Changing Work Relationships in Industrialized ...

Changing Work Relationships in Industrialized Economies by Isik Urla Zeytinoglu Review by: Danielle D. van Jaarsveld Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 55, No. 3 (Apr., 2002), pp. 557-559 Published by: Cornell University, School of Industrial & Labor Relations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2696066 . Accessed: 11/07/2014 17:45 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

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BOOK REVIEWS to itscause, even as Mexico's economy suffered dramatic setbacks,factories closed, and workers' wage ratesplummeted. As the governments of the corruptCarlos Salinas de Gortariand his successor Ernesto Zedillo embraced globalization in the 1990s, the FAT continued to organize forjusticeforworkers.It formedcoalitions to oppose NAFTA and joined withother unionists,some ofwhomhad onlyrecentlyrenounced their relationships with the PRI, to march in MayDay protestsagainstthe governmentand in support of independent unionism. Perhaps most notably,just as corporations have gone global with their interests,the FAT has been at the forefrontof internationallabor solidarity. Through its strategicalliance with theUnited Electrical,Radio, and Machine Workers ofAmerica (UE), a smallindependent union based in Pittsburgh,the FAT has worked to spread itsvision. For instance, theirjoint campaigns to organize workersat General Electric and Honeywell plants along the U.S.-Mexican border were skirtedby strongopposition from the companies and their allies in the government. However, the organizations responded by establishing a Workers' Study Center in CiudadJuarez, where the process of formaci6n continues. Allies acrosstheBorderis a veryreadable account of the trials and tribulationsof a labor organization that has always swum upstream. Dale Hathaway's intimatechronicle of the perseverance of the union's leadership providesan understanding of the various mechanisms by which the PRI maintained its power and quieted dissent over seven decades. Even as it provides an upliftingstoryof a small organization that survivedto assume a role in what has become an international struggle, the book places theglobalizationdebate in the contextofa longerstrugglethatworkershave endured in the pursuitofjusticeand equality. While the historical analysiswould have benefitedfromthe inclusion of basic statisticssuch as membershiprates over the years,and a more thoroughdescription of the geographical and sectoral distributionof the FAT, the book finallyprovides answers to some of the questionsthatfollowersof the internationallaborstrugglehavebeen askingin regard to just who is the FAT. AlliesacrosstheBorderis likelyto finda spoton thebookshelvesofactivists and academics interestedin theplightoflabor in a globalizingeconomy. S. Rothstein Jeffrey

DoctoralStudentofSociology ofWisconsin-Madison University

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in Industrialized ChangingWorkRelationships

Economies. Edited by I?ik Urla Zeytinoglu. Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1999. xx, 256 pp. ISBN 1-55619-744-6, $44.95 (paper).

This edited volume details the spread offlexible work arrangements in the United States, Canada, European Union (EU) countries, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Its primary goals are to examine the diffusionof part-time, temporary,and other flexible work arrangements, analyze their policy implications, and explore ways to improve work relationships. The contributorsalso analyze how flexiblework arrangementsaffectwomen,youth,and racial/ ethnic minorities. This volume is a welcome addition to existingresearch on changingwork relationships because it offersan opportunity to compare the impact of this transitionboth withinand across regions. The overall qualityis generallystrong,although it varies by chapter. The volume consists of four sections, with the firstthree focusing, respectively,on the followingregions: (1) North America, (2) the EU countriesand the United Kingdom,and (3) Australia. Each section opens with empirical data documenting some characteristicsof flexible workarrangementsand the extentto which these arrangementshave spread in each of the countries. Background informationabout economic conditions, labor and employmentlaws, and policies affectingflexible workersin each region is also provided. The fourth section examines the perspectivesof stakeholders-the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE), and the InternationalLabor Organization (ILO) -on changingworkrelationships. For researchers who studychanges in work relationships, the attempt to find a common language withwhichto discuss the proliferation of these work relationshipsis frustratedby the use of severaldifferenttermsto referto staffing strategies that result in numerical flexibility: nonstandard, alternative,and contingent. To circumventthisproblem, Isik Urla Zeytinoglu, the volume's editor, adopts a definition embracing all workarrangements"otherthan permanent full-timework with an indefinitecontract"(p. xii). This broad definitionfacilitates examination of the diversespectrumofflexible workarrangementsacrossregions. For example, while thevolume's emphasis is on part-timeand temporarywork, some flexible work arrange-


