The Experience of wage Earners

Post has two assignments

1:Wage earners

write a 15-20 page paper that explores the experience of wage earners in one particular occupational group over the past half century (that is, since the 1940s). You should present an analysis of changing working and living conditions for the kind of worker you select, based on library and internet research and at least TWO interviews with workers (you are free to do as many more as you would like). A special bibliography is available on the course Moodle site.

In order to get some sense of generational change, you should chose at least one interviewee over age 50 and another under 40. A carefully prepared questionnaire and a tape recorder will be essential. These interviews should be part of the raw material for your analysis, and the paper must involve more than simply narrating the stories of two lives. You should try to integrate all aspects of these workers’ lives into a coherent analysis and to isolate the main changes that have taken place in the experience of this particular occupational group. You will find it helpful to keep the following categories of analysis in mind, but do not feel restricted to them.

1. Industrial context: what has been the state of the market for the goods or services being produced? How has it changed?
2. labour market: what kind of labour has been needed for this work? How plentiful or scarce has it been? How much competition has there been for the work? Where have most of the workers come from (e.g., city, countryside, other countries, etc.)?
3. Training: at home? In school? On the job? Through apprenticeship?
4. Management: what kind of management policies have governed this work? How tightly have they controlled the worker? How have these policies changed?
5. technology: what kind of tools and/or machinery is used? How has the technology been changing? What kinds of skills are involved? How valuable are these skills and how have they changed?
6. terms of employment: how well paid has the work been? Have wages increased along with the cost of living? Have they kept pace with other workers? What benefits have been received in addition to wages?
7. Working conditions: what hours of work have been expected? What have the health and safety conditions been like? What holidays and vacations have been possible?
8. resistance: what evidence has there been that workers have resisted their employers’ goals and tactics on the job? How much state involvement has there been? Is there a union and a collective agreement governing the terms of employment? What differences has unionization (or lack of it) made? how much is the worker involved in his or her union? Have these workers carried any of their concerns into politics?
9. family: what kind of family life have the wageearners been involved in? What have their domestic responsibilities been and how have they changed? Where have these responsibilities fit into the overall patterns of their life?
10. leisure: how have these workers had fun off the job? With whom have they socialized? Have these patterns changed at all?
11.?aspirations: what have these workers wanted out of life? How have they gone about trying to get it?

2:Negative message

The President/CEO of ABC Industries, Inc.. Due to your company’s declining
performance, you are forced into a merger with your largest competitor, XYZ Industries, Inc.
Your competitor has agreed to allow 80% of the workforce to stay, however, performance
reviews will be mandated to assess employee value. Draft a memo explaining this scenario to
your 150+ employees.
The format of your memo tells your employees a lot about your sensitivity and professionalism.
Since you know that 20% of your workforce will be laid off, it is important that the empathy
feels genuine and heartfelt. Pay particular attention to your memo’s margins, line spacing, font
type and size, and placement of memo parts such as the addressees, subject line, and body.
? Address the memo to all home office employees at your company.
Recommended Organization
Header: Begin your memo with the four standard memo heads (Date, To, From, Subject).
Body/Discussion:
In the first paragraph of the body include your reasons for the decision. Memos do not begin
with greetings or salutations. Fully explain why the change is occurring and what the current
situation is.
The second paragraph is where you add a positive spin to the situation. This is where you
should outline the proposed merger and the process by which employees will be evaluated.
Think of other important elements employees may want to know such as timeline, severance
packages, etc.
In the third paragraph, be sure to validate any anticipated concerns employees may have about
this adjustment. Explain the greater benefit in the long-term this decision provides and conclude
your memo by indicating how the reader may contact you if he/she has any questions.

professionalism