Hamilton Books
Pages: 368
Trim: 6 x 9⅛
978-0-7618-4481-5 • Paperback • December 2008 • $72.99 • (£56.00)
Wayne Horvitz enjoys a high reputation in both labor and management circles, having spent a distinguished 60-year career in the business of bringing the two sides together. Initially a management negotiator in industry, he became an officer of Matson Navigation Company, later serving as Matson's chief Washington lobbyist. He later served as chairman of the Joint Labor Management Committee of the Retail Food Industry, a tripartite group that stabilized labor relations in the retail food industry. As director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service during the Carter Administration, Horvitz worked on some of the most complicated labor stoppages in our history. He later spent 25 years as eminence grise to Jerry Grinstein, CEO of Western Airlines, Burlington Northern Railroad, and Delta Airlines, battling bankruptcy, pension and labor problems, and the turmoil brought on by airline deregulation.
Part 1 Aaron
Part 2 Going Corporate
Chapter 3 The Men and Machines Agreement
Chapter 4 Shipboard Unions
Chapter 5 The Free Speech Movement and Moving East
Part 6 The Joint Labor Management Committee of the Retail Food Industry
Chapter 7 Mediating in the Carter Administration
Part 8 Life After Public Office
Part 9 Airline Adventures
Part 10 After Planes, Trains
Part 11 Be Careful What You Wish For
Wayne Horvitz gives us three books for the price of one; all of them are easy on the eyes but together they sneak in an extremely valuable public policy discussion on collective bargaining. One is the personal memoir of a wise—very wise—talented, and witty man who selects carefully but forgets nothing. Next is the interplay of contending forces in labor relations—which reveals and teaches at the same time. And finally there is his spirited case for collective bargaining. When you finish reading this, you'll be far more alert than when you started.
— Jerry Grinstein, Former CEO of Western Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Burlington National Railroad
Horvitz-a longtime labor relations executive in private industry and later a management consultant on labor issues does not sermonize in offering his lessons to the reader. Instead, he gives us stories in small doses and allows his message to emerge overthe long haul. The value we get as observers is an inside book at the reactions people have towards these issues and situations....
— Perspectives on Work, Summer 2009
Wayne Horvitz's story is more than an entertaining life-long journey through the world of labor relations as it evolved over the course of the 20th century. It is that to be sure, an engaging personal account from one of the most highly respected leaders in our field. But it is also a story of the people, relationships, and mutual respect that made our labor relations system work well for so many years. We should all read this, reflect on what has been, what we are losing, and what we need to do to recreate a system that works in the 21st century.
— Thomas A. Kochan, George M. Bunker Professor of Management and Co-Director, MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research
Horvitz-a longtime labor relations executive in private industry and later a management consultant on labor issues does not sermonize in offering his lessons to the reader. Instead, he gives us stories in small doses and allows his message to emerge over the long haul. The value we get as observers is an inside book at the reactions people have towards these issues and situations.
— Perspectives on Work, Summer 2009