111. Bellandro Bay Brewery union representatives and the company’s management have
reached an impasse. Going forward, the union is planning an organized strike and other tactics to
put pressure on management where it will be most effective. Union supporters are being
encouraged to avoid purchasing Bellandro’s products. Now union leaders have contacted a
variety of stores that stock Bellandro’s Beer informing them that union members and other
supporters will stop shopping at any store that continues to carry the brewery’s beer until the
dispute is resolved in the union’s favor. This tactic against stores that carry Bellandro’s Beer is
called a primary boycott.
112. Striking union workers are picketing near the entrance of the Bellandro Bay Brewery plant
where they normally work. The workers are acting peacefully and have not threatened anyone
entering or leaving the company or damaged any property. Bellandro’s management is seeking an
injunction to prevent the workers from picketing. The courts are unlikely to issue an injunction
under the current circumstances.
113. Workers at the West Fenton plant of Malzone Industries have gone out on strike.
Management believes it could continue operating the plant during the strike by hiring
replacement workers. If the company hires nonunion workers to continue its operations, it will be
violating a recent Supreme Court ruling that declared hiring replacement workers as a violation of
the Wagner Act.
114. Employees were striking at the local university last year. Very few students were crossing
the picket line. In fact, the city’s postal employees refused to deliver mail there claiming that they
were honoring the strike for their fellow service union members. The postal employees were
participating in a voluntary secondary boycott.
115. After adjusting for inflation, the average executive compensation is actually a little lower
now than it was in 1960.
116. The disparity in salaries is clearly reflected in the fact that the average executive
compensation for a major company was $123 million, compared to a little more than $35,000 that
the average worker was compensated.
117. CEOs only earn high salaries and bonuses when their companies earn substantial profits.
118. Economist Thomas Piketty is very critical of the exorbitant compensations that some CEOs
are getting.
119. Despite their high pay, most CEOs work far fewer hours per week than the average
employee in their companies.
120. On the average, today’s CEOs make over 350 times what the lowest-paid employee earns.
121. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was intended to give
shareholders more say in executive compensation.
122. Comparable worth is concerned with making sure that women get paid as much as men
when they do the same jobs.
123. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 required companies to provide equal pay to men and women
who perform the same job.
124. The concept of
comparable worth
holds that people who do jobs that require similar levels
of education, training and skills should receive equal pay.
125. Today, a woman usually receives a salary that is equal to over 80% of her male
counterpart.
126. The law protects both women and men from sexual harassment.
127. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex harassment is prohibited by sexual
harassment laws.
128. Although workers and managers often know that their firm has a policy against sexual
harassment, they seldom have a clear understanding of what the policy actually says.
129. “Quid pro quo” sexual harassment occurs when a person’s conduct creates an offensive,
hostile, or intimidating work environment that adversely affects the job performance of some
other employee.
130. If you work for a foreign company doing business in the U.S., you are subject to the same
sexual harassment laws as anyone working in the U.S.
131. Because of the need to cut costs, fewer large U.S. companies now provide some sort of
child care for their employees than ten years ago.
132. Small firms often offer innovative child care programs as a way of competing for qualified
employees.
133. On-site childcare remains the only acceptable way for firms to meet the child care
concerns of their employees.
134. The number of households that face the burden of caring for one or more elderly parents
has increased significantly over the past decade.
135. In recent years federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid have greatly reduced the
financial burden on families faced with caring for elderly adults.
136. Over the next decade costs associated with elder care are likely to have a much smaller
impact on businesses than childcare costs.
137. Elder care costs are likely to remain a major issue for businesses for many years.
138. Alcohol and drug abuse are serious workplace issues but they involve far fewer workers
than AIDS does.
139. Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the workplace.
140. Today, over 80% of all companies require some type of drug testing.
141. The high cost of illegal drug use in the workplace has resulted in a rise in the number of
firms that test employees and job applicants for drugs.
142. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 16% of job–
related fatalities are homicides.
143. One in six violent crimes that are committed in the U.S. occur in the workplace.
144. Many companies do not provide any formal training for dealing with prevention of violence
in the workplace.
145. Since violence in the workplace rarely results in severe injury, it is likely not to be much of
a problem in the future.
146. Although the general public often sees the compensation of CEOs of major U.S.
corporations as being much too high, the pay and benefits these top executives receive is
actually quite similar to what is earned by top executives in other countries with market
economies.
147. According to the
Adapting to Change
box, Northwestern University’s football players won
a ruling from the NLRB that gave them the right to unionize.
148. Renee discovered that a male coworker at the hospital where they both work is paid
$1.50 per hour more than she is even though they have the same job title, have similar
qualifications, and have been employed the same length of time. Unfortunately for Renee, it is
legal for the hospital to pay different salaries to different workers who perform the same job.
149. Although child care concerns have become a pressing issue for many employees, most
firms have been unable to find acceptable solutions to these concerns.
150. Robert and Jenny are coworkers who enjoy flirting with each other while at work. They
both view their actions as harmless fun, as do the other employees in their office. Their flirtation
does not offend the other workers or make them feel threatened or uncomfortable. Nevertheless,
under current criteria, both Jenny and Robert could be found guilty of sexual harassment.
151. Rose is a human resources manager for a rapidly growing corporation. The firm recently
hired 100 new workers, 10 of whom were involved in workplace accidents soon after they were
hired. It was determined that alcohol usage was the cause of these accidents. Top management
has asked Rose to do a better job in screening potential workers for alcohol abuse to avoid this in
the future. Rose should point out that in fact the 10 percent of the recent hires with alcohol
issues is actually much lower than the overall percentage of employees with alcohol issues that
are involved in industrial injuries and fatalities in the U.S.
152. Recently a disgruntled employee walked into a large grocery chain’s midwest distribution
center and opened fire on his fellow workers. He killed or injured several people before being
killed by the local police. The grocery chain is very concerned about the threat of workplace
violence in the future. One way to deal with this threat is for management to hold focus groups to
invite employee input. Another way is to make certain that the company hires managers with
good interpersonal skills.
153. A(n) ________ is an employee organization that represents workers in employee–
management bargaining over job-related issues.
154. The presence of formal labor organizations in the United States dates back to the:
155. Unions were originally formed ________________.
156. According to business observers, which of the following is a reason for labor’s decline?
157. The union movement in the United States was an outgrowth of the economic transition
caused by the:
158. Labor unions were largely responsible for: