UNIONS INSIDE & OUT
Garman, Phillips L.
Unions Inside & Out PATTERN FOR INDUSTRIAL PEACE, by William Foote Whyte. Harper and Brothers. 242 pp. $3.50. THE HOUSE OF LABOR—In-ternal Operations of American Unions, edited by J. B. S. Hardman...
...But, unlike some of the other recent "human relations" studies, it gives realistic weight to the economic and social conflicts which are involved in collective bargaining...
...The book suffers, as might be expected, from considerable uneven-ness...
...The book is therefore a welcome addition to the literature and should prove a stimulus to more analytical study of what really makes unions tick, as well as how and why...
...From the point of view of the initiate, too much of it is straight description of the beams and joists of the House of Labor, and not enough of it is analytical of the foundation and cement, let alone the dynamic life going on in the various rooms of the House...
...The significant contributions in recent years have dealt largely with collective bargaining, government relationships, and "human relations in industry...
...Hardman is a keen and salty veteran intellectual of the labor movement, having served with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers in many of its pioneering ventures...
...This management, however, at the same time showed enough flexibility and leadership to take the union into the picture and work with it, in such a way as to permit both management and union to make some progress toward their respective and mutual goals...
...II The House of Labor, as its subtitle indicates, deals with the internal operations or institutional aspects of unions...
...and "activities...
...The second half of the book, of interest particularly to the serious student, analyzes and spells out these "principles" into a theory of human relations as applied to union-management problems...
...In many ways the story is typical of the mutual adjustments and "accommodations" which have occurred between new unions and managements in the mass production industries in the United States within the past 25 years...
...How generally applicable and useful these principles are (particularly where collective bargaining is carried on, on a multi-plant, corporation, or industry-wide basis) may be open to some real debate...
...For my money, awareness of and experimentation with these principles will certainly not produce a millennium, but may make for a far larger degree of union-management cooperation at the plant level than will otherwise be achieved...
...The other 45-odd contributors are made up of persons within or around the labor movement (largely "intellectuals" in staff positions), university professors, government experts, and miscellaneous researchers...
...Neufeld, the other editor, like the reviewer, speaks from the vantage (and disadvantage) point of a professor of industrial relations...
...549 pp...
...It is also a thorough case study by a professor of sociology of the "human relations" between the leaders of a Chicago local of the Steelworkers Union and a medium-sized plant of the Inland Steel Container Company from 1937 to 1950...
...In general, the book gives a good-over-all picture of certain aspects of the American labor movement...
...The Whyte book, in the first 143 pages, tells a revealing story which competes with many novels and adventure tales for sheer human interest and excitement...
...Reviewed by Phillips L. Garman HERE are two quite different and fascinating books for the layman as well as the serious student of dynamic problems...
...7.50...
...For in the majority of such situations the leaders of management and the unions have not been as skillful, flexible, and farsighted in their dealings with each other...
...But in other ways the story is, unfortunately, unique...
...symbols...
...It gives a vivid picture of the development of the union from an initial spontaneous sit-down strike to the more recent period in which the parent International Union helped to provide more stable and imaginative leadership...
...Prentice-Hall...
...The picture is much more applicable though, for some of the "progressive" unions in the garment, textile, and mass production industries than for the "old line" established unions in such industries as construction, transportation, printing, etc...
...These principles are developed out of an analysis and application of four concepts: "interaction" (of individuals and groups...
...Few managements, other than some affected by competitive crises, have been willing to accept wholeheartedly the olive-branch of cooperation when tentatively tendered by a union leader...
...THE HOUSE OF LABOR—In-ternal Operations of American Unions, edited by J. B. S. Hardman and Maurice F. Neufeld...
...On the other hand, several of the articles are excellent contributions to the field of labor institutionalism which has been relatively barren since the earlier pioneering work by Commons, Perlman, Hoxie, and Mill-is et al...
...sentiments" (or what the psychologist would call attitudes...
...These sections, however, are certainly informative for laymen and college stude'nts, and it is probably for the latter that it will prove most useful...
...On the other side, it depicts the sharp contrast between the former autocratic, yet inefficient, management and the slow, painful development of a new management toward more effective controls...
...The story emphasizes personal factors and human relationships in a manner which reveals key factors in building sounder relationships...
...Yet Whyte's account suggests that it is not only entirely feasible, but also the sensible thing from the point of view of most managements, as well as unions, provided his essential "principles" of human relations are observed...
...It is to be hoped, however, that some further and more detailed application of them to other case situations will be made not only by scholars but also by representatives of unions and managements...
Vol. 15 • October 1951 • No. 10
