Ross, ARTHUR M. Trade Union Wage Policy. Pp. xi, 134. Berkeley, California : University of California Press, for Institute of Industrial Relations, 1948 (Second Printing, 1950). $3.00
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625127400167 |
| Author | Melvin J. Segal |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
238
trols
to
the
desire
of
both
contractors
and
union
leaders
&dquo;to
prevent
construction
wage
rates
from
exploding
under
postwar
con-
struction
conditions;&dquo;
to
the
fact
that
criteria
for
wage
adjustments
were
liberal-
ized ;
and
to
the
advantages
of
control
in
view
of
the
nature
of
Office
of
Price
Ad-
ministration
formula
pricing
for
the
in-
dustry.
H.
M.
DOUTY
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
U.
S.
Department
of
Labor
Washington,
D.
C.
Ross,
ARTHUR
M.
Trade
Union
Wage
Policy.
Pp.
xi,
134.
Berkeley,
Cali-
fornia :
University
of
California
Press,
for
Institute
of
Industrial
Relations,
1948
(Second
Printing,
1950).
$3.00.
In
this
significant
contribution
to
our
knowledge
of
trade
unionism
and
the
labor
market,
Dr.
Ross
begins
with
the
premise
that
we
do
not
have
a
satisfactory
theory
of
wages.
An
adequate
theory
requires
an
understanding
of
institutions
in
the
labor
market
including
the
trade
union.
Fol-
lowing
Bakke,
Kerr,
and
other
members
of
the
new
school
of
labor
economics,
Pro-
fessor
Ross’s
central
proposition
is
that
&dquo;a
trade
union
is
a
political
agency
operat-
ing
in
an
economic
environment.&dquo;
While
he
is
careful
to
point
out
that
economic
analysis
has
its
place
in
wage
theory,
Ross
maintains
that
an
integrated
social
sci-
entific
approach
has
more
fruitful
pos-
sibilities.
With
the
exception
of
the
introduction,
the
remaining
five
chapters
of
Trade
Union
Wage
Policy
have
been
published
pre-
viously,
substantially
in
the
same
form,
in
economic
journals.
The
author
demon-
strates
in
the
chapter
&dquo;The
Trade
Union
as
a
Wage
Fixing
Institution&dquo;
that
the
main
objective
of
a
union
is
institutional
survival
and
growth.
To
accomplish
this
objective
union
leaders
must
be
able
poli-
tkians.
They
must
effectively
handle
var-
ious
political
pressures.
Dr.
Ross’s
analysis
of
the
relatoinship
of
union
leaders
to
the
rank
and
file
and
to
other
groups
is
a
contribution
to
the
field
of
industrial
sociol-
ogy.
In
&dquo;The
Dynamics
of
Wage
Deter-
mination
Under
Collective
Bargaining,&dquo;
the
author’s
&dquo;model&dquo;
of
a
trade
union
is
used
to
answer
questions
such
as
why
unions
strike
over
an
issue
involving
a
few
cents
an
hour.
In
&dquo;What
is
Responsible
Wage
Policy?&dquo;
Professor
Ross
argues
that
the
notion
of
a
responsible
union
leader
as
one
who
takes
into
consideration
the
employ-
ment
effects
in
wage
negotiations
is
fal-
lacious
because
&dquo;the
employment
effect
of
a
wage
adjustment
is
unpredictable
before
the
fact
and
undecipherable
after
the
fact.&dquo;
&dquo;Union-Management
Relations
and
the
Wage
Bargain&dquo;
deals
mainly
with
the
polit-
ical
aspects
of
this
relationship.
In
his
final
essay,
Dr.
Ross
makes
use
of
statis-
tical
comparisons
to
show
that
organized
workers
receive
higher
wages
than
the
un-
organized
and
that
unionization
is
a
signif-
icant
factor
in
explaining
the
differences.
The
validity
of
these
conclusions
has
not
always
been
accepted
by
economists.
An
indication
of
the
importance
of
this
small
volume
is
the
number
of
articles
which
it
has
already
stimulated.
Neoclas-
sical
economists
are
critical
of
the
author’s
institutional
approach.
The
writer
has
not
attempted
to
present
a
complete
theory
of
wages.
But
these
essays
are
a
start,
and
if
the
forthcoming
studies
of
the
Institute
of
Industrial
Relations
at
Berkeley
are
com-
parable
to
Ross’s
work,
perhaps
we
will
eventually
have
an
acceptable
theory
of
wages.
’
MELVIN
J.
SEGAL
Michigan
State
College
WATKINS,
GORDON
S.,
PAUL
A.
DODD,
WAYNE
L.
McNAUGHTON,
and
PAUL
PRASOW.
The
Management
of
Personnel
and
Labor
Relations.
New
York :
Mc-
Graw-Hill
Book
Company,
1950.
Pp.
xviii,
974.
$5.75.
This
is
the
latest
edition
of
a
text
in
manpower
management
that
had
its
begin-
nings
in
Gordon
Watkins’
Labor
Manage-
ment,
first
published
in
1928.
Ten
years
later,
in
1938,
a
second
edition
appeared
as
Watkins’
and
Dodd’s
The
Management
~ o f
Labor
Relations.
In
the
present
volume,
these
two
co-authors
have
been
joined
by
two
additional
collaborators.
According
to
the
authors,
they
seek
to
&dquo;relate
fundamental
principles
to
practical
procedures&dquo;
and
thus
to
meet
the
needs
of
both
students
and
of
manpower
managers
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