Labor Troubles Research Articles

Labor troubles loom for CPI in 1971

Labor troubles loom for CPI in 1971

High Energy Physics: Labour Troubles at Frascati

High Energy Physics: Labour Troubles at Frascati

Some Labour Troubles of the 1790's in North East England

The period of the great French Wars of 1793–1815 saw a crop of strikes and other disturbances in North East England. The end of the wars in 1815 was followed rapidly by the great seamen's strike of 1815, which turned fundamentally on a question of redundancy. The object of this paper is to consider a series of disputes just before the outbreak of war, and during the war's early years, disputes which turned fundamentally on the equally perennial question of the regulation of wages at a time of rising prices.

Regional Airlines, Their Problems and Outlook

M A R. TIPTON, president of the Air Transport Association has treated well some of our regulatory, financial, operations, and other problems. I should like to talk about some of the industry's labor troubles. These, I believe, currently are as important as any we have. In the near future, they may well become our most important difficulty. You may surmise that my strong feeling on this subject is due to the fact that Western Air Lines was selected as a guinea pig for the industry and has been grounded by a strike of the Air Line Pilots Association since February 21. I shall comment on that in a few moments. My beliefs are not solely the result of this unhappy episode. Rather, they are predicated upon the long and costly experience of our railroads, which have for years been saddled by featherbedding union contracts. Now we see an alarming trend toward featherbedding the airlines. Featherbeds will not fly. Unless our industry halts this trend we may soon find airlines in the unfortunate situation of the railroads today. We must not repeat these mistakes. In 1956, labor costs of the domestic trunk airlines were 50.7 per cent of the total cash costs. Even including depreciation charges in that year, labor costs were 46.1 per cent of total expense. With high demands for increased wages, pensions, and many other fringe benefits, the percentage for labor costs in 1957 and 1958 could be even higher. With the exception of the railroads, practically all regulated public utilities have a considerably lower percentage of their total expenses absorbed by labor costs. In the railroad industry, for Class 1 Railroads, labor costs in 1956 were 66 per cent of total operating expense. For Class A and B Electric Utilities, they were 25 per cent, and for natural-gas pipeline companies only 10 per cent. You are all generally familiar with this particular railroad headache. The lead editorial of Barron's Weekly on April 28, noted:

The Construction of a New Type of Attitude Measure1

SummaryAttitude surveys are widely used throughout industry today, as modern management has become aware of the value of sampling employee opinion both in connection with changes of policy or procedure and with current conditions within the organization. It has been found that more harmony can be achieved within an organization and serious labor trouble sometimes can be averted if employee opinion is determined and potential problems rectified before they become serious.Most attitude surveys utilize words as the vehicles by which attitudes are expressed. The items may require that the employee decide which of a series of phrases best expresses his feelings about a designated topic or, alternatively, whether or not a given sentence is indicative of his attitude. It is felt that a certain amount of distortion is an invariable result of this process which necessitates the translation of one man's feelings into another man's words. Error creeps in, both in the interpretation of the meaning of the items by the respondent, and in the selection of the item which most accurately indicates the true feelings of the respondent on the topic in question. This is particularly difficult for persons of low verbal facility to achieve with any accuracy.The present paper is an account of the development of a qualitative or projective attitude scale. Two series of faces have been constructed which run the gamut of feeling from extremely positive to extremely negative. These faces have been quantified so that attitude scales in which they are used can be scored in the same manner as can any other form of attitude measuring device. They have, however, the advantage of eliminating the necessity for translating feelings into words. The respondent is required only to check the face which “looks like he feels” rather than verbalizing his feelings. It is felt that the resulting measure provides a more accurate measurement of attitudes than is otherwise possible.

