This book presents an overview of the economic, political, and social forces that shaped contemporary employment relations practices in United States. It provides students with the historical background they need to understand how the US system developed and how it differs from systems in other industrialized nations. Individual employment rights, including protecting individual employees from discrimination and workplace `rights', are thoroughly examined. In addition, current policy issues in employment (raising the minimum wage, growth of a contingent workforce, privatizing retirement) are discussed in detail.

Preface1. Contemporary Employment Relations in Historical Perspective The Start of a New Millenium Analyzing "Exceptionalism": Is the United States Different and Why? Studying Work The Nature of Labor Contracts An Overview of This Book Firms and Managers Organized Labor Community InstitutionsPART I. THE ERA OF MANAGEMENT, 1880 - 19352. Industrial Expansion and the Foundations of Unionisms The Rise of Corporations Beginnings of Collective Organization Union Growth and Labor Conflict From Conflict to Cooperation3. Managerial Control and the Beginnings of State Regulation Judges and the Law of Employment Contracts Injunctions and Antitrust Scientific Management and the Efficiency Movement Welfare Capitalism and the Emergence of the Modern Personnel System Workers¿ Compensation Insurance - An Early Exception to Exceptionalism Summing up the 1920sPART II: THE EVOLUTION OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING4. The Creation of Federal Labor Policy: World War I Through the New Deal Wartime Policies and the Effect on Collective Bargaining Labor Legislation Before the Wagner Act The National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act of 1935 Social Legislation: Retirement, Unemployment, and Labor Standards The Federal Mandates and the Collective Bargaining Process5. Rise and Decline of the Labor Movement, 1935 - 2000 Founding of the CIO The Supreme Court and the Wagner Act Labor Relations During World War II The Labor Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act, 1947 Cosolidation of Collective Bargaining and Employment Policies Union Decline: 1970s to the MilleniumPART III: INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS, 1960s - 2000s6. Protecting Individuals From Discrimination Equal Pay Act Civil Rights Acts Age Discrimination in Employment Act Americans With Disabilities Act of 19907. Workplace Rights and Benefits Workplace Health and Safety: OSHA Employee Retirement and Income Security Act Health Insurance and Employment The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 Exceptions to the Employment At Will RulePART IV: REBUILDING THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT: PRACTICES, POLICIES, AND POLITICS8. Contemporary Employment Issues Organizational Justice as an Alternative to Litigation Bringing Unions Back In Economic Security for U. S. Workers: Health Insurance, Pensions, and Employment Stability9. Conclusions Back to the Future? The Job Machine in the 2000s A Final ThoughtIndexAbout the Author