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INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW

mentsthathave received less attention,such as telework,"self-employedwithout employees," and franchising,are also addressed. One slight drawbackof this approach is occasional confusion arisingfromregional variationsin definitions of particularflexibleworkarrangements. For example, Lei Delsen explains in Chapter 6 how the definition of temporarywork varies between EU countries. The volume containsmanyinterestingobservations. Stanley Nollen (Chapter 2) analyzes data on flexible work arrangementscollected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) during the 1990s. In the United States,temporaryworkerswho are on-call employees of companies are over-represented in professionaljobs, suggestingthat temporarywork has expanded beyond administrativefunctions. In addition, temporary workers are disproportionately women, racial/ethnic minorities, and young people. Some researchers have criticized the results of the 1997 BLS surveyof Contingent and AlternativeArrangements,one of the surveys Nollen draws on, as being based on unwarrantedlynarrowcriteriafordetermining which people are in specific formsof flexible work arrangements (see Gillian Lester, "Careers and Contingency," StanfordLaw Review, Vol. 51, 1998). A comparison of the firstthree sections reveals how the spread of flexible work arrangements is not homogeneous and manifestsitself differently within regions and across regions. Lei Delsen (Chapter 6) examines employment statisticsacross European Union countries,and revealsvariationsin the spread of flexiblework arrangements. For example, temporaryemployment has increased in Spain, the Netherlands, and France, but decreased in Greece and Portugal. He also notes thatthe proliferationof temporaryemploymentis supply-drivenin the Netherlands,whereasin otherEU countriesitis demand-driven. In Chapter 9, Michael Quinlan and Claire Mayhewreveal the differencesbetween regions by comparing the growthof flexible work arrangementsin Australia with developments in other regions. The Australian work force has higher levels of temporaryworkersthan most other industrializedcountries,one notable exception being Spain. In Australia, as in the United Statesand the EU countries,women and youngpeople are more likelyto be employed in some formof flexible work arrangementthan are men and more mature workers. The general conclusion that women and young people are more likely than men and

older people to fillflexiblejobs illustrateshow workers are affected by the deregulation of labor markets. Some of the chapters discuss how flexible work arrangements affect these groups and recommend possible ways to remedy the situation. Zeytinoglu, in Chapter 3, draws on data from StatisticsCanada to show that a woman's likelihood of entering poverty increases as her job securitydecreases. Offering training and educational opportunities is one way to build a bridge from flexible work arrangementstofull-time employment.In Chapter 7, Daniele Meulders and Robert Plasman, focusingon EU employmentpolicies, consider the potential of traininginitiativesforthatpurpose. However,in thiscase, theyfindthateven when women have access to trainingopportunities, theystillhave trouble gettinghired. The finalsection presentsthe perspectivesof stakeholders such as unions, employers, and the ILO. In Chapter 10, Louisette Hinton, Josefina Moruz, and Cheryl Mumford report that Canada has the second highest incidence of low-paid female workers among industrialized countries,and describe how the UFCW, in partnership with employers, is responding to thatproblem byestablishingtrainingcentersto give workers access to training opportunities that can translate into higher-payingjobs. In contrastto Meulders and Plasman's findingsfor the EU, increasing numbers of women are being hired into skilled positions in companies thatparticipatein thesejoint-labor-management trainingcenters. The authorssuggestthatpublic policy and legislation could address the obstacles that deter these workers fromjoining unions,butitis unclear howresistanceto unions on the partofflexibleworkerscan be overcome. Although the authors claim this will not be a problem, the individualizationof flexiblework arrangementscomplicates collective efforts. The volume has a fewweaknesses. Two ofthe chaptersdo not fitwell: Chapter 5, whichoffers suggestions for implementing successful teleworkprograms,and Chapter 11, a case study evaluating the role of UNICE in the European Social Dialogue froma strategicchoice perspective. The finalsection,which outlines different perspectives on flexible work arrangements, would have offeredricher insightsif perspectivesfromAustralianunions and U.S. and Australian employers had been included. Also beneficial would have been a concluding chapter drawing comparisons across the different regions and suggestinghow to address the inequalities emergingfromflexibleworkarrangements.


