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February 1998, Vol. 121,
No. 2
Book reviews
Unionism
in the 90s
A new adventure
Business of baseball
Book reviews from past issues
Unionism in the 90s
Unions in a Changing World. By
Shauna L. Olney. Washington, International Labor Office,
1996, 99 pp. The New Unionism. By Charles C.
Heckscher. Ithaca, NY, ILR Press, 1996, 302 pp. $16.95.
- For all the heated debate that the word
"union" can invoke, one fact remains above
disputeunion affiliation in the 1990s has been on
the decline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate
that union membership in the United States has dropped
from 16.1 percent of employed workers in 1990 to 14.5
percent in 1996; and this decrease is just part of a
long-term trend since the heyday of unions in the 1950s. Unions
in a Changing World and The New Unionism are
both searches for solutions to this situation from
different perspectives.
-
- Unions in a Changing World makes a
comparative analysis of the challenges faced by trade
unions in eight industrialized countries. The
International Labour Office solicited information from
selected unions on organizing workers in their countries.
As expected, the focus of these unions is survival and
growth in the current economic climate. Implicit in their
responses is the belief that trade unions still have a
vital role to play. The legal constraints on unions is
the other universal message in the book. From the
perspective of the unions, laws and political realities
frustrate organizing efforts within each country, and
international agreements such as NAFTA pose additional
barriers to unionization. The final section of the book
is devoted to identifying needed changes in unions
internal structures, as well as developing cooperation
with other trade unions and increasing their influence
beyond traditional labor-management issues.
-
- Although some unions, such as the Service
Employees International Union, have worked to modernize
their approach, labor unions remain strongest in their
traditional industries, many of which are in declining
segments of the economy. They are still working to
overcome inter-union rivalries. The recent United Parcel
Service strike is the first modern development of a
compelling message that unions may carry to growing parts
of the economy.
-
- In contrast, The New Unionism takes
a different approach to declining union membership in the
United States. While Charles Heckscher is no less
sympathetic to workers having a collective voice in the
workplace, he is less optimistic that current labor
unions can adequately meet that goal. Although he
recognizes many of the same challenges as the traditional
labor unions, he doubts their ability to adapt to changes
in the work force. Arguing that traditional labor unions
were products of their 19th century environment, with its
emphasis on manufacturing and production lines, he sees
their influence eroding as white-collar and service
sector jobs predominate in the growing segments of the
economy. At the same time, he doubts that workers without
a collective voice can be treated satisfactorily in
organizations focused on increasing shareholder value and
short-term results. Recognizing that at least some
companies have adopted "worker-friendly"
environments, Heckscher still feels that the current
style of management that he terms
"managerialism" is insufficient to protect
workers rights. Even progressive programs, such as
Quality of Work Life (QWL), fall short of enriching the
workers, for as these programs expand they collide with
management and union rights, and so have a history of
ultimate failure.
-
- Instead, he envisions professional
associations taking on a role similar to medieval craft
guilds. He sees what he calls "associational
unionism" as being the only means by which members
can collectively articulate concerns, define company
standards, coordinate groups of workers within the
workplace, and develop career ladders outside the
company. These associations would represent
cross-sections of workers within establishments and
encourage extensive participation in workplace issues
beyond the range of normal union-management agreements.
In Heckschers opinion, creating this new dynamic
requires both changes in labor law and in relationships
between management and workers. Current labor
negotiations are based on two-party agreements, whereas
the new approach strives to develop consensus among many
formal and informal groups, each of which have a stake in
the outcome of the negotiations.
-
- Still, professional associations have not
shown an interest in becoming more militant. White-collar
workers join these groups to exchange information and as
a source of job information, but members do not expect
these associations to represent them to their employers.
This matches the expectations of employers. While some
large employers pick up the professional association dues
for their workers and give them worktime to participate
in association functions, it is doubtful many employers
would take such a generous approach if the associations
began to seriously intrude in the employer-employee
relationship.
-
- Beyond looking at collective bargaining as
a desirable end, the two books share a sad reminder of
the current state of organized labor. The ILO study on
which their book is based was completed almost 7 years
ago. The New Unionism was originally published in
the late 1980s and has been updated in this edition.
While each author argues that the strength of their work
lies in its relevance to the present situation, those
statements say as much about the state of labor as they
do about the authors work. That so little has
changed in the study of organized labor over the past 8
years says a lot more about the labor movement than do
the works themselves.
