TWENTIETH CENTURY FUND, THE. How Collective Bargaining Works. Pp. xxviii, 986. New York, 1942. $4.00

• Date: 01 November 1942
• DOI: 10.1177/000271624222400134
• Published date: 01 November 1942
• Subject Matter: Articles

198

lem

of

responsibility

of

unions

and

employ-

ers

respecting

the

contract.

In

the

con-

struction

of

the

contract,

particularly

when

the

parties

are

young

at

the

business

of

collective

dealing,

the

difficulties

are

es-

sentially

political.

Each

party

is

maneu-

vering

for

position,

with

anxiety

about

the

effect

of

the

outcome

on

subsequent

bar-

gaining

position.

A

contract

once

made

presents

problems

of

a

different

order:

un-

certain,

ambiguous,

or

ill-defined

passages

must

be

interpreted,

and

administration

of

the

contract

must

be

watched

for

faithful

performance.

These

situations

are

essen-

tially

different,

although they

merge

where

bargaining

parties

are

inexperienced

as

in

the

automobile

industry,

which

Pierson

ex-

plains

admirably.

Here,

both

parties

are

still

keenly

sensitive

to

the

fact

that

they

are

jockeying

for

long-run

power

and

posi-

tion,

and

every

chance

to

use

a

grievance

under

the

contract

to

change

the

essential

distribution of

power

is

grasped

and

worked

to

the

limit.

The

railroad

industry

marks

a

familiar

contrast.

Mr.

Pierson

is

interested

in

the

degree

to

which

unions

meet

the

challenge

of

fundamental

trends

in

industry.

In

two

excellent

chapters

dealing

with

the

coat

and

suit

and

coal

industries,

he

describes

the

strains

imposed

on

collective

bargaining

by

such

trends

as

declining

demand

for

the

product,

nonunion

competition,

obsolete

production

methods,

and

so

on.

The

sub-

ject

is

a

contentious

one.

He

deals

with

it

fairly,

emphasizing

that

unions

must

bear

large

responsibilities

for

the

health

of

the

industry

in

which

they

function,

or

run

the

risk

of

a

disintegration

of

industrial

relations

and

of

the

union

itself.

The

lim-

its

of

responsibility

of

unions

are

discov-

ered

to

be

wide.

Rev.

Toner

provides

a

complete

history

of

the

closed

shop,

together

with

the

argu-

ments

advanced

for

and

against

it

by

parti-

sans

and

students.

It

is

gratifying

to

find

the

arguments

so

uniformly

deflated

of

their

irrelevancies

and

frequent

emptiness.

The

author’s

sober

conclusion

is

that,

with

safeguards

such

as

keeping

the

union

open

to

all

who

wish

to

join,

the

&dquo;closed

shop

represents

the

acme

of

unionization

through

which

the

most

effective

type

of

collective

bargaining

is

possible.&dquo;

His

conclusion

is

well supported.

To

familiar grounds

of

de-

fense

he

adds

an

important

and

interesting

consideration,

namely,

that

the

leaders

of

the

Catholic

Church

have

nowhere

con-

demned

the

closed

shop,

and

that

Papal

statements

and

those

of

the

Bishops

&dquo;lend

substantial

although

not

specific

endorse-

ment&dquo;

to

it.

On

a

question

which

embodies

a

clear

moral

and

ethical

factor,

this

ap-

proval

by

moral

authority

is

impressive.

J.

RAYMOND

WALSH

Williams

College

TWENTIETH

CENTURY

FUND,

THE.

How

Collective

Bargaining

Works.

Pp.

xxviii,

986.

New

York,

1942.

$4.00.

The

advantages

of

comparative

studies

to

advanced

students

are

well

recognized

in

all

arts

and

sciences.

Such

investiga-

tions

in

the

many

fields

of

labor

relations,

however,

require

vast

resources

of

informa-

tion

and

analytical

ability.

This

problem

has

been

solved

to

a

remarkable

extent

by

the

collaboration

here

reported.

Besides

several

more

general

chapters

by

Philip

Taft,

this

book

contains

fourteen

essays

by

highly

competent

labor

economists

on

his-

tories

and

problems

of

collective

bargaining

in

the

particular

industries

and

trades

with

which

they

are

best

acquainted,

viz.:

daily

newspapers,

by

Robert

K.

Burns;

book

and

job

printing,

by

Emily

C.

Brown;

building

construction,

by

William

Haber;

bitumi-

nous

and

anthracite

coal

(two

essays),

by

Waldo

Fisher;

railroads,

by

Harry

Wolf;

men’s

clothing,

by

Robert

Myers

and

Jo-

seph

Bloch;

hosiery,

by

George

W.

Taylor;

steel,

by

Fred

Harbison;

automobiles,

by

William

McPherson

assisted

by

Anthony

Luchek;

rubber

products,

by

Donald

An-

thony ;

glass

and

electrical

products

(two

essays),

by

Milton

Derber;

and

finally

three

Chicago

service

trades

(cleaning-

dyeing,

motion

picture

operating,

and

mu-

sicians),

by

C.

Lawrence

Christenson.

Drs.

Millis

and

Dewhurst

were

the

chief

co-

ordinators

keeping

this

team

of

contribu-

tors

abreast

of

one

another,

so

that

similar

topics-notably

economic

characteristics

of

the

industry,

history,

mechanics,

and

pres-

ent

problems-are

here

treated

with

refer-

ence

to

most

of

our

important

areas

of

collective

bargaining.

Consumers’

Union

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