Labor Productivity

Archive Report

Production to Safeguard Against Inflation

New Trade Union Concern with Productivity

Voices have been raised in important sections of the American labor movement—between paralyzing strikes since the close of the war—with a call for increased labor productivity. Although trade union members have long opposed “the speedup,” and looked with suspicion upon all plans for “cooperation with employers,” top labor leaders now appear to recognize that, in the long run, standards of living for wage-earners can be further improved only by producing more goods at lower costs.

First substantial evidence of an acceptance by labor officials of economic doctrines long advocated by employers appeared in the January issue of Labor's Monthly Survey, an official publication of the A.F.L. The Survey urged trade unionists to “work to improve production ...

locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles