Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

5-31-1986

Degree Name

Master of Science in Management - (M.S.)

Department

Organizational and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Anthony Kahng

Abstract

The American labor movement has been losing power and membership for the last few years. Historical development and several facts have affected American unionism in such a manner that nowadays less than 20% of the labor force belongs to unions.

Among the most important causes of such decline discussed herein, are the following: lack of social role of unions, failure to satisfy new workers' needs, political reality under this Administration, high unemployment rate, and lack of union democracy.

Lack of union democracy is believed to be the most damaging factor for unionism's decline. Therefore it is studied in more detail, especially the concepts of fair representation and individual rights of the union members.

Finally, a U.S. Supreme Court case is analyzed, since it refers specifi4y to the right of the members of a union to resign during the course of a strike. The dissenting opinion of four of the Justices is also studied because its rationality is based on the union solidarity and mutual reliance concepts.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.