Turbulence in the American Workplace

This book deals with critical issues resulting from the impact of corporate restructuring on workers. U.S. industry has undergone a shakeout resulting from increasing competitive pressures and the globalization of production. As a result, some two million workers have been laid-off from their employers. Individual chapters have been drafted by an interdisciplinary group of academics who explore seven key areas: demographic changes of younger and older workers, workforce displacement from lay-offs, human resources planning for downsizing and mergers, technological change, changes in the roles of unions, changes in managerial and professional work, and `contingent' and flexible employment. The drafts of the chapters have been extensively edited and, in some cases, rewritten so that the book will read more like a series of chapters than a group of papers. The work was commissioned by the National Planning Association who will be a party to the contract.