Featherbedding and Union Work Rules
New Conflicts Over Featherbedding
Dispute Over Railroad Featherbedding
Local Work Rules in Steel Industry
Methods of Dealing with Featherbedding
A bitter struggle over union work rules has been a prime factor in making the current steel strike the longest in 40 years. Steel management and steel labor have locked horns over authority to alter working conditions which vary from plant to plant across the country. Another fight about work rules is apt to be the central issue in negotiations between the railroads and railroad operating employees on labor agreements to replace contracts which expired Oct. 31. The same question has been involved this year in labor disputes on the nation's waterfronts, in the packing industry, and in other sectors.
Industry's stated objective in each case has been to remove supposed bars to increased productivity. Labor's stand has been based on fear that, without protective rules, employers will seek to increase productivity by speeding up operations or by extending mechanization or automation without providing adequately for workers whose jobs are taken away in the process. In sum, management wants the unilateral right to eliminate what it views as loafing or featherbedding, while organized labor is bent on preserving rules which it considers necessary to protect the worker, his job, or both.
General Nature of Union Make-Work Rules
The term "featherbedding" cannot be precisely denned; in general, it is taken to mean use of more manpower than is necessary to do a given job. Chief among union work rules, written or unwritten, which are often accused of responsibility for feather bed ding are rules that limit the operating speed of machines; limit the amount of work that may be performed over a specified span of time; require adherence to established work practices; impede introduction of new machinery; regulate the size of work crews; or require performance of duplicative work or the independent performance of work that could be done in the course of other operations.
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Sep. 02, 2005 Labor Unions' Future
Jun. 28, 1996 Labor Movement's Future
Jun. 14, 1985 Organized Labor in the 1980s
Nov. 06, 1981 Labor Under Siege
Mar. 24, 1978 Labor's Southern Strategy
Aug. 20, 1976 Labor's Options
Oct. 27, 1971 Organized Labor After the Freeze
Oct. 19, 1966 Labor Strife and the Public Interest
Jan. 30, 1963 Strike Action and the Law
Sep. 20, 1961 Conflicts in Organized Labor
Aug. 04, 1960 Labor, Management, and the National Interest
Dec. 16, 1959 Future of Free Collective Bargaining
Nov. 04, 1959 Featherbedding and Union Work Rules
Feb. 18, 1959 Public Intervention in Labor Disputes
Jul. 09, 1958 Suits Against Labor Unions
Nov. 13, 1957 Right-To-Work Laws
Oct. 31, 1956 Union Organizing
May 01, 1954 State Powers in Labor Relations
Oct. 02, 1953 Toward Labor Unity
Apr. 11, 1953 Industry-Wide Bargaining and Industry-Wide Strikes
Sep. 03, 1952 Labor and Politics
Mar. 25, 1950 Labor Injunctions
Jan. 25, 1950 Trade Unions and Productivity
Sep. 26, 1949 Fact-Finding Boards in Labor Disputes
Mar. 05, 1949 Closed Shop
Dec. 01, 1948 Revision of the Taft-Hartley Act
Jan. 01, 1947 Labor Unions, the Public and the Law
Oct. 09, 1946 Revision of the Wagner Act
Sep. 25, 1946 Labor Productivity
May 29, 1946 Labor Organization in the South
Jan. 30, 1946 Compulsory Settlement of Labor Disputes
May 18, 1945 Labor Policy After the War
Mar. 29, 1945 Union Maintenance
Feb. 02, 1945 Labor Relations in Coal Mining
Oct. 12, 1944 No-Strike Pledge
Sep. 16, 1944 Political Action by Organized Labor
May 30, 1944 Unionization of Foremen
Apr. 01, 1944 Dismissal Pay
Apr. 29, 1943 Labor in Government
Apr. 09, 1943 Public Regulation of Trade Unions
Nov. 19, 1941 Labor Policies of the Roosevelt Administration
Oct. 23, 1941 Closed Shop Issue in Labor Relations
Mar. 29, 1941 Labor as Partner in Production
Feb. 12, 1941 Labor and the Defense Program
Feb. 23, 1940 Labor in Politics
Jan. 17, 1939 Settlement of Disputes Between Labor Unions
Jul. 01, 1938 Three Years of National Labor Relations Act
Nov. 12, 1937 State Regulation of Labor Relations
Jul. 10, 1937 Restrictions on the Right to Strike
Apr. 28, 1937 The Labor Market and the Unemployed
Mar. 26, 1937 Control of the Sit-Down Strike
Mar. 13, 1937 Collective Bargaining in the Soft-Coal Industry
Jan. 22, 1937 Responsibility of Labor Unions
Nov. 11, 1936 Industrial Unionism and the A.F. of L.
Jul. 30, 1936 Federal Intervention in Labor Disputes
Jul. 14, 1936 Labor Relations in the Steel Industry
Apr. 17, 1934 Company Unions and Collective Bargaining
Feb. 07, 1934 Settlement of Labor Disputes
Sep. 12, 1933 Trade Unionism Under the Recovery Program
Feb. 17, 1932 Wage Concessions by Trade Unions
Oct. 01, 1929 Status of the American Labor Movement
Jul. 20, 1929 Trade Unionism in the South
Aug. 31, 1928 Organized Labor in National Politics
Feb. 04, 1928 The Use of Injunctions in Labor Disputes
Sep. 09, 1927 Organized Labor and the Works Council Movement
Oct. 12, 1923 The A.F. of L. and the "New Radicalism"
Unions and Labor-Management Relations