Employment, and Unionization.- IV. Technological Change and the Sanitation Labor Relations Process.- V. The Sanitation Labor Relations Experience in Larger Context.- 15 Deregulation, Technological Change, and Labor Relations in Telecommunications.- I. Technological Change in Telecommunications.- II. The Political Economy of Telecommunications Regulation.- III. The Changing Industrial Organization of Telecommunications.- IV. Changes in the Workplace and Labor Relations.- A. Job Security.- B. Quality of Working Life.- C. Changing Labor Relations.- V. Conclusion.- IV. Conclusion.- 16 Labor-Management Cooperation or Managerial Control: Emerging Patterns of Labor Relations in the United States.- I. Introduction.- II. Theories of Work Place Control.- III. Developments in Labor-Management Cooperation.- A. World War I: Legitimizing Collective Representation.- B. 1920s: Collective Bargaining or Employee Representation?.- C. World War II: Limited Formal Cooperation.- D. 1970s-Present: Labor-Management Cooperation or Managerial Control?.- IV. Emerging Patterns of Labor Relations in the United States.