-
- Michael Wald
- Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Atlanta region
- Top
A new adventure
- Bold New World: The
Essential Road Map to the Twenty-First Century. By William Knoke. New York, NY, Kodansha
America, Inc., 1996. 354 pp. Index.
- We need a new phraseI propose
"apocalyptic optimist" to describe
William Knoke. He truly believes that the technical
miracles promised in the high-technology brochures and
web-zines will come true. But at the same time, he sees
that implies a painful reappraisal of the way we think
about place, time, space, organizations, relationships,
government, religion, war, and, of most interest here,
work.
-
- In Knokes twenty-first century, the
technical problems of production and distribution of
goods are annihilated. The acceleration of technology
leads to a Placeless Society in which "distance
ceases to exist" and ushers in an Age of
Everything-Everywhere during which "all the cards of
power and wealth, of family and self, are being
reshuffled and dealt anew." The brief futuristic
vignettes that lead off each chapter often read like the
series of advertisements for a major groupware vendor in
which substantial competitive problems are solved and
commercial catastrophes averted at the click of a few
mice. I must admit these technologically optimistic
assumptions are at least plausible. I do, however,
suspect that Knoke overestimates the current use of these
tools in the world beyond his own high-end, high-tech
segmentthe jacket notes describe him as founder of
an investment banking firm specializing in mergers and
acquisitions in the field of cutting-edge technologies.
-
- Once Knoke sets his optimistic stage in
terms of technological environment, he takes one of the
most thoughtful looks I have read at what impact that
environment will have. The impacts of a placeless society
on labor are especially profound. In such a
technologically driven society, not even the renowned
information worker will be safe. Computers, automation,
and intelligent systems, according to Knoke, are
advancing so quickly that even in the professions and
management, general practitioners and mid-level
functionaries will join blue-collar workers and clerks
among the displaced in increasing numbers. And, indeed,
the 1995 BLS displaced worker survey found that such
white-collar workers made up a larger than usual share of
the displaced.
-
- What, then, are the occupations that will
do better? First, those who use and develop
technologyfrom software developers to industrial
designers to operations researchers. Second, occupations
that respond to fundamental demographic shiftscooks
for the two-worker family, fertility doctors for the
growing number of late-marriage household formations, and
health care therapists for an aging population of weekend
athletes. And third, those who help organizations adapt
to the new rulesmanagement consultants,
environmental engineers, investment bankers, and
bankruptcy lawyers.
-
- Bold New World encompasses far more
than jobs and careers. Readers may find his discussions
of social, political, and technological trends to be
useful and interesting supplements to his insights for
the future of economics and labor relations.
-
-
- Richard M. Devens, Jr.
- Office of Publications
- Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Top
Business of baseball
- Baseball Economics: Current
Research. Edited by John Fizel, Elizabeth
Gustafson, and Lawrence Hadley. Westport, CT, Praeger
Publishers, 1996, 228 pp. $55.
- The National pastime has undergone some
significant turbulence over the past several years,
spurned by the tumultuous strike during the 1994 season
that resulted in the first ever cancellation of the World
Series. That work stoppage failed to produce an agreement
between players and owners to address spiraling
players salaries, and caused a significant
attendance drop the following season. To rekindle fan
interest in the game, owners subsequently adopted several
measures that altered the structure of baseball, notably
the beginning of interleague play during the 1997 season.
Smaller market team owners in Baltimore, Cleveland, and
Arlington (TX) followed another successful strategy to
increase attendanceconstructing new stadiums; other
owners in Milwaukee, Montreal, and Pittsburgh hope to
follow suit. Without a salary cap, luxury tax, or change
in team revenue sharing, players salaries have been
skyrocketing, currently topped by a $12 million a year
contract extension given to Atlanta Braves pitcher
Greg Maddux. Scheduled to begin play in 1998, new
expansion teams in Arizona and Tampa are prepared to
aggressively spend in the free agent market during the
upcoming offseason.
-
- Every casual, arm-chair fan has opinions
on these topics. But Baseball Economics attempts
to present conclusions drawn when skilled economists use
empirical evidence to examine the most significant
problems facing the game today. The result is a book that
has a very specific, possibly small target audience:
baseball fans with extensive statistical training (that
is, beyond the skill required to tabulate fantasy
baseball statistics). Thus, academics are the primary
audience sought; hot dog eating, beer drinking fans can
stick to the sports page. The book contains many tables
that provide the empirical basis for the conclusions
reached. Furthermore, the authors devote a significant
portion of each article to describing the statistical
analysis conducted and defending the processes used.
