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Reckoning with Company Unions: The Case of Thompson Products, 1934–1964

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  • Sanford M. Jacoby

Abstract

This study of company unionism at Thompson Products (today TRW) calls into question the usual characterization of company unions as uniformly ineffectual and short-lived. The company unions examined in this study were fostered and overseen by Thompson's managers with the undoubted purpose of keeping national unions out of the company's work force. But the author also finds that they evolved into organizations that successfully met their members' needs, partly because of external pressures, such as government scrutiny and competition from national unions, and partly because of some internal factors, such as the workers' unusual degree of loyalty to the firm. The author suggests that some variant of the company union might be a viable complement to the progressive nonunion model that is common today.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanford M. Jacoby, 1989. "Reckoning with Company Unions: The Case of Thompson Products, 1934–1964," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(1), pages 19-40, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:43:y:1989:i:1:p:19-40
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    Cited by:

    1. Rebitzer, James B., 1994. "Structural, Microeconomic and Institutional Explanations for Union Decline in the United States," Economic Review, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 45(1), pages 41-52, January.
    2. Dieter Sadowski & Uschi Backes-Gellner & Bernd Frick, 1995. "Works Councils: Barriers or Boosts for the Competitiveness of German Firms?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 493-513, September.
    3. Tsuyoshi Tsuru & James B. Rebitzer, 1995. "The Limits of Enterprise Unionism: Prospects for Continuing Union Decline in Japan," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 459-492, September.

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