The Unions: What They Are, How They Came to Be, How They Affect Each of Us. by AlvinSchwartzReview by: Lois S. GrayIndustrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Apr., 1973), pp. 1046-1048Published by: Cornell University, School of Industrial & Labor RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2521577 .

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1046 INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW

mented the realities of life of those under thirty during the 1960s; it could be a skillful put-on.

Read straight by a square, the two-hundred decibel noise level of the narration, the rock of continuous violence, and the rhythm of a not quite unbroken succession of campy pic- tures of a truly tragic assaults with fists, stones, clubs, bayonets, Gatling guns, and rifles convey the illusion of the Kent State murders taking place at three o'clock in the morning at the Fillmore East when that establishment was the national shrine of hysterical youth.

Brecher advocates a world where the needs of the people are provided in a humane so- ciety made up of workers endowed with philosophers' wisdom and heroic capabilities. This utopian future will be ushered in by the "mass strike," which has been conceptual- ized by Rosa Luxemburg as climaxing a whole period of class struggle.

"Its use, its effects, its reasons for coming about are in a constant state of flux... political and economic strikes, united and partial strikes, defensive strikes and combat strikes, general strikes of individual sections of industry and general strikes of entire cities, peaceful wage strikes and street battles, uprisings with barricades-all run together and run alongside each other, get in each other's way, overlap each other; a perpetually moving and changing sea of phenomena."

In the context of this definition, with its emphasis on violence and lack of concern over issues, the author maintains that mass strikes include the Great Upheaval of 1877, the eight-hour day movement of 1886, the Pullman strike, the San Francisco water- front strike and the textile strike of 1934, and the sitdown strikes of the late 1930s.

Invariably in this reading, always slightly discordant with historical reality, an engulf- ing, fulfilling violence follows the strike. Noble workers of Galahad-like purity are striving to realize their revolutionary goals when union leaders or government officials intervene to frustrate a final victory. The sturdy toilers, however, will refuse wage in- creases or union recognition to insist on the establishment of rank-and-file control over the industry or the economy. Thus Brecher declares, recalling C. Wright Mills, that the CIO channeled the sitdown movement into

organizational forms which, "far from chal- lenging the power of the corporate rulers, actually reinforced their power over the workers themselves."

Today's workers, undaunted by the oppres- sive weight of the capitalist superstructure, continue to conduct a secret struggle in the plants against their oppressors, by fighting incentive systems, fielding alternate systems of control, and mobilizing the rank-and-file into informal organizations which challenge all aspects of the establishment, including bosses, unions, and government.

This is an engagingly romantic fantasy about the world, even if it is tarnished by a neurotic fixation on violence and is based on a perversely surrealist montage of data and make-believe (including references to Alfred Sloan on the purposes of the UAW, Root and Branch pamphlets, and assertions that all strikes are revolutionary).

A kind of spuriously realistic fiction, with an unacknowledged source in Franz Fanon, Strike! is neither labor nor social history, nor serious political analysis. The total un- reality of the descriptions of unions and in- formal organizations in the work place plus the compulsive evocation of murder and mayhem remind one of motion picture and TV westerns and crime melodramas which, like Strike!, are essentially combinations of mythology and violence.

It is unfortunate that Brecher insists on perpetuating the false stereotypes of workers as thugs, ballbat wielders, mobsters, and criminals. These characterizations filled aca- demic histories and texts in a time now past. They may serve the private fantasies of a few Rolling Stone readers, but the titillation is at the risk of grievous injury to the wage- earners for whom Brecher pretends a ro- mantic, reverential adulation.

Lewis Carliner Adjunct Professor Department of Psychiatry Rutgers Medical School

The Unions: What They Are, How They Came to Be, How They Affect Each of Us. By Alvin Schwartz. New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1972. 268 pp. $6.95.

At last here is a book which we can recommend to young people interested in

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BOOK REVIEWS 1047

learning more about labor unions. For many years labor educators have expressed con- cern over the fact that high school students graduate with little or no understanding of labor issues. In their own defense social studies teachers point to the absence of suit- able text material. Alvin Schwartz, a journal- ist who specializes in books for young readers, effectively meets this need with his new book, The Unions. His treatment is comprehen- sive, ranging from highlights of labor history, through the structure and functions of mod- ern unions, to current issues and practices in collective bargaining. Useful reference sec- tions are also included which provide the student with information on careers in labor relations, a glossary of terms used in labor relations, and a list of suggested readings for those who want to learn more about the subject.

Written for "age 12 and up" according to the publisher, the book has a lively style. Examples of union action have been selected with an eye to the student reader. For in- stance, the concept of fringe benefit is illus- trated by the Major League Baseball Players contract clause covering the expense of sur- gery for "sore arms"; a musician fired for having long hair is cited in the section on grievance procedure and arbitration; and the teachers' strike in New York City is used to dramatize what happens when labor and management reach an impasse in negotia- tions. An outstanding collection of illustra- tions, from Winslow Homer drawings of early labor struggles to up-to-date pictures of farm workers on strike and a meeting be- tween President Nixon and George Meany, adds to this book's appeal. Its suitability as a text is strengthened by numerous case studies with questions which test the reader's ability to analyze and apply the material covered.

