Page 43 - The Drucker Lectures

24 [ The Drucker Lectures

MANY CASES THIS AMOUNTS TO VIRTUALLY COMPLETE JOB SECURITY 4HE
MEANS TO DO THIS IS OF COURSE hSENIORITYv ACCORDING TO WHICH IN
ANY LAYOFF OR DISMISSAL WORKERS WILL BE LAID OFF OR DISMISSED IN
THE REVERSE OF THEIR LENGTH OF SERVICE WITH THE COMPANY OR IN
SOME CASES WITH THE INDUSTRY
Seniority provisions in American industry exist in a great
variety of forms and detail as they are being set by individual
UNION AGREEMENTS 4HEY ACTUALLY EXIST ALSO OUTSIDE OF UNIONIZED
INDUSTRYˆBY CUSTOM RATHER THAN BY CONTRACT BUT NEVERTHELESS
IN HIGHLY BINDING FORM !S MENTIONED THEY MEAN THAT EMPLOY-
EES WITH TWO TO lVE YEARS OF SERVICE ACCORDING TO COMPANY OR
industry (and in practically all cases this would embrace about
TWO THIRDS OF ALL EMPLOYEES ENJOY VIRTUAL JOB SECURITY AS LONG AS
the company keeps in operation.
The disadvantages of any seniority system are very well
KNOWN AND NEED NO REPETITION HERE )T IS HOWEVER ONLY RARELY
understood that seniority is a principle of guaranteeing employ-
ment—and an exceedingly effective one.
/UR lNAL APPROACH DEVELOPED ONLY WITHIN THE LAST FEW YEARS
is to guarantee not a job and employment but the maintenance of
income. This is the aim of the various plans known as “supple-
MENTARY UNEMPLOYMENT BENElT PLANS v WHICH HAVE BECOME SO
prominent in American industry during the last few years—even
THOUGH THE lRST ONE BETWEEN THE 5NITED !UTO 7ORKERS UNION
AND THE LEADING AUTOMOBILE COMPANIES WAS CONCLUDED ONLY TWO
years ago in the spring of 1955.
With the exception of the seniority approach—which has
been with Western industry for at least a hundred years—U.S.
experience differs considerably from approaches to the same
problem in many other countries. The biggest difference is ob-
viously that in the United States the problem is considered pri-
marily one of private industry to be solved through individual
negotiations with individual labor unions. In other countries—