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Industrial Relations in the United States

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To understand the range of the challenges of industrial relations that employers and their organizations have faced in the U.S. and other industrialized countries across the world, it is necessary to be aware of the present effects as well as of the historical influences which have determined and are still determining such relations and dialogues in these areas. I plan to research on the industrial relations and employment systems, as well as the social dialogue borne out of these issues in the U.S. Industrial relations have been a controversial issue throughout the history and there have been also critical points in these relations in the world. So I considered important to highlight these critical points by making periodization, starting from the industrial revolution in Great Britain and the French Revolution in France up to today, to express the historical context. As well as the periodization, the major theoretical approaches to industrial relations such as Unitary, Conflict and Systems theories will help me to throw light on my hypothesis in a better way. Then I will mention the employment conditions in the U.S. system within the context of these theories. While presenting this relationship, it is indispensable to make a historical and thorough investigation into the racial inequality in terms of the racial distribution of wealth in America. Beginning to study from the plantation slavery to labor participation, employment and composition of the labor force of today will provide a well-established data to evaluate the current industrial and labor situation in the U.S. At this point, as well as a racist attitude, pointing out the sexist attitude comes to the front as a critical fact. As far as social dialogue is concerned, though it takes many different forms from one country to another, I’ll try make an analysis to find out the existence of the most customary activities of social dialogue, the tripartism -negotiation, consultation and information sharing-from the point of the contemporary definition of social dialogue brought about by the International Labor Organization. Accordingly, my main purpose in this study is to represent the present-day U.S. industrial relations, working conditions, trade unions and social dialogue by taking into account the historical background and theories. Industrialization Industrialization has been depicted by many theorist, however, of all of these depictions, the most comprehensible and clear one was offered by Slichter as “the system of production that has arisen from the steady development, study, and use of scientific knowledge. It is based on the division of labor and on specialization and uses mechanical, chemical, and power-driven, as well as organizational and intellectual, aids in production” (61). The primary objective of this method of organizing economic life, which had its genesis in the mid-eighteenth century, has been to reduce the real cost, per unit, of producing goods and services. The resulting increases in output per man-hour have been so large as to stagger the imagination. The average American worker today produces as much in half an hour as his British counterpart did in a whole working day a century ago, and that American worker has ten times as much industrial capital behind him as he would have had a century ago (62). Industrial Revolution According to Oxford English Dictionary Industrial Revolution is the rapid development of industry  that occurred in Britain in the late 18th and 19th centuries, brought about by the introduction of machinery. It was characterized by the use of steam power, the growth of factories, and the mass production of manufactured goods. As understood from the definition, Industrial Revolution first took place in England, later expanding to the other European countries. So we should gain insight into the European history in which drastic renovations occurred that shaped this revolution. Apparently one of the most important changes in Europe was the industrial revolution that set the ways for a worldwide economy. Of course, before this, there had been many historical events to trigger this phenomenon that needs to be explained. History is full of historiographical milestones: ostentatious and epitome structures that give alignment and rationality to our historical accounts and that describe this study questions. In western history such notions as the Reformation and the French Revolution, or the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment, quickly come to mind as examples. They are, to be sure, based on the things that took place during the course of time, but have come to lead a life of their own. Of these, the Industrial Revolution, also called the British Industrial Revolution, comes to the front as the most significant historical fact, in terms of its economic effects on people. During the course of history there have been many critic points, some asserts that industrial revolut

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