Tuesday, October 6, 2015

#8 - Analysis of CQ Researcher Pro/Con argument


Pro/Con: Should workers have to pay union fees if they don’t join the union?

“Pro” thesis: Workers should have to pay union fees even if they don’t join the union.

Argument (by Lily Eskelsen GarcĂ­a, President, National Education Association. Written for CQ Researcher, August 2015):
  1. All who benefit from collective representation should pay their fair share.
  2. The system works best when all who benefit pay their fair share; the system would suffer otherwise, and the small percentage who object should not be allowed to jeopardize the system.
  3. Union non-members are not forced to join the union or pay for political activities.
  4. The court precedent for supporting union non-members to pay their fair share of fees is in place (Abood v. Detroit Board of Education) and has been for 40 years, withstanding many challenges.

Reason #1 is controversial; if a non-union member doesn’t want to pay fees to support the collective bargaining activities of the union, maybe they shouldn’t be forced to, even if they benefit from them.  Reasons #2 responds to this objection, but it could use some extra support because it’s not clear that the unions would suffer much if the small percentage of non-union members didn’t pay the union fees.  Reason #3 is controversial, too, since any collective bargaining can be understood as political in nature (as Garcia’s opponent argues in the Con section).  Reason #4 strongly supports the author’s case, but even it can be questioned since courts don’t always get things right, though the fact that the decision has been in place for 40 years and has withstood numerous challenges is impressive. 


Regarding the citations needed in the discussion needing, the two court cases need citations (Abood v. Detroit Board of Education and Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association).

Monday, October 5, 2015

#7 - Search results in Discovery


Search phrase: “labor unions"

Total search results: 645,994

Source types:
Magazines          111,477
Academic Journals           111,041
Trade Publications           42,191
News    20,414
Reviews               9,762
Electronic Resources      6,372
Books    6,167
Reports                2,309
Conference Materials    902

Databases searched:
NewsBank          179,503
NewsBank - Archives     99,035
Business Source Complete          70,872
SocINDEX with Full Text                19,155
MAS Ultra - School Edition           10,017
America: History and Life with Full Text 10,005
Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 (H.W. Wilson)                7,942
CINAHL Complete            6,496
Human Resources Abstracts       6,462

Friday, October 2, 2015

#6 - Evaluation of authority and currency of book in post #3


Unions in crisis? : the future of organized labor in America (published 2008), by Michael Schiavone.

Michael Schiavone’s LinkedIn page describes him as an Independent Researcher who is currently teaching labor studies as a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  (I checked the University of Illinois’s web site, and it confirms him as teaching there, in the School of Labor and Employment Relations.)  Schiavone previously taught at the University of South Australia and Flinders University (in Australia).  He has a PhD from Australian National University.  Besides Unions in Crisis, he has published a book titled Sports and Labor in the United States (described on the SUNY Press website as an "overview and analysis of labor relations in the big four American sports"), and he is apparently under contract for another book, Austerity and the Labor Movement.  LinkedIn also lists 10 other publications by Schiavone (book chapters and journal articles), mainly focused on the topic area of labor.  Given Schiavone’s education, employment, and other publications, he appears to be well qualified for writing on the topic of labor and unions.

Unions in Crisis was published in 2008.  The fortunes of unions don't seem to have changed much since 2008 (it appears that they are in as much of a crisis now as they were then), so much of what Schiavone published in 2008 should still be useful and accurate information about unions.  But a lot can happen in seven years that could affect the state of unions, so a research project on the current state of unions should be informed by some sources that have been published more recently than Unions in Crisis. 

Monday, September 28, 2015

#5 - CQ Researcher Bibliography Books and WorldCat Subject Headings


Geoghegan, Thomas, Only One Thing Can Save Us: Why America Needs a New Kind of Labor Movement , The New Press, 2014.
- Not available at LSU Library
Labor unions -- United States.
Industrial relations -- United States.
United States -- Social conditions -- 1980-
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Labor & Industrial Relations.

Hogler, Raymond L., The End of American Labor Unions: The Right-to-Work Movement and the Erosion of Collective Bargaining, Praeger, 2015.
- Not available at LSU Library
Collective bargaining -- Law and legislation -- United States.
Collective labor agreements -- United States.
Open and closed shop -- Law and legislation -- United States.
Labor unions -- Law and legislation -- United States.
Labor laws and legislation -- United States.
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Labor & Industrial Relations.
HISTORY / United States / 20th Century.

Neff, James, Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy Versus Jimmy Hoffa , Little, Brown & Co., 2015.
- Not available at LSU Library
Kennedy, Robert F., -- 1925-1968.
Hoffa, James R. -- (James Riddle), -- 1913-
Labor unions -- Corrupt practices -- United States.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Legislators -- United States -- Biography.
United States. -- Congress. -- Senate -- Biography.
Labor unions -- United States -- Officials and employees -- Biography.
United States. -- Congress. -- Senate. -- Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field.

Rosenfeld, Jake, What Unions No Longer Do, Harvard University Press, 2014.
- Available at LSU Library.
Labor movement -- United States.
Income distribution -- United States.
Labor unions -- Political activity -- United States.
Minorities -- United States -- Social conditions.


Walker, Scott, and Marc Thiessen, Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge, Sentinel, 2014.
- Not available at LSU Library.
 Walker, Scott -- (Scott Kevin), -- 1967-
 Wisconsin -- Politics and government -- 1951-
 Governors -- Wisconsin -- Biography.
 POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Conservatism & Liberalism.
 POLITICAL SCIENCE / Government / State & Provincial.
 POLITICAL SCIENCE / General.

Friday, September 25, 2015

#4 - Scholarly article in Academic Search Complete


"Easy In, Easy Out": A Future for U.S. Workplace Representation.

Authors:
Estreicher, Samuel1

Source:
Minnesota Law Review. 2014, Vol. 98 Issue 5, p1615-1636. 22p.

Document Type:
Article

Subject Terms:
*LABOR unions -- Law & legislation
*COLLECTIVE bargaining -- Law & legislation
*DISCLOSURE of information -- Law & legislation
*LABOR laws & legislation
*SECRET ballot
*ELECTIONS -- United States
UNITED States

Abstract:
The article focuses on workplace representation in the U.S. and discusses proposed labor law amendments in 2014. Topics include the use of secret ballot voting to determine labor union representation in workplaces, how to change labor union implementation to look more like political campaigns, and increasing the accountability of collective bargaining agents.

APA citation:
Estreicher, S. (2014). "Easy In, Easy Out": A Future for U.S. Workplace Representation. Minnesota Law Review, 98(5), 1615-1636.

Friday, September 18, 2015

#3 - Book in LSU Libraries catalog


Title:
Unions in crisis? : the future of organized labor in America
Author:
Schiavone, Michael.  
Publisher:
Praeger,
Publication date:
2008.
Physical description
x, 148 p. ; 25 cm.
ISBN:
9780275999667

Subject term:
Labor unions--United States.
Subject term:
Labor movement--United States.
Subject term:
Social movements--United States.
Subject term:
Service industries workers--Labor unions--United States.