ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly overviews how management responded to the changing economic conditions before and after the publication of What Do Unions Do? and how the economic environment influenced management views on the role of unions in 1984 and today. Any management assessment of unions is likely to evolve over time and vary from industry to industry depending on changing competition in product markets. To maintain profitability in the early 1980s management in many industries had to aggressively cut the unit cost of production. Management has an incentive to minimize production costs, the ability of unions to exercise monopsony power to “mark up” wages and lower efficiency is of great concern to business operating in competitive markets, so management typically opposes unionization. Management agrees that unions tend to place greater emphasis on deferred compensation, in the form of pension and health benefits, than do employers.
