Burying the Picket
Schlossberg, Stephen
Burying the Picket by Slephen SchlossDerg Every so often an event takes place that doesn’t grab much attention but that has genuine potential to change this country forthe better. I think one...
...The quo for that quid is that management pledged not to close more packing houses for 18 months, and to provide advance warning of closures after that...
...The reason this isn’t as alarming for American workers as it sounds is that in this recession, labor is getting something in exchange for its wage restraint, not only in the auto industry, but in much of the rest of the economy as well...
...Collective bargaining has joined litigation as the quintessence of the adversarial system...
...This kind of sea-change in attitudes isalready in evidence...
...This adversarial relationship can never be ended entirely-the fight against unfair labor practices, for example, will always require confrontation through legal avenues...
...GM’s approach was equally outrageous...
...Complicated doctrines of law have been developed to deal with such basic matters as plant closings and subcontracting...
...Adversarial labor-management relations may be a luxury the American economy can simply no longer afford...
...But the auto bargaining of 1982 can serve as a model for labor-management relations throughout the economy...
...Some see the settlement as an ominous transfer of power from workers to industry...
...Pilot “lifetime employment guarantee” programs at four plants at GM, two at Ford...
...Rescinding of announced decisions to close four plants (GM only...
...Employers of all kindsand sizes are trying to open contracts and force union concessions because they’ve had a bad yea’r...
...The company, which lost $393 million in 1981, made this request shortly after paying $6-million-worth of yearend bonuses to its managers...
...Unions use the law to organize and advocate more for their members...
...But there is something else-something far more encouraging-at work here, I think: the idea of unions caring more about the basic health of American industry has transcended the pain and suffering of this particular recession...
...Real security would not mean protecting incompetent or dishonest workers, or outmoded, useless facilities, but it would mean preventing companies from closing plants or laying off workers because their profits aren’t high enough...
...The problem with both these views is that they ignorenotjusttheevidenceofthe auto agreements (Ford workers, dealing with enlightened management, ratified the agreement by an impressive 73 percent), but also the practicality of a cooperative approach...
...A Guaranteed Income Stream (GIS) program to protect workers with ten years’ seniority laid off in plant closings and with 15 years’ seniority in other cases, retroactive to March 1. The income stream, a percentage of take-home pay, is to flow until the worker reaches 62 or retires...
...After the UA W declined to make any sacrifices, or even talk about it, the company rescinded the bonuses...
...When any unions make substantial concessions, it’s easy to suspect that they are backing off only temporarily-in the face of layoffs and the recession...
...Sharing is simple enough: giving each side the good with the bad is a matter of plain equity...
...Employers are beginning to realize that workers who share austerity should also share prosperity...
...This approach, seen most dramatically in the auto settlement, is a major departure from a bitter history of labor-management disputes in this country...
...Unions know the viability of an enterprise depends on many things other than labor costs...
...Labor is beginning to realize that low productivity, negative balance of payments, poor quality, high prices, and the rest of the American economy’s long-term ailments need to be tackled head on...
...A moratorium on “outsourcing”-that is, a halt to idling plants because work is subcontracted out or sent out to foreign subsidiaries...
...Put another way, if it doesn’t serve as a model, the consequences could be serious indeed...
...Clearly, such a strategy will not work...
...the companies needed assurances that high wages would not help put them out of business...
...Others openly worry about the price the auto companies paid for the concessions-that is, the long-range consequences of giving workers some job security and unions a piece of the action...
...Did I just say that wage concessions by a union are a good thing...
...This, then, is the shape of things to comesecurity, sharing, and survivability...
...I think one of those critical events was the settlement this spring between the United Auto Workers and the management at Ford and General Motors, a deal that included wage concessions by the union to the tune of five to six billion dollars...
...Shortrun “victories” won in bruising battles serve the long-run interests of neither party...
...The fact that manycompaniesareassumingjust that is the greatest danger to the success of a cooperative approach...
...In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly two million union workers covered by major collective bargaining agreements reached in the first six months of 1982 accepted pay raises averaging only three percent, compared to 7.7 percent last year...
...A strengthened Supplementary Unemployment Benefit program with prompt resumption of payments to laid-off workers...
...Am I still the strong union man I’ve been all my life...
...Others simply maintain that workers will never sacrifice wages for other goals-it’s just not in their makeup...
...But it should nonetheless be clear that labor and management simply cannot continue to be at each other’s throats...
