Fringe Benefits: Social Insurance in the Steel Industry.

Abstract

Fringe Benefits is the first in-depth study of the employee benefits system of a major industrial organization. Working with Inland Steel, a major steel plant in the Chicago area, Root read through company documents, insurance claims and grievance forms, and labour union records, supplementing them with a range of interviews with employers, employees, labour officials, and others. He discovered how the benefits package developed, how it operates -- or fails to operate -- as a form of social insurance for Inland's workers, how it is linked to the public welfare system and how it affects company operations, labour disputes and manpower planning. 'Lawrence Root's Fringe Benefits is a fascinating and insightful case study of the private, social benefit system in a major heavy manufacturing company.' -- Social Casework: The Journal of Contemporary Social Work, February 1983 '...Lawrence Root has written an excellent book, rich in information and relevant to many issues of immediate concern...The professional -- industrial social worker or policy planner -- would do well to read Fringe Benefits in order to be better equipped to understand and take advantage of such an opportunity.' -- Social Science Review, Autumn 1983 'For the serious student of benefits, its scope and its depth still make it highly rewarding reading.' -- Industrial and Labor Relations Review, April 1984