2. 职称英语
  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  42
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 would most likely describe many plant-relocation decisions made by United States companies as
选项 A、capricious
B、self-serving
C、naive
D、impulsive
E、illogical
答案 B
解析 Evaluation
This question requires you to pick a word that the passage suggests opponents of labor concessions would apply to many plant-relocation decisions made by U.S. companies. The passage indicates that those who oppose labor concessions often do so on the grounds that companies will move their production overseas if it matches their perceived self-interest—regardless of any concessions labor has made in order to preserve jobs. According to the passage, opponents of labor concessions therefore tend to view such plant-relocation decisions as self-serving.
A The passage does not attribute to opponents of labor concessions the view that corporate decisions are variable in a way that makes them unpredictable.
B Correct. According to the passage, the opponents of labor concessions believe that companies make investment decisions that fit their strategic plans and profit objectives.
C The passage suggests that the opponents may view plant managers’ relocation decisions as based on realistic assessments of corporate interests.
D The passage does not attribute to the opponents the view that companies make plant-relocation decisions on impulse; rather, it suggests that these opponents tend to see relocation decisions as based on analysis of how relocation would advance predetermined strategies and objectives.
E According to the passage, the opponents see an inflexible logic governing such relocation decisions, which are based on an assessment of how best to serve companies’ interests, as judged by reference to predetermined investment strategies and profit objectives.
The correct answer is B.
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