The author has a point of view. He is friendly and sympathetic to the goals of unions and generally approves of their activi- ties, particularly those unions whose leaders he considers the "right type." (Walter Reu- ther is classified as ultraliberal and James Hoffa as corrupt.) On the other hand, his presentation is balanced by a frank recogni- tion of problem areas. The darker side of

labor's record includes neglect of racial mi- norities and women, infiltration by racket- eers, abridgements of union democracy, and CIA links to international activities. The emphasis, however, is on the positive accom- plishments of labor organizations in advanc- ing the interests of working people on and off the job. He sees unions as essential to modern society, concluding with a quote from Hemingway, "A man alone doesn't have a chance."

Perhaps it is unavoidable that this type of popularized presentation tends toward the simplistic in its analysis of complex issues. Thus, the great depression is attributed to the "greed" of speculators, and inflation is "fed" by collective bargaining. These defi- ciencies may be overlooked in the expectation that other texts will deal with the American economy. However, in a book on labor one could wish for a more accurate portrayal of the important role of law in the history of labor-management relations. According to the author, "For many years, the govern- ment stood aloof from labor relations." His implication that labor relations law began with the Norris LaGuardia Act of 1932 ig- nores the body of common law developed earlier by the courts, such as the conspiracy doctrine and the injunction, much of which continues to play an important role in labor disputes today. The author's comparison of labor unions in the United States with those in other countries is also misleading. He proudly proclaims the United States is unique in the freedom which it gives work- ers to organize, bargain, and strike-a con- clusion refuted by the higher percentage of the labor force organized and the incidence of days lost through strikes in many other countries.

Given the urgent need for a book that will orient young people to the world of work and to the much neglected role of labor unions in American society, these shortcom- ings are relatively minor. The overall contribution of the book is its lucid, well- balanced treatment of an important subject. It is recommended reading not only for high school students but for young workers enter- ing the labor force and even for older citi- zens who want an easy introduction to the

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1048 INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW

functions and activities of American labor unions.

Lois S. Gray Assistant Dean Extension and

Public Service Division New York State School of

Industrial and Labor Relations Cornell University

Personnel Guidance, Selection, and Training: Ideas and Applications. By Peter C. More. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1972. xviii, 362 pp. $16.50.

In the preface of this book the author expresses his conviction that "competent business and professional practice [in the personnel field] can only originate from sound, well-formulated theoretical explana- tions." This book was therefore designed to review a number of theoretical and empirical developments in the areas of learning and individual differences (particularly personal- ity, abilities, values, interests, and needs) and to indicate ways in which these developments might be of use to practitioners and students in the fields of guidance, selection, and train- ing.

In addition to brief introductory and con- cluding chapters, the book contains two parts, one on guidance and selection and one on training. The section on guidance and selection contains six chapters. Chap- ters two, three, and four are entitled "Per- sonality," "Human Abilities," and "Human Motivation," respectively; these chapters are summaries of much of the classical work done in these three areas. In the chapter on personality, for example, attention is given to the "informal theories" of F. W. Taylor (economic man), the human relationists (social man), and the new human relation- ists (self-actualizing man), as well as the "formal theories" of Maslow, Allport, and Cattell. The other chapters in this section are similarly broad in coverage.

In all three of these chapters attempts are made to relate the theoretical and empirical material reviewed to the practice of guid- ance and selection. These attempts are at best only partially successful: first, because of the volume and diversity of material pre-

sented and, second, because of the large number of inherent contradictions the ma- terial contains. As an example of the latter problem, in the chapter on human abilities Spearman's "two-factor theory" is reviewed from it the author concludes that "general intelligence is the primary consideration in ... guidance and selection .... " (p. 70). Later on in the same chapter Guilford's "structure of intellect" model is reviewed and a quite different conclusion is drawn: "Adequate performance of any task is not partly determined by some general factor (such as intelligence), but depends wholly on... one hundred twenty or so abilities. We would need to discover which of these. . are relevant to success in any job or occupation . .. and ... evaluate an individual in terms of... [them] ..." (p. 89). The question which arises at this point, of course, is what is a practitioner to do? Since the implica- tions of these and other theories vary widely, are there some grounds on which to prefer one over another? Are there certain circum- stances in which one or another is more appropriate? What might these circumstances be? Unfortunately, questions of this type are largely ignored.

Following the discussion of theoretical issues, there is a chapter on measurement, "Techniques of Personality Assessment and Measurement," which contains a brief discussion of the concepts of reliability and validity, followed by a general description of several measurement techniques used in guid- ance and selection and some empirical evidence of their validity. In general, the ma- terial presented applies more to guidance than to selection. Finally there are two chap- ters in this section-"Occupational Guidance and Vocational Counselling" and "Personnel Selection"-which consists largely of case studies demonstrating how these processes work. Unfortunately, little attempt is made to draw upon earlier material in these dis- cussions. The chapter on selection is particu- larly weak, it is too sketchy for the novice and too shallow for the initiated.

The second major part of the book is on training and also contains six chapters: "The Organization and Training," "Learning The- ory," "Factors in Learning," "Induction," "Supervisory and Management Training and Development," and "Training in Skills."

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