ILR News Center

Q&A with Professor Emerita Lois Gray

(Reprinted from IWS Briefing, Winter 2008, Institute for Workplace Studies, ILR School)

Lois Gray is the Jean McKelvey-Alice Grant Professor Emerita of Labor-Management Relations at the ILR School. Gray has served as director of the ILR Extension division’s New York City office and as associate dean and director of the Extension division. She is an active participant in ILR’s Workforce, Industry, and Economic Development unit and involved in a long-term study of the arts and entertainment industry. Gray recently shared her thoughts on the evolution of labor-management relations in the United States.

Q: What are the greatest challenges facing the American labor movement today?

A: Primarily, the decline of labor's economic and political power since its zenith in the 1950s. The Wagner Act (a.k.a. National Labor Relations Act of 1935) emphasized protecting workers' rights to organize, and the job of NLRB field examiners was to rigorously enforce that.

But the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 and various presidential administrations watered down NLRA protections; meanwhile, the waning influence of organized labor and the growing influence of organized management reinforced the trend. Labor has also suffered from an inability to organize more members, reflecting both its loss of political clout and its earlier emphasis on servicing existing members rather than adding new members to the ranks.

Economic factors are perhaps most important. The peak of union power coincided with a period during which major employers in manufacturing, such as steel and auto, faced little international competition and basically operated as oligopolies. They were thus in a position to agree to terms and conditions for workers that continued to improve with each succeeding contract. Eventually, manufacturers were challenged by foreign competitors, and large and small employers alike began moving production out of the U.S. and shipping goods back in.

Q: What are the complementary challenges confronting American employers?

A: International competition and the fight for survival. Globalization affects all employers even where they are not directly confronting foreign competitors; everyone is under relentless pressure to reduce costs.

Although research suggests that unions help lower turnover and generate other benefits for employers, these gains are long-term. Not many in business have that long-term view because they are always trying to meet the next payroll. When we had oligopolies, there was less pressure for immediate results so business competed on design or service. With the rise of international competition, employers' whole outlook changed.

Q: How is this affecting labor-management relations?

A: Management is taking a harder line with labor, and even in non-union shops, employees are less likely to get generous benefits. Employers are switching to 401k plans or eliminating pensions altogether; many are cutting health benefits or asking for greater employee contributions. After a period in the 1980s and 1990s when many unions and managements tried working together to save jobs and cut costs, the atmosphere grew more adversarial.

But it's easy to over-generalize: there are different patterns in different sectors and regions, and some labor-management partnerships are well established and quite harmonious, particularly those that operate in local markets.

Q: Is there any other system or model from which America might borrow ideas for dealing with current and future stressors on labor-management relations?

A: European countries pay high wages and have strong social safety nets, yet their companies are still competitive. They are successful in part because the unions have their own political parties and work with employers at the national level. European unions develop political programs that are tied to the economy, and at the national level, they reach understandings with the corporations. The parties know what to expect of each other and recognize their common interests.

The United States is certainly bigger and more complex, but we've never had that tradition. Ironically, after World War II we encouraged the idea of workers' councils in Germany but here it's resisted by both labor and management: the unions are afraid of being overshadowed by the councils and employers just don't want to share power.

Q: Given the economy's fundamental transformation, where do you see labor-management relations heading over the next five years?

A: If the Democrats come to power in the next election cycle, I expect we'll be in a significantly different political environment. There may be more emphasis on industrial planning, perhaps along the lines of what they do in Europe and Japan. There are likely to be changes in labor law and the way it's interpreted. Unions are hoping for recognition through card check, but I'm not sure that is enough; we also need to tighten the law and penalize employers who do not enter into good faith bargaining for first contracts. And maybe we'll see some restructuring to make unions more like community unions, which are not tied to a single workplace or employer but are more geographically bounded.