Collective bargaining

There is not much that need be said by way of explaining this volume. It arose from a teaching need for a single book that brought together the results of some of the more important work on the subject of collective bargaining and from the subsequent discovery that no book of this nature existed. In the course of organizing such material, certain gaps were en countered, as well as areas where previous work has appeared inadequate; in some instances these have been merely noted; in other cases an effort has been made to assist in remedying the deficiency. Aside from the organ ization itself, some original contributions have thus been made in these pages. For this reason I dare to hope that the present work will prove of some interest to specialists as well as students.

I entertain no illusions, however, that all specialists in this field will approve the organization I have chosen. In this matter, lacking precedent, I had nothing to guide me but personal opinion and friendly advice. It may be worth recording that I have consciously stressed the developmental character of collective bargaining, its change over time, and for this reason have given space to the history of collective bargaining in this country and to the possibilities of union-management cooperation which some may believe excessive. I have also made use of a considerable amount of source material, integrating it with the text, in the belief that this may achieve some of the values of the case method while avoiding most of the disad vantages of exclusive reliance on it.

My sincere thanks are due to Professors Philip Taft, Lloyd G. Reynolds, and Lloyd Fisher for their comments on portions of the manuscript. Equally sincere thanks are due to Eloise Agger and Norma Bogen for their assistance in its preparation. Finally, I acknowledge with deep gratitude the continuing contribution, no less valuable because indirect, stemming from conversations and discussions with Professor E. Wight Bakke, director of the Yale Labor and Management Center. His penetrating com ments have often stimulated fresh lines of thought, some of which appear in this book, although he may not recognize their source or even approve of them.