540
Building Trade Unions: Attitudes Toward Prefabrication
544
ATTITUDES TOWARD PREFABRICATION
As can be imagined from the foregoing discussions of
industrialization and labor union goals in general, the attitudes of
unions toward industrialization in the building trades are quite
varied.
544.1
UNION STRATEGIES
"Unions faced with technological change may adopt one of three
strategies: (1) the policy of obstruction; (2) the policy of
competition; (3) the policy of control. The strategy adopted will not
necessarily be a national one. A local with many unemployed
members may attempt a policy of competition or obstruction, while
a local which enjoys a tight labor market may actually welcome
changes which raise the marginal product of its members. Haber
and Levinson found evidence of all three strategies: bricklayers, for
example, concerned with the rise in the use of brick substitutes,
approved the use of a new, larger-sized brick (policy of
competition). Lathers and plasterers use both direct and indirect
methods of competition in their effort to prevent the use of drywall,
which completely substitutes for the services of their crafts. While
working to reduce the desirability of drywall through building codes
and publicity campaigns, the unions have accepted and
encouraged the use of the plaster gun. Carpenters have generally
followed a policy of control and have not objected to the use of
small power tools provided they are operated by union members. A
case of obstruction may be found in the painters' restrictions on the
use of the spray gun, although they have only rarely resorted to
outright prohibition. " (15)
544.2
LEGAL INFLUENCES
544.2.1
The legal influence on union reaction to prefabrication is somewhat
confusing. In most industries, "hot cargo" agreements, those which
force and employer not to do business with a particular outside firm,
such as might be used to keep a contractor from using
prefabricated items, constitute an illegal secondary boycott.
544.2.2
"Prior to the amendment of the NLRA by the Labor-Management
Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, the statutory secondary-
boycott prohibitions applied only `forcing or requiring' one person to
stop doing business with another person. Hence, an employer
might, if he chose, voluntarily agree with a union not to deal with
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