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  3. According to many analysts, labor-management relations in the United States are

According to many analysts, labor-management relations in the United States are

游客2024-01-12  28
问题 According to many analysts, labor-management relations in the United States are undergoing a fundamental change: traditional adversarialism is giving way to a new cooperative relationship between the two sides and even to concessions from labor. These analysts say the twin shocks of nonunion competition in this country and low-cost, high-quality imports from abroad are forcing unions to look more favorably at a variety of management demands: the need for wage restraint and reduced benefits as well as the abolition of "rigid" work rules, seniority rights, and job classifications.
Sophisticated proponents of these new developments cast their observations in a prolabor light. In return for their concessions, they point out, some unions have bargained for profit sharing, retraining rights, and job-security guarantees. Unions can also trade concessions for more say on the shop floor, where techniques such as quality circles and quality-of-work-life programs promise workers greater control over their own jobs. Unions may even win a voice in investment and pricing strategy, plant location, and other major corporate policy decisions previously reserved to management.
Opponents of these concessions from labor argue that such concessions do not save jobs, but either prolong the agony of dying plants or finance the plant relocations that employers had intended anyway. Companies make investment decisions to fit their strategic plans and their profit objectives, opponents point out, and labor costs are usually just a small factor in the equation. Moreover, unrestrained by either loyalty to their work force or political or legislative constraints on their mobility, the companies eventually cut and run, concessions or no concessions.
Wage-related concessions have come under particular attack, since opponents believe that high union wages underlay much of the success of United States industry in this century. They point out that a long-standing principle, shared by both management and labor, has been that workers should earn wages that give them the income they need to buy what they make. Moreover, high wages have given workers the buying power to propel the economy forward.
If proposals for pay cuts, two-tier wage systems, and subminimum wages for young workers continue to gain credence, opponents believe the U.S. social structure will move toward that of a less-developed nation: a small group of wealthy investors, a sizable but still minority bloc of elite professionals and highly skilled employees, and a huge mass of marginal workers and unskilled laborers. Further, they argue that if unions willingly engage in concession bargaining on the false grounds that labor costs are the source of a company’s problems, unions will find themselves competing with Third World pay levels—a competition they cannot win. [br] It can be inferred from the passage that opponents of labor concessions believe that if concession bargaining continues, then
选项 A、plants will close instead of relocating
B、young workers will need continued job retraining
C、professional workers will outnumber marginal workers
D、wealthy investors will invest in Third World countries instead of the United States
E、the social structure of the United States will be negatively affected
答案 E
解析 Inference
This question concerns the beliefs of opponents of labor concessions, as those beliefs are represented in the passage. The passage attributes to those opponents the view that if the idea of reducing wages gains credence, the U.S. social structure will begin to decline and will eventually be on a par with the social structures of less-developed nations. Moreover, the passage represents the opponents as believing that if labor unions negotiate on the premise that high labor costs are causing a company’s problems, eventually wages will be reduced drastically—potentially to Third World levels. In paragraph 1, the passage reports that analysts say that labor unions are currently forced to favorably consider management demands for "wage restraint" and concessions on benefits.
A The passage indicates that the opponents believe companies relocate their plants whenever companies perceive this as in accord with their investment strategies and profit objectives.
B A need for continued retraining of young workers is not a belief attributed by the passage to opponents of labor concessions.
C The passage, in referring to "a huge mass of marginal workers," attributes a contrary view to opponents of labor concessions.
D The passage does not attribute this view to opponents of labor concessions.
E Correct. We learn from the passage that labor unions are engaged in concession bargaining, on topics that include wage restraint. The opponents of labor concessions believe, according to the passage, that eventually the result will be wage reductions, and the ultimate result will be degradation of the U.S. social structure, resulting in a social structure more like that of a less-developed nation.
The correct answer is E.
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