SAFEGUARDING OUR MINERAL-DEPENDENT ECONOMY

SAFEGUARDING OUR MINERAL-DEPENDENT ECONOMY

Labor Troubles in the Mining Camp at Goldfield, Nevada, 1906-1908

THE BOOM MINING camp of Goldfield, Nevada, which had attracted the nation-wide attention of miners, geologists, speculators, gamblers, and sundry others, since its discovery in December, i 902, was to attract further attention and have the course of its history unalterably changed by a series of labor disputes which began in September, 19o6, and lasted into the spring of 1908. A major factor in each of the disputes was the aggressive action of the Western Federation of Miners and the Industrial

Stampede to Timberline: The Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Colorado

This book includes the story of 240 of Colorado's mining camps, with emphasis on the human side. The men who swarmed to the mountains to find precious metal came in successive waves from the late 1850s on, combing the gulches, scrambling over the passes and climbing the peaks. Their story is full of adventurous chances, lucky strikes, boom conditions, reckless spending, banditry, claim jumping, railroad wars and labor troubles. The author searched the Colorado Rockies from the time she saw and sketched her first ghost town until she had rediscovered and painted the vanishing mining camps. Twenty-two maps give the location of each one and serve as a guide for those who want to reach them by car or jeep, by horseback or on foot. The hardships of the early prospectors, the strikes they made, the gold and silver mines they uncovered, the towns they established, and the rise and fall of their fortunes are vividly recorded. Names and dates are given of the earliest finds, of the most important mines and the money they made, of the newspapers printed, and of the hotels, churches and theaters erected. The difficult supply routes into the rocky fastnesses are also clearly traced. But all these facts are humanized by an author who is an artist rather than a historian, and to whom all this mining in the Colorado Rockies is essentially the story of heroic pioneer effort-the men and women behind the deeds. The book contains 212 separate sketches made by the artist-author on the spot at the oftentimes remote and completely deserted mining camps. These pictures, as well as her 1200 other lithographic sketches of Colorado towns, form an invaluable record of places which are rapidly disappearing under the ravages of fire, wind and snow.

Report From New Zealand

,A N outsider might well pronounce New Zealand to be the most stable nation in a tormented world. This verdict would arouse the indignation of many New Zealanders, who would point to labour troubles, rising prices, mass protest meetings, and the possibility of sweeping political and economic change in the near future. Yet, seen in a wide perspective, the relative stability of New Zealand is an outstanding fact: stability not only in her forms of life but in the character of those forces making for change. The argument is by no means that New Zealand has stood still or has faced no problems that are new, but rather that both challenge and response have followed lines long familiar to those who have studied the New Zealand community in its international setting. Let the obvious point be made at the outset that New Zealand must be almost unique in continuity of government in recent years. A Labour Government first took office at the end of I935 and won its third general election (though with a reduced majority) in i946. It is still the same, not only in party label, but in most of its key personnel. The present Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, has held office continuously, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, was from the first a dominant member of the cabinet. Further, certain very powerful groups among industrial labour are still, as they long have been, in vigorous alliance with the Fraser cabinet. That is not to say that there are no stresses and strains within the Labour Party, nor is it to ignore the inevitable and sometimes acrimonious accusation, dating almost from Labour's assumption of office, that Labour as Government has betrayed the ideals of Labour as Opposition. However, evolution in domestic policy has been gradual and consistent with data well known in 1936-37; and the same is even more true in foreign policy. Some observers would go further. In spite of ostensible differences from the older parties, and spectacular progress in certain spheres, it can be argued that the Savage-Fraser-Nash Government of I935 arose naturally out of a century-old New Zealand tradition. Similarly, when the electors go to the polls at the end of I949 they are likely, as in 1946 and I943 and even in 1938, to be faced with

Press and Communications

Labor unrest highlighted the newspaper scene in the winter of 1946-47 as major daily publications in half a dozen metropolitan centers suspended operations or continued on emergency manpower while unions representing typographers, carriers and editorial workers bickered with employers over contracts adjusted to the zooming cost of living. In Jacksonville, Fla, and in Philadelphia the managerial staffs kept the papers going—although by the first of February Publisher J. David Stern exploded a bombshell by selling his strikebound Philadelphia and Camden, N. J., properties. Some labor troubles threatened radio, too, but the prospect for 1947 was a boom year in radio station growth.— W. F. S.

