Presidential Labor-Management Committees: Productive Failures

Abstract

Over the last quarter-century, six Presidents have sought to encourage labor-management-government collaboration through the creation of advisory committees. This study describes how these committees have grappled with such crucial topics as wage-price stabilization, fiscal and monetary policy, and the employment problems created by technological change. Each of these committees eventually expired for a number of reasons: some Presidents ignored them and others viewed them as an exercise in public relations; business and labor representatives sooner or later disagreed with presidential policies and with each other; and those representatives could not speak for all American employers and workers. Nonetheless, the author concludes, the committees produced some concrete achievements, such as recommending or providing important support for certain programs, and they also provided a needed forum in which labor and business leaders could discuss issues of mutual concern.