...The key words are “security,” “sharing,” and “survivability...
...But it should mean keeping labor costs from so exceeding productivity increases that they jeopardize the life of the company...
...Union members and officials have memories long enough to recall that in the “glory years” of huge, unanticipated profits, no employer volunteered to reopen the contract and share the wealth . The most flagrant threat to acooperativefuture is the corporate executives who don’t see any reason why they should sacrifice along with the unions...
...Union concessions alone will never become the norm in the U.S., and it would be folly for industry to assume that a less profitable year than projected, or evena loss, is an automatic ticket to reopening a labor agreement to reduce wages and benefits...
...A Fair Swap -~ Why did the UAW and the auto companies decide to sit down and renegotiate...
...management uses the law (particularly the courts) to try to smash unions...
...They should also recognize, however, that labor costs are an important factor, and that there can be no security, or sharing, or anything else if the business doesn’t survive...
...Creation of an Occupational Health Advisory Board...
...But whatever the risk for both sides, there was an even greater danger in trying to deal with 1982’s problems in yesterday’s terms...
...An agreement by management to work toward maintaining the current job volume in the UAW national bargaining unit...
...Sharing responsibility for decision-making in the business...
...Take the United Food and Commercial Workers...
...In most cases, the very essence of the relationship-from organizing to contract negotiation, to contract administrationhas been driven by legal considerations instead of principles of human relations...
...For its part, management should be aware that what’s involved in a cooperative approach is a fair trade-not a capitulation by labor...
...The answer to both questions is yes...
...Continuation and improvement of Employee Involvement (Ford) and Quality of Work Life (GM) programs...
...Survivability should not mean stripping wages and benefits to the bone...
...Stephen Schlossberg was general counsel anddirector ofgovernment affairs for the United Auto Workers...
...Winning at any cost” means losing for the country as a whole...
...Since their earliest days, American labor relations have been characterized by confrontationthe “hate the boss” and “keep the union in its place” syndromes...
...They’ve just negotiated new contracts with meatpackers, freezing wages until August 1985 and deferring cost-of-living increases for more than a year...
...But as good as “class struggle” sounds in the union hal1,it doesn’t help solve these problems...
...This kind of behavior makes some people skeptical that the cooperative approach can ever work...
...And time may prove this to be the case...
...A new, jointly governed program of training and retraining for current and displaced workers, including training of workers for jobs outside the industry...
...All across the country wage settlements are down...
...Does that sound so radical...
...But in this case, if you can believe it, labor’s wage concessions were sought not only by management, but also understood and agreed to by the UAW, which opened negotiations six months before the expiration of its contracts...
...Real, collectively bargained profit-sharing...
...He presently practices labor law in Washington...
...Nearly threefifths of those workers received no pay increase at all, except those brought through cost-of-living adjustments, which were minor this year...
...Unfortunately, most seek to accomplish costcutting without offering any quid pro quo or even building a climate of trust...
...Here are the highlights of the Ford and GM agreements: -Wage concessions of five to six billion dollars...
...It too was forced to back off...
...For most participants in labor-management disputes, it has in the past...
...Employers must no longer seek a “union-free environment,’’ nor must unions berate management on “Big Business Days...
...The primary motivation for moving into a new era in labormanagement relations is nothing more than enlightened self-interest-for the workers, for the companies, and for the ability of the American economy to function effectively in the future...
...Worse, the adversarial approach embraced by union militants plays into the hands of employers who hire union-busting “consultants” to help them, and an administration in Washington more antagonistic to organized labor than any in a half century...
...For years, both laborand management have considered concessions something to be pulled out of the other side like a tooth...
...Support for the idea has little to do with altruism...
...On April 16, the very day the GM-UAW concession agreement was executed, GM sent a proxy solicitation to stockholders that would have made it easier for executives to obtain bonuses...
...Of course, delegalizing labor-management relationsbreaking out of the barriers, patterns, and assumptions of the past-is easier said than done...
...Some say the labor movement should fight harder than ever rather than seekaccommodation with management, warning that after unions have been debilitated by savage foreign competition and horrendous unemployment, what is billed as cooperation will end up as cooptation...
...International Harvester, for instance, started 1982 by asking the UAW for $200 million in wage concessions...
...The workers needed assurances that jobs would be secure...
...Something new had to be done...
...They were punishment to be endured only for the purpose of settlement...
Vol. 14 • October 1982 • No. 8
