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unhinged
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'this is the heart of economic decisionmaking in the united states. workers may take part in deciding wages, hours, and some working conditions. management reserves to itself the right unilaterally to make the big decistions abotu investment, plant location, and plant closings. and since this one_sided power is, in form, a part of a collective bargaining agreement to which rank and file workers have - in theory - voluntarily consented, filing a grievance or an NLRB charge will almost always be unsuccessful. it may be possible to obtain an injuction freezing the status quo until an arbitrator, a regional director of the board, or, as in our youngstown law suit, a federal judge, reaches the merits of the case. but when that time comes, the decisionmaker will look to the managemnet rights clause in the contract and affirm, however reluctantly, management's freedom to close a plant if it so chooses.
the main thing to be learned from the youngstown experience is that workers *must* seek to take part in decisions about what productiosn to make, where capital should be invested, when a new plant should be built or an old plant shut down (investment decisions)...
but how is the ordinary worker or local union to go about getting a voice in investment decisions? it's not easy.' - staughton lynd
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180930
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