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Passage17 Answers
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Passage 17
Prior to 1975, union efforts to organize public-sector
clerical workers, most of whom are women, were some-
what limited. The factors favoring unionization drives
seem to have been either the presence of large numbers
(5) of workers, as in New York City, to make it worth the
effort, or the concentration of small numbers in one or
two locations, such as a hospital, to make it relatively
easy, Receptivity to unionization on the workers, part
was also a consideration, but when there were large
(10) numbers involved or the clerical workers were the only
unorganized group in a jurisdiction, the multioccupa-
tional unions would often try to organize them regard-
less of the workers' initial receptivity. The strategic
reasoning was based, first, on the concern that politi-
(15) cians and administrators might play off unionized
against nonunionized workers, and, second, on the
conviction that a fully unionized public work force
meant power, both at the bargaining table and in the
legislature. In localities where clerical workers were few
(20) in number, were scattered in several workplaces, and
expressed no interest in being organized, unions more
often than not ignored them in the pre-1975 period.
But since the mid-1970's, a different strategy has
emerged. In 1977, 34 percent of government clerical
(25) workers were represented by a labor organization,
compared with 46 percent of government professionals,
44 percent of government blue-collar workers, and
41 percent of government service workers, Since then,
however, the biggest increases in public-sector unioniza-
(30) tion have been among clerical workers. Between 1977
and 1980, the number of unionized government workers
in blue-collar and service occupations increased only
about 1.5 percent, while in the white-collar occupations
the increase was 20 percent and among clerical workers
(35) in particular, the increase was 22 percent.
What accounts for this upsurge in unionization
among clerical workers? First, more women have entered
the work force in the past few years, and more of them
plan to remain working until retirement age. Conse-
(40) quently, they are probably more concerned than their
predecessors were about job security and economic bene-
fits. Also, the women's movement has succeeded in legit-
imizing the economic and political activism of women on
their own behalf, thereby producing a more positive atti-
(45) tude toward unions. The absence of any comparable
increase in unionization among private-sector clerical
workers, however, identifies the primary catalyst-the
structural change in the multioccupational public-sector
unions themselves. Over the past twenty years, the occu-
(50) pational distribution in these unions has been steadily
shifting from predominantly blue-collar to predomi-
nantly white-collar. Because there are far more women
in white-collar jobs, an increase in the proportion of
female members has accompanied the occupational shift
(55) and has altered union policy-making in favor of orga-
nizing women and addressing women's issues.
1. According to the passage, the public-sector workers who
were most likely to belong to unions in 1977 were
(A) professionals
(B) managers
(C) clerical workers
(D) service workers
(E) blue-collar workers
2. The author cites union efforts to achieve a fully
unionized work force (line 13-19) in order to account
for why
(A) politicians might try to oppose public-sector union
organizing
(B) public-sector unions have recently focused on
organizing women
(C) early organizing efforts often focused on areas
where there were large numbers of workers
(D) union efforts with regard to public-sector clerical
workers increased dramatically after 1975
(E) unions sometimes tried to organize workers
regardless of the workers' initial interest in
unionization
3. The author's claim that, since the mid-1970's, a new
strategy has emerged in the unionization of public-
sector clerical workers (line 23 ) would be
strengthened if the author
(A) described more fully the attitudes of clerical workers
toward labor unions
(B) compared the organizing strategies employed by
private-sector unions with those of public-sector
unions
(C) explained why politicians and administrators
sometimes oppose unionization of clerical workers
(D) indicated that the number of unionized public-sector
clerical workers was increasing even before the mid-
1970's
(E) showed that the factors that favored unionization
drives among these workers prior to 1975 have
decreased in importance
4. According to the passage, in the period prior to 1975,
each of the following considerations helped determine
whether a union would attempt to organize a certain
group of clerical workers EXCEPT
(A) the number of clerical workers in that group
(B) the number of women among the clerical workers
in that group
(C) whether the clerical workers in that area were
concentrated in one workplace or scattered over
several workplaces
(D) the degree to which the clerical workers in that
group were interested in unionization
(E) whether all the other workers in the same juris-
diction as that group of clerical workers were
unionized
5. The author states that which of the following is a
consequence of the women's movement of recent
years?
(A) An increase in the number of women entering the
work force
(B) A structural change in multioccupational public-
sector unions
(C) A more positive attitude on the part of women
toward unions
(D) An increase in the proportion of clerical workers
that are women
(E) An increase in the number of women in
administrative positions
6. The main concern of the passage is to
(A) advocate particular strategies for future efforts to
organize certain workers into labor unions
(B) explain differences in the unionized proportions of
various groups of public-sector workers
(C) evaluate the effectiveness of certain kinds of labor
unions that represent public-sector workers
(D) analyzed and explain an increase in unionization
among a certain category of workers
(E) describe and distinguish strategies appropriate to
organizing different categories of workers
7. The author implies that if the increase in the number of
women in the work force and the impact of the women's
movement were the main causes of the rise in
unionization of public-sector clerical workers, then
(A) more women would hold administrative positions in
unions
(B) more women who hold political offices would have
positive attitudes toward labor unions
(C) there would be an equivalent rise in unionization of
private-sector clerical workers
(D) unions would have shown more interest than they
have in organizing women
(E) the increase in the number of unionized public-
sector clerical workers would have been greater than
it has been
8. The author suggests that it would be disadvantageous to
a union if
(A) many workers in the locality were not unionized
(B) the union contributed to political campaigns
(C) the union included only public-sector workers
(D) the union included workers from several
jurisdictions
(E) the union included members from only a few
occupations
9. The author implies that, in comparison with working
women today, women working in the years prior to the
mid-1970's showed a greater tendency to
(A) prefer smaller workplaces
(B) express a positive attitude toward labor unions
(C) maximize job security and economic benefits
(D) side with administrators in labor disputes
(E) quit working prior of retirement age
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