-
- As the book points out, the distinct
advantage of applying economic analysis to baseball is
that the industry has a wealth of easily obtainable data
available for such examination. Moreover, the
ever-increasing dominance of baseballs business
side permits analogies to be made from baseball to other
businesses that operate in a similar manner. The
disadvantage, at least from the standpoint of reading the
book, is that many of the conclusions drawn as a result
of the detailed economic analysis of baseball data seem
less than revolutionary. The rightful focus of each
article is on the statistical methods employed and data
used to derive the conclusions, but the findings
typically do little more than confirm what casual fans
already assumed.
-
- Baseball Economics is divided into
five sections each with multiple articles on relevant
topics in baseball today. The "Product Market"
focuses on methods of increasing attendance; the
"Labor Market" deals with the effects of free
agency, salary arbitration, and other structural changes
in baseball on players salaries; "Salary
Arbitration" addresses the ability to predict
arbitration outcomes based on a number of different
factors; "Luxury Taxes and Revenue Sharing"
analyzes the potential impact of the implementation of
such in baseball and other sports leagues; and
"Special Topics" covers subjects from
segregation and technical efficiency in major league
baseball to labor relations in Japanese baseball.
-
- The "Product Market" section
focuses on identifying methods for increasing attendance
at major league ballparks, in light of the attendance
decline that occurred following the 1994 strike. The
section begins with an article on "Rebuilding
Attendance Following a Strike," which provides the
unenlightening conclusion that higher attendance is
associated with larger metropolitan areas, newer
stadiums, ballpark promotions, and weekend games. A
subsequent article analyzes the effect of new stadium
construction on attendance, revealing that, despite the
expected increase in attendance, new stadiums are
unlikely to be profitable. Irrespective of whether the
new stadium is privately or publicly financed, empirical
evidence does not suggest the stadiums provide an
adequate economic return to the areas they are built in.
The section concludes with an article concerning customer
discrimination in baseball.
-
- The "Labor Market" section
compares salaries obtained from free agency versus salary
arbitration; the salary impact of structural changes in
baseball; and whether baseball players are exploited
through baseball training. Baseball data on free agency
and arbitration reveal that both systems of salary
determination are similarly structured, meaning that
players can use either one of the methods and obtain
similar gains in salaries. The higher salaries on average
for free agents reflect their years of experience, rather
than a better process of salary determination. The only
unexpected conclusion in this section is that, on
average, players are paid less than their estimated
market value despite the significant salary gains created
by free agency and arbitration.
-
- The "Salary Arbitration" section
first attacks the premise that baseball arbitrators flip
a coin when choosing an owners or players
salary bid, instead making the case that arbitrators have
a racial bias against black and Latin American players
when deciding cases. The final article demonstrates that
the spread between a teams salary offer versus the
players desired salary in arbitration is smaller
for nonwhite players, injury-prone players, and players
repeating arbitration. The smaller spread suggests that
these types of players may be undervaluing their baseball
performance.
-
- The "Luxury Taxes and Revenue
Sharing" section presents an analysis of the luxury
tax proposal that owners made during the 1994 strike,
concluding that the implementation of the system
suggested by the owners would have reduced the salaries
of star players, effectively redistributed revenue to
teams that did not have large payrolls, and increased
competition among all teams. Although these conclusions
are not revolutionary, this article was one of the most
interesting given the contentiousness nature of debate on
this issue. Knowing the potential effects of the luxury
tax system does not help identify how to get the
players union to accept such a system, as its
implementation appears to favor the goals of owners.A
second article in the section examines revenue sharing
and its effect in determining players salaries on
the open market.
-
- The final "Special Topics"
section contains mildly interesting pieces on positional
segregation and technical efficiency in major league
baseball. The standout article deals with
labor-management relations in Japanese baseball, well
explored by the author. Readers should find interesting
the contrast between American and Japanese approaches.
This contrast provides an interesting analogy to
differences between other American and Japanese
businesses.
-
- One controversial issue (at least for this
arm-chair fan) not addressed in Baseball Economics is
the lack of a baseball franchise in Washington, DC, one
of the largest metropolitan areas in America without a
baseball team. Perhaps a later edition of this book could
present conclusions drawn from empirical evidence on the
ability of the Washington-Baltimore market to support two
baseball teams, possibly including a National League
expansion team playing in a newly constructed stadium
along the Potomac River.
-
-
- Charles Muhl
- Office of Publications
- Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Top
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