Betrayal: Employee Relations at Dupont : 1981-1994 [Paperback]

Edward E. Dent (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1556181523 | ISBN-13: 978-1556181528 | Publication Date: July 1995 | Edition: 1st original ed

Many DuPonters will recognize this story regardless of their position in the company. This book is full of conflict and controversy: stark reality in its fullest. The new "Cultural Paradigm" pits employee against employee. You, the reader, get an opportunity to witness this paradigm change through their eyes. In Richmond, Virginia, the United Steelworkers of America Union sought to become the bargaining agent of the workers, to assist them as they struggled with corporate downsizing. The economic realities of the marketplace was forcing DuPont to restructure to be competitive. The Workers Councils that evolved into the Company Union (ARWI) must also change to assure that working men and women would share in the rewards that would ultimately come with the downsizing of big business. Lacking vision, but not apathy, the laborer at Spruance has fallen victim in a political environment created by the Company Union and Management that has hindered, what could be, an oth! erwise economic opportunity for all. As you read this story, the younger workers coming into the world of manufacturing might want to think about whether they really want to work for big business, afterall. "The American workman, when he realizes that society assures him a comfortable income, is ready to accept the existing organization of industry. But industry actually could not assure that income. Therein lay the fatal weakness-really akin to the sin of pride-of welfare capitalism. Employers confidently understood responsibility for labor's well-being. That obligation, in the end, they could not fulfill." (Braeman, Bremmer, & Brody. Change and Continuity in Twentieth-Century America: The 1920's. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1968.) "The chief element of the DuPont tradition involves a benevolent attitude towards employees," state Levering, Moskowitz, and Katz in their book, The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. DuPont's generosity to its workers was the ma! in reason no international union could penetrate the close-! knit family DuPonters had become. But economic change in the marketplace was already working a change on this "benevolent" relationship. Former DuPont CEO, Irving S. Shapiro, said "top management at DuPont had tended for years to be inbred, parochial, and narrow-minded . . . you can't play that way anymore." According to (Frank) Eastman, ARWI Union Vice-President, management said that Union members are a lot like DuPont managers. "Half sit back and watch things happen, a few make things happen, and the rest don't know what the HELL is happening." By 1986, a DuPont executive told the Washington Post: "There are people out there who think if they got a job with DuPont, they've got a job for life. We'd better damn well change their minds."

Editorial Reviews

Review

The DuPont story fits well with our collection and will be greatly utilized by research patrons.

Carolyn A. Davis Archivist/Librarian Walter P. Reuther Library Wayne State University Detroit, Michigan

The book "is a strong indictment of corporate American business policy from an insiders viewpoint. It is a detailed history of corporate downsizing and union organizing at one DuPont facility in Virginia. The author provides an exhaustive account of the machinations of DuPont's attempt to remain competitive in a shrinking global economy. Included withing the work are numerous documents released by the company, the United Steelworkers of Americas, the Amphill Rayon Workers Inc., the Concerned Amphill Rayon Employees, the National Labor Relations Board, and numerous cartoons by anonomyous sources which circulated throughout the plant over a 13 year period. Mr. Dent leads us step by step through changes: from the TEAMS concept which unleased cut-throat competition amo! ng employees, to the hiring of Limited Service Employees at a fraction of the wages paid to Wage Roll employees whom they replaced, to moving operations overseas." -- Jana Cutlip Mid-Ohio Valley Greens Synthesis/Regeneration 9 A Magazine of Green Social ThoughtWinter 1996

About the Author

Edward E. Dent grew up in the coalfields of West Virginia. Veteran of the US Army having served in Vietnam with the US 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One), and in Europe with V Corps.

A graduate of West Virginia University Institute of Technology, and Virginia State University. Post graduate study at Indiana University, and the University of Richmond, Virginia.

The author is a Chemical Process Operator, DuPont Company, Richmond, Virginia.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: Brunswick Pub Co; 1st original ed edition (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556181523
• ISBN-13: 978-1556181528
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,364,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First hand account of corporate downsizing from the inside., June 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Betrayal: Employee Relations at Dupont : 1981-1994 (Paperback)

The value of this book comes from being written by an insider. It is a contemporary writing and will serve readers a close look at how a premier chemical company is managed or mismanaged as the case might be. The book provides an excellent reader for students involved in the study of labor and industrial relations.