Studs Terkel Working Summary

In Studs Terkel’s book Working, Terkel begins a description of a steelworker named Mike LeFevre say that he is “a dying breed”, a laborer who’s the one who has to “build something”, doesn’t have a college degree and is a part of a “union”. Mike LeFevre, as history shows is a dying breed; during the 1980s, businesses chose to cut labor costs through globalization and providing non-union manufacturing jobs, who were paid “30% less than union workers”. Similarly, as Levinson writes in The Box, globalization and the lean corporation model was supported by the development of the shipping container, which alleviated the significant costs (“around 12% of US exports” and “10% of US imports”) and functioned as a “trading barrier” before the innovation

of the box. According to Dubofsky and McCartin, these developments characterize the new frontiers of labor which saw the rise of globalization and the diminishing power of US labor, as the signing of trade agreements like NAFTA by democratic president Bill Clinton led to the loss of US manufacturing jobs over the “objections of US labor”.
Moreover, these large trends were preceded by economic crises during the 1970’s, the “fuel crisis triggered by embargoes of oil sales” to the US as well as “lingering inflationary impact of Vietnam war spending”.

Moreover, the inflationary recession period deemed a “stagflation” was coupled with rising economic inequality as the top one percent of earners saw their income rise by 45.4 percent from 1977 to 1990. In Stud Terkel’s Working, this disparity is clear between boss and employee, as bosses such as Dave Bender feel uncomfortable in his status as a boss. Similarly, Larry Ross, ex-president of a conglomerate and consultant, describes the “lonely life of an executive”, who must now adhere to the computer and other technological phenomena that have made managing the workplace rather mechanic and demanding. The stress of cutting labor due to a new corporate model also fueled the restructuring of business to fit a profit-motivated, globalized economy. While many bosses were gaining employment, unions began to see their disunion due to the forces of automation and leaner corporate mechanisms. As Levinson writes, “traditional skills” became obsolete in the face of automation while many longshoreman, who were fathers, could not train and bring their sons up in the business because “the jobs were

disappearing.
While the loss of jobs and union solidarity began to dissipate, in the 1980s, a new conservative movement arose in America, which indicted unionism and a large bureaucratic government in favor of the ideals of the 18th century classical liberalism, new evangelical movements, hawkishness, Hayekian or trickle-down economics.

Led by Senator Barry Goldwater and exemplified in President Ronald Reagan, the growth of right-to-work laws (where unions could not require an entire workplace to pay dues if they represented the workplace) and the disbandment of large unions (Air Traffic Controller Workers by President Reagan) were policies that favored a more market-controlled economy than one dictated by the demands of organized labor. This mindset can even be seen with the more liberal-minded administration of President Johnson, who was concerned about “inflationary labor settlements” and expressed desire step in among the ILA and New York Shipping Association favoring the needs of the employers rather than the wage increases and other demands of ILA members. While the new conservatives brought important critiques to a highly bureaucratic and inflationary economy, increased globalization saw the closures of many domestic manufacturing plants and, consequently, the loss of US manufacturing jobs. While workers grew more concerned about domestic jobs and the public less enchanted with the welfare state, business leaders formed roundtables and alliances to influence political

decision-making in favor of their interests. For example, “the Business Roundtable in 1972 marked a new era of aggressive campaigning” and approaches to influence government and public opinion. Think-tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation, were also established to further legitimize the new conservative movement while unions and their forces dissipated due to scandals that arose from the bureaucracy. This changing era set a new expectation and basis for the increased globalization and workplaces challenges beyond the 1990s.
Did labor unions dramatically inflating wages or simply responding well to the challenges of globalization?
How did a lean corporate model change the workplace?
How did “right-to-work” laws affect the power between unions and employers?
How did the new conservative movement differ from its predecessor?