Fuel Economy in the United States since 1939

THE United States National Committee of the World Power Conference (Central Office, 36 Kings-way London, W.C.2) has issued a report on that country'S reactions to war conditions. Economy of fuel was necessary, but in ways which differ from those experienced in Britain. Since hostilities ceased, except for temporary effects, such as labour troubles, difficulties have disappeared and efforts to save fuel are based on economics rather than availability of supplies. During the War, production suffered from labour troubles and especially transportation problems. This led to an increase in the use of hydro-generated electricity from 44 to 80 biHion kWh. Attempts were made to increase production—by technical devices in the case of liquid and gaseous fuels. In coal production, major developments were “salvaging coal formerly rejected”, which recalls British use of ‘outcrop coal’ and ‘washery slurries’. Alternative fuels such as ‘coal oil’ mixtures were tried but not used extensively. Contrary to present British practice, the principal change was from oil-firing to coal-fired equipment, and in household use from oil to gas. There were control organisations- a petroleum administrator and a ‘solid fuel administrator’, and as civilian fuel became short, rationing was developed. Judged by British standards, the measures adopted do not sound onerous. For example, the general consumer would experience a restriction of solid fuels to seven-eighths of normal use. Various steps to conserve fuel were enforced, such as the adoption of ‘brownout’ and ‘dimout’ rules, reduction of space heating and organisation of a fuel economy campaign.

The New Techniques for Supervisors and Foremen

THIS is a remarkable book written by an author of remarkable experience. “The new techniques” which it describes, in elementary fashion, are those of industrial psychology. “Management,” he says, “faced with the absolute necessity of adopting the new techniques” crudely employed by the early efficiency engineers in the United States, ‘yet finding that their introduction was always the signal for labor troubles, finally recognized that the problem was, in its essence, a psychological one. They turned to the university psychologists and asked them what could be done about it. Bred in the cloistered peace and quiet of their campus laboratories, these psychologists were not of much assistance. They had no experience in the workaday world, and most of them were not inclined to venture into it to attack the monumental problem which they had been asked to solve. Here and there a bolder spirit was found who could see not only the tremendous interest which might be aroused by work in the field but the vital necessity for finding a solution. … A few pioneers took up the work and soon found they had entered a rich field in resources and awaiting only careful research to yield a wealth of practical values not only to the industry but to general psychology itself (pp. 104-5). The New Techniques for Supervisors and Foremen By Prof. Albert Walton. Pp. vi + 233. (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1940.) 17s. 6d.

Millis—Peacemaker

Essay| January 23 1941 Millis—Peacemaker: Brawny, Brainy and Quiet, He Has Earned the Title of Chief Labor Trouble Shooter Milton S. Mayer Milton S. Mayer Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Current History (1941) 52 (8): 22–24. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1941.52.8.22 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Milton S. Mayer; Millis—Peacemaker: Brawny, Brainy and Quiet, He Has Earned the Title of Chief Labor Trouble Shooter. Current History 23 January 1941; 52 (8): 22–24. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1941.52.8.22 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCurrent History Search This content is only available via PDF. © 1941 by The Regents of the University of California1941 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Re-organization of the Cotton Industry

THE Cotton Industry (Reorganization) Act, which has since reached the Statute Book, is the subject of a further broadsheet issued by P E P (Political and Economic Planning). The Cotton Industry Board to be appointed by the Board of Trade will be representative of all sections of the industry in addition to having three independent whole-time members, including the chairman, with special knowledge of the industry. The Board will appoint, partly from among its own members, a special Export Development Committee, which will have the particular duty of making recommendations regarding the export trade. Cotton and rayon interests will be equally represented on the Committee and the other principal bodies in the industry will be the Cotton Industry Advisory Committee, charged with examination of the sectional schemes, and the Representative Advisory Council. Provision is also made for the establishment of a separate Rayon Industry Committee. Producers are compelled and merchants permitted to register with the Cotton Industry Board, but merchants will only be registered if they agree to abide by the contracts prescribed in sectional price schemes. Sectional schemes, which to become legally binding must be supported in a poll by the majority of the section concerned and approved by the Board, may relate to the elimination or reduction of redundant plant or to the fixing of prices. the broad-sheet emphasizes the importance of marketing policy, the need for market research, the urgency of establishing central marketing arrangements, the necessity of a more enlightened labour policy than that which has short-sightedly sought exemptions from the Factories Act which reduced the juvenile working week from 48 to 44 hours, as well as the importance of implementing the permissive clause of the Act which allows the compensation of operatives displaced by redundancy schemes. Only long-term measures of this character can overcome the operatives’ real and natural fear of technical change and eliminate the labour troubles which have contributed to the industry's difficulties.

