Shopfloor Matters: Labor - Management Relations in 20th Century American Manufacturing

by Fairris; David

• ISBN13: 9780415121231
• ISBN10: 041512123X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-11-06
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The success of Japanese manufacturing has frequently been explained by its innovations in work organization and industrial relations at the plant level. Conversely, it is widely argued that Western countries struggle to introduce more flexible ways of working because of a prior history of industrial conflict. This book argues for a more nuanced view of US labor history. Two views of employment relations dominate: a liberal one, emphasizing mutually-advantageous institutions reforms, and a Marxist one, emphasizing conflict. Despite the differences between these two, both are necessary to understand the evolution of shopfloor relations.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix	(2)
Acknowledgements	xi
INTRODUCTION	1	(16)
A brief account of Shopfloor Matters	4	(6)
The contributions of Shopfloor Matters	10	(7)
1 FROM EXIT TO VOICE IN SHOPFLOOR GOVERNANCE	17	(30)
The period of worker exits	19	(3)
The transition from exit to voice	22	(10)
The period of worker voice	32	(13)
Conclusion	45	(2)
2 THE AMOSKEAG PLAN OF REPRESENTATION	47	(10)
3 THE RISE OF AN EMPOWERED SHOPFLOOR VOICE	57	(32)
Shopfloor setbacks during the early depression years	57	(5)
The search for an empowered shopfloor voice	62	(13)
The attainment of an empowered shopfloor voice	75	(13)
Conclusion	88	(1)
4 LABOR-MANAGEMENT DISPUTES IN MEAT PACKING, 1936-41	89	(10)
5 INSTITUTIONALIZATION AND DECLINE IN WORKERS' SHOPFLOOR POWER	99	(40)
World War II and workers' shopfloor power	100	(3)
The period of fractional bargaining	103	(9)
The transition to shopfloor contractualism	112	(8)
The period of shopfloor contractualism	120	(7)
Postwar shopfloor governance and shopfloor outcomes	127	(11)
Conclusion	138	(1)
6 POSTWAR COLLECTIVE-BARGAINING AGREEMENTS	139	(7)
7 CONTEMPORARY EXPERIMENTS WITH NEW SYSTEMS OF SHOPFLOOR GOVERNANCE	146	(22)
The recent employer experiments in shopfloor governance	147	(12)
Productivity and safety under lean production	159	(8)
Conclusion	167	(1)
8 A VISIT TO SATURN	168	(7)
9 THE FUTURE OF US SHOPFLOOR GOVERNANCE	175	(16)
Cooperation, productive efficiency, shopfloor power, and lean production	176	(2)
The German works-council system	178	(7)
Works councils and the future of US shopfloor governance	185	(4)
Conclusion	189	(2)
Appendix tables	191	(7)
Data appendix	198	(6)
Notes	204	(15)
Bibliography	219	(11)
Index	230