A Pattern of Retreat: The Decline of Pattern Bargaining

[Omaha Steve]

http://labornotes.org/2010/02/pattern-retreat-decline-pattern-bargaining

Kim Moody | February 16, 2010


The Teamsters’ mighty National Master Freight Agreement covered more than 400,000 workers at its height, falling to just 50,000 today. Photo: Jim West| jimwestphoto.com


The age-old goal of unions has been to “take wages out of competition,” as an economist put it more than a hundred years ago.

By standardizing wages and benefits in an industry, unions prevent competition among workers that becomes a race to the bottom. Equally important, common wages lay a floor for future advances as we all march together.

For decades, this goal was accomplished by pattern bargaining: the union set a wage and benefit “pattern” at a company and then imposed it, through strikes if necessary, on others in the same industry (or through multi-employer master agreements).

Standards in strong patterns often spilled over to related industries, pulling up many other groups of workers.

But after a 30-year employer onslaught, national patterns have been largely devastated or have become top-down conduits for concessions.

FULL story at link.

[xchrom]

1. Now our government seeks complete capitulation and

Desires merging with those who seek to undermine this once
great nation.

Through corporate personhood and virtual marriage to
the health insurance industry.

Words echoed in protest to personhood are hollow and empty
when they seek matrimony with the other.