Hebrewisms of West Africa: From Nile to Niger with the Jews

writing of luxurious scenery. He describes the kraaling of elephants and revels in the past history of Kings and Princesses with exceedingly long names. He gives qs some real information about the gem industry and all the frauds behind it. One would have liked to see a little more space given to the Ceylon planter with his pluckers, his Kangannies, and his labour troubles. One is inclined to regret the omission, for the planter's life has much of that particular colour which Mr. Ashley Gibson seems to employ with such remarkable effect. The library of books on Ceylon is not extensive and we welcome this volume as a valuable and agreeable acquisition. H. P. W.

The Current Labor Policies of American Industries

I. The situation down to 1920. — The effects of pre-war immigration, 393. — The effects of the war, 395. — The failure of post-war changes in the labor market to end the interest of business men in industrial good will, 396. — II. The post-war dread of labor trouble, 398. — The inability or unwillingness of employers to reduce wages in proportion to the drop in wholesale prices, 400. — The better appreciation by managers of the relationship between morale and efficiency, 401. — III. The methods by which enterprises have attempted to make labor more efficient and more contented: Helping employees acquire property, 404. — Helping them acquire a stake in the business, 408. — Protecting the magainst arbitrary treatment, 411. — Rewarding continuity of service, 414. — Giving them opportunity to advance, 416. — Giving them security, 419. — Other methods, 421. — IV. The effect of the new personnel policies upon the present labor situation. — Their effect upon productivity per worker, 424 .— Their effect upon union membership, 426. — Their effect upon the number of industrial disputes, 428. — Their effect upon the rate of turnover, 429. — V. The effect of the new labor policies upon labor's bargaining power and upon the spread of unionism, 431.

Causes of Labor Troubles in Great Britain

Essay| April 01 1929 Causes of Labor Troubles in Great Britain William Walker William Walker British Publicist and Writer on Economic Questions Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Current History (1927) 30 (1): 93–96. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1929.30.1.93 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation William Walker; Causes of Labor Troubles in Great Britain. Current History 1 April 1927; 30 (1): 93–96. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1929.30.1.93 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentCurrent History Search This content is only available via PDF. © 1929 by The Regents of the University of California1929 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Renaissance of Iceland

O N May Day last year (1927) I witnessed labor demonstration in Reykjavik. Some three hundred men and women marched down the street carrying red flags and communistic banners, singing the International. It was the sign of new Iceland. Even at the time of my first visit in 1920 the country had had no experience whatever with labor trouble. Paradoxically enough, labor trouble in Iceland is sign of progress, of reorganization and growth, economically, financially, politically. A profound change is coming over the life of the nation. For centuries Iceland has been effectually cut off from the rest of the world, a backwater of civilization.' They were bitter centuries, and their lesson has been well learned. Iceland today is finding its salvation by becoming part of our world organization of interdependent units. Here is group of people, about equal in point of numbers to the population of Knoxville, Tennessee, carrying out or about to carry out most of the functions of modern nation in times of peace. Whether or not the nation will ever be very important unit is immaterial. The importance to the Icelanders is enormous.

The Use of Oil Fuel

THE prolonged coal stoppage has given an impetus to the use of oil fuel for industrial purposes. Conditions were favourable to such a development, and circumstances have helped to expedite it. One may reasonably assume that the coal industry will suffer some permanent loss as a censequence of this step, since fuel consumers, having gone to the expense of adapting their plants for oil burning, are not likely to revert wholly to coal again, especially as by doing so they would be surrendering the advantage of possessing an alternative which business counsels them to retain in view of the unhappy frequency of labour troubles in our coal-fields.

The Italian Economic Situation

EVEN under normal conditions Italy must be rated a poor country. The endowment of natural resources is scanty, industrial development has been less marked than in any of the great powers, and the predominant occupation, agriculture, is carried on with comparative ineffectiveness. Italy's economic disabilities have been greatly increased as a result of the war by excessive straining of credit and inflation of the currency, depreciation of the lira, quintupling of prices, and labor troubles. Although, with the exception of the railroads, the physical equipment of Italian industry and agriculture has suffered little, it is evident that extraordinary energy, skill, and political daring will be necessary to effect even a slow recovery of economic order and stability. The extent to which Italy normally must depend upon foreign countries for essential basic materials appears from a comparison of merchandise imports and exports for the five years preceding the war.