MUST ANSWER A,B, C, AND D FOR QUESTION 1 AND 2. 1 PARAGRAPH FOR EACH LETTER(7 PARAGRAPHS ALL TOGETHER) READ THE PDF FILE BELOW FOR THE ANSWERS, YOU HAVE TO WRITE IT IN YOUR OWN WORDS

1) Independent local union is the name given to some company unions following the illegalization of employer-dominated unions under Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.  In Japan, enterprise unions are similar to what were called company unions or representation plans in the United States, although many observers conclude that enterprise unions have a greater degree of independence than company unions did.  In April 1937 the case of theNLRB v. Jones and Laughlin Steel declared that the National Labor Relations Act was constitutional.  Jacoby’s article “Reckoning with Company Unions” 

(a)At Thompson Products, why did the UAW repeatedly lose elections at the TAPCO plant?

(b) Why did the NLRB repeatedly disestablish Thompson’s company unions, including the AAWA and the BIW as well as the AWA, despite the UAW’s repeated losses in union elections?

(c) Why did the Sixth Circuit Court change its mind and reverse the NLRB in 1947, allowing the AWA?

(d)  Given that Thompson was a supplier to the major auto makers, how might the AWA have given it a competitive advantage with respect to the wages it paid hence the prices it charged?

2) Living agreements or continuous bargaining are in use in Japanese firms, and they have been imitated by the UAW since the 1980s.  Under this arrangement the labor contract contains a bare outline of wages, hours, and working conditions, and the terms of employment are changed on an ongoing basis, allowing flexibility to labor and management.  According to Jacoby, the AWA allowed continuous bargaining to exist at Thompson products in the 1950s.  As well, it encouraged loyalty to the firm and the labor leaders’ susceptibility to manipulation by managers. (Many authors on enterprise unions disagree with the claim that Japanese unions are subservient to management.)  

(a) How did  continuous bargaining and loyalty give Thompson a strategic or competitive advantage? 

(b) Was the AWA employer-dominated or independent?

(c) If it was employer-dominated, did it matter (a) to employees or (b) morally?