BOOK REVIEWS The book's shortcomingsare, however,slight compared to its strengths. By synthesizingresearch on flexible work across industrialized regions, the editor and contributorshave created an invaluable resource for researchers interested in flexibleworkarrangements. DanielleD. vanJaarsveld

Ph.D. Student NewYorkStateSchoolof andLaborRelations Industrial CornellUniversity

HistoricalStudies Pensions, Politics, and the Elderly: Historic Social Movements and Their Lessons for Our Aging Society. By Daniel J.B. Mitchell. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2000. 216 pp. ISBN 0-7656-0518-X, $64.95 (cloth); 0-84769729-0, $22.95 (paper). This overviewof old-age pension politics in California overturnssome of the conventional wisdomconcerning Social Security.In the standard account, supporters of the Townsend Movement,who wanted the governmentto pay $200 to all elderlypeople on the condition that they spent the money that month, helped to publicize the cause of pensions for the elderly. Their agitation led to the inclusion of old-age pensions in the Social Security Act of 1935. Afterthat, the Townsendites and other advocates ofradical pension schemes faded fromthe scene, and the politics of old-age pensions became intertwinedwith Social Securitypolitics. As Daniel Mitchell shows, however, the Townsendites remained a potent force in California and in other states, such as Colorado, throughoutthe 1940s. Such influentialfigures as Earl Warren and Richard Nixon, twoCalifornia politicians of the era who wenton to bigger things,needed to payclose attentionto pension politics and to make theirpeace withthe advocates of generous, non-contributorypensions paid solelyon the basis ofage, ratherthan need. Furthermore,a movementknown as Ham and Eggs, which arose after the advent of Upton Sinclair's End Povertyin California campaign, the Townsend Plan, and the Social SecurityAct, exerted enough influence over California politics to unseat a Democratic governor in the heydayof the New Deal and elect Earl Warren instead. Mitchell chronicles the rise and fall of the

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various political movementswith considerable skill. We learn about the colorful,oftenshady, characterswho saw the movementsas the salvation of America and, at the same time, as vehicles forpersonal advancement. We also learn about the connections between these movementsand older populistcritiquesofthe "money trust"that supposedly controlled the country's finances. Nearlyall of the movementsrelied on impracticaland oftenracist (more specifically, anti-Semitic)thinkingthatnonetheless had sophisticatedfeatures,such as an appreciation for the importance of increasing the velocity of moneyat a timeofdepression (in the manner of Yale economist Irving Fisher). Each of the movementsalso relied on inducing inflationas a means of combating the Great Depression, a prescriptionnot unlike those advanced byearly Keynesianssuch as Alvin Hansen. Mitchell has a particularlygood feel for the peculiaritiesofCaliforniapolitics,showinghow progressivefeaturessuch as open primariesand the referendumand recall figured in pension politics. It is hard to resisthis account of such charactersas Sheridan Downey,who wentfrom Upton Sinclair'sEnd Povertyin Californiamovement to a seat in the U.S. Senate for three terms-with a constant eye on servingthe elderly constituents who loyally voted for him. Downey realized that the California of his era was a place where people went to retireand, as a consequence, it contained a disproportionate share of elderlyvotes. It was the Florida of its day. People oftenpoint to Florida, withitsheavily geriatricpopulation, as an image of America's future. Mitchell thinksalong similarlines and makes an extended comparison between the pension politics of California in the 1930s and the 1940s and the Social Securitypolitics of the 2020s and 2030s, when the bulk of the baby boom will retire. He attempts to draw out historicallessons applicable to the futureSocial Securitydebate. He notes thatconspiracytheories about the money trust or the "crime of 1873" or the neglect of World War I veterans figured largely in California politics, and he argues that"currentdebate over Social Security and the retirementof the baby boom generation almost guarantees that futureretiree political movements will be built on conspiracy theories of whymore is perceived as owed than is being provided" (p. 167). It is an intriguing notion. Richard Neustadt and Ernest May,who have written on the problems of drawing lessons fromhistory,note how easyitis to be seduced by
