Despite the benefits of employee participation in decision making, it is not widespread. Making it work requires commitment, job security, training, access to information, communication channels, goal setting, flat organizational structures, and financial reinforcement. (SK)

This book reports results of a study of the efects of quality of worklife programs and related forms of worker participation on unions and the collective bargaining process. Chapter 1 describes the evolution of worker participation in unionized settings and summarizes basic propositions in models of joint union-management change. In chapter 2 five…

Adversarial collective bargaining often leads to lingering resentments. Collaborative bargaining, conversely, is a problem-solving approach to contract negotiations based on common interests and mutual respect. Recognizing the interrelationship between trust at schools and trust at the bargaining table, a growing number of school districts are…

This study of available evidence on cooperative union-management efforts to solve employment problems indicates that roughly one-half of the larger unionized manufacturing facilities have embarked on cooperative efforts. Thus, larger firms have already made the decision to cooperate or not, and targeting government money to them to encourage…

Employee ownership through employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) was first mentioned in federal legislation in the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973. Since then, at least 19 pieces of federal legislation have been enacted that deal with employee ownership in some way, including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and tax…

This paper examines Margaret Haley's speech to the 1904 National Education Association (NEA) annual meeting on her views about teacher unions. Haley viewed organized labor as public school's partner in democratizing United States society. The first section outlined her political views on the relationship between democracy and education, noting…

This collection of articles focuses on the negative impacts that deindustrialization has had on the American labor market, on American workers, and on the U.S. economy. The introduction, by Donald Kennedy, traces the development of the trend toward and negative impacts of deindustrialization, outlines some of the policy issues raised by…

A new model of public school district performance concerns the "employment relations" (ER) system within a school district--the policies, practices, and actions that govern relations between a district and its teachers. The model posits that the performance of public school districts is propelled by the quality of ER. Productive ER,…

The 1980s have been a period during which important private experiments with innovations have occurred in employee participation, work redesign, and the introduction of new technologies and new systems of production. It is now time to move beyond the experimental stage. The following four interrelated policy initiatives should guide public efforts…