Sociology 325
Week 7 Review Questions
Due on Tuesday February 26, 2013
This week’s readings provide an overview of working class and union history in post
World War II era. This is key period, since events during this period set in place the labor
relations context within which unions and employers now operate. If you quote from the
text, it should look like this: Eimer begins his argument by stating “I’m surprised that
many undergraduates do not do their readings. They’re missing out on a big part of the
learning process”(Eimer 2006:11). Eimer is the author, 2006 is the publication year, and
11 is the page the quote appeared on.
You are responsible for the following pages:
Chapter 5, 152-159
Chapter 6, 192-213
There are six questions and a bonus point opportunity attached to number 4.
1. Please discuss one way that the Taft Hartley Act altered labor relations in America.
Did it tip the balance of power more towards unions or management? Be sure to cite the
text.
2. Your text states: “So called fringe benefits also provided a frontier for postwar
collective bargaining.”
a. What are some examples of fringe benefits?
b. What role did unions play in securing fringe benefits for American workers?
c. Provide one concrete example of a fringe benefit won by a union?
Be sure to cite the text in your answer.
3. Your authors suggest: “Together with the social welfare legislation of the 1930s, as
supplemented periodically by postwar improvements, these contract breakthroughs
(fringe benefits) brought a degree of security and thus a kind of freedom to millions of
workers and their families.” How do you interpret this statement? What does the author
mean? If it helps, compare the lives of a unionized worker in this period to the lives of
the workers we saw in any of the readings or videos dealing with early America.
4. You’re authors state the following: “Not only did union contracts provide increasingly
important health care, insurance, vacation, and pension benefits, but they set the standard
for employers everywhere….union negotiated benefits spurred private employers, many
of whom sought to prevent the union virus from infecting their employees, to follow suit.
…By the early 1970s, pensions, health insurance, and the like had become so
commonplace that millions of Americans took these hard-won benefits for granted.
Few remembered the generations of militancy that paved the way…”
A. Prior to this class, how aware were you of the role of unions in brining Americans
things like the 8 hour day/weekend, unemployment insurance, health insurance,
paid vacation, etc
B. BONUS POINT OPPORTUNITY (WORTH 1 POINT): Ask a roommate,
friend, parent, little sister, stranger you meet at a party or anyone on the planet
what they now about the origins of these things. See if they are aware of the
“generations of militancy that paved the way…” Describe their answer..
5. Your authors suggest that academics have noted that even as collective bargaining
channeled much of the conflict between employers and employees, the shop floor or
actual worksite remained “contested terrain.” Please explain what they mean by this and
discuss how grievance procedures and arbitration provide a mechanism to turn a
“contested terrain” into a workplace governed by the rule of law. Read carefully, and this
answer will not be hard.
6. What was the basic trend in public sector unionization rates between 1955 and the
1970s. Please provide one example of a previously unorganized occupation that became
unionized