Management-Labor Relations in a Changing Economy
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625127400125 |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| Author | Clinton S. Golden |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
171
Management-Labor
Relations
in
a
Changing
Economy
By
CLINTON
S.
GOLDEN
THROUGH
use
of
’the
device
of
as-
sociation
or
organization
American
labor
has
largely
acquired
the
status
of
legitimacy
and
recognition
for
which
workers
have
struggled
for
generations.
The
legitimacy
of
the
self-governing
la-
bor
organizations
is
attested
by
the
Na-
tional
Labor
Relations
Act
of
1935. Al-
though
subsequently
amended
in
several
respects,
the
present
act
declares
that
&dquo;employees
shall
have
the
right
to
self-
organization,
to
form,
join,
or
assist
la-
bor
organizations,
to
bargain
collectively
through
representatives
of
their
own
choosing,
and
to
engage
in
other
con-
certed
activities....&dquo;
1
The
wide
degree
of
recognition
ac-
corded
labor
unions
as
important
and
influential
institutions
in
American
so-
ciety
is
symbolized
by
an
estimated
one
hundred
thousand
or
more
jointly-nego-
tiated-with-management
collective
agree-
ments
currently
in
effect.
The
generations
of
struggle
to
achieve
the
current
status
have
left
many
scars.
There
is
increasing
evidence,
however,
that
many
men
in
positions
of
leader-
ship
in
the
ranks
of
both
management
and
labor
who
have
faced
each
other
on
the
industrial
battlefield
in
the
past
are
today
interested
in
working
together
co-
operatively
as
creative
participants
in
modern
industry.
Generally
speaking,
the
Marxian
doc-
trine
of
the
class
struggle
has
had
little
acceptance
by,
or
effect
upon,
the
ide-
ology
of
American
workers.
They,
on
the
contrary,
have
been
profoundly
in-
fluenced
by
the
traditions
and
practices
of
political
equality
which
characterize
our
democratic
society.
The
&dquo;rights&dquo;
of
individuals
include,
in
the
estimation
of
workers,
the
right
to
join
with
their
fellows
in
an
effort
to
improve
their
status
as
an
important
social
group.
When
employers
have
seen
fit
to
chal-
lenge
the
exercise
of
this
right
the
or-
ganized
workers
have
been
prepared
to
give
battle
in
defense
of
it.
Eventually
in
a
free
society
that
right
would
have
to
be
conceded,
or
the
society
could
not
remain
free.
EVOLUTION
OF
THE
LABOR
UNION
Thus
labor
organizations
have
evolved
from
&dquo;conspiracies&dquo;
and
&dquo;unlawful
com-
binations&dquo;
into
legitimate,
self-governing
societies
which
have
profoundly
altered
long
established
concepts
of
industrial
relationships
and
management-labor
re-
sporisibility.
This
evolution
can
be
traced
in
a
se-
ries
of
clearly
indicated
stages.
The
first
is
indicated
by
the
effort
of
work-
ers
in
a
craft
or
industry
to
get
together
and
function
as
a
cohesive
group
or
formal
organization
and
to
create
and
build
new
institutional
(organizational)
loyalties.
The
second
is
the
demand
of
the
union
organization
upon
manage-
ment
for
its
recognition
as
the
author-
ized
representative
of
the
individual
workers
who
comprise
its
membership
or
constituency.
The
third
stage
is
reached
when
the
union
organization
is
accepted
by
management
as
a
legitimate
institution
and
a
constructive
partici-
pant
in
the
enterprise.
Analysis
and
evaluation
of
the
cumu-
lative
experience
of
management
and
labor
which
has
developed
in
the
course
of
this
evolutionary
process
should
prove
useful
in
efforts
to
formulate
a
philosophy
of
co-operative
management-
labor
relations.
For
the
most
part,
labor-management
relations
in
the
United
States
are
now
1
Labor-Management Relations
Act,
1947.
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