Prior to 1975, union efforts to organize public-sector clerical workers, most of whom are women, were somewhat limited. The factors favoring unionization drives seem to have been either the presence of large numbers 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 numbers involved or the clerical workers were the only unorganized group in a jurisdiction, the multi-occupational unions would often try to organize them regardless of the workers’ initial receptivity. The strategic reasoning was based, first, on the concern that politicians and administrators might play off unionized against non-unionized 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 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 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 unionization 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 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. Consequently, they are probably more concerned than their predecessors were about job security and economic benefits. Also, the women’s movement has succeeded in legitimizing the economic and political activism of women on their own behalf, thereby producing a more positive attitude 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 multi-occupational public-sector unions themselves. Over the past twenty years, the occupational distribution in these unions has been steadily shifting from predominantly blue-collar to predominantly 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 and has altered union policy-making in favor of organizing women and addressing women’s issues. 1 A is the best answer. In the second paragraph, the author gives the percentages of workers who were unionized in different categories of the public sector in 1977. Forty-six percent of government professionals were unionized; this is greater than the percentage for any of the other categories of unionized workers from among the listed categories of public-sector workers. Therefore, professionals were more likely to belong to unions than were other public-sector workers. 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 E is the best answer. In lines 17-24, the author describes the reasoning behind the multioccupational unions’ attempt to achieve a fully unionized workplace. This reasoning is provided to explain why “the multioccupational unions would often try to organize them regardless of the workers’ initial receptivity”(lines 15-17) . A helps to explain, but is not explained by, the attempt to achieve a fully unionized work force. An explanation for C is given in lines 4-7. B and D are explained in the second and third paragraphs of the passage. 2. The author cites union efforts to achieve a fully unionized work force (line 13-19) The strategic reasoning was based, first, on the concern that politicians and administrators might play off unionized against non-unionized 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 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 E is the best answer. The question asks what would strengthen the author’s claim that a new strategy for unionization has emerged since the mid-1970’s. Lines 30-31 cite the appearance of the new strategy. The paragraphs that follow describe the changed circumstances that provided a context for such new strategies. Lines 70-76 explain precisely how these changed circumstances created a reason for new unionizing strategies. The author’s claim would be strengthened if it could be shown not only that there are such new circumstances, but that the old circumstances discussed in the first paragraph have become less important, further necessitating the adoption of a new strategy in place of an old strategy suitable to those older circumstances. 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) But since the mid-1970’s, a different strategy has emerged .] 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 B is the best answer. In the first paragraph, the author describes the considerations relevant to a union’s attempt to organize a certain group of clerical workers prior to 1975. In lines 2-3, the author notes the fact that most of these clerical workers were women, but does not suggest that this was an important consideration for unionizers. 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 jurisdiction as that group of clerical workers were unionized 5 C is the best answer. According to the author, “the women’s movement has succeeded in legitimizing the economic and political activism of women on their own behalf,” and this in turn has produced in women “a more positive attitude toward unions” (lines 56-60). Although other choices describe developments mentioned in the passage, none of these are said to have been a consequence of the women’s movement. 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 multi-occupational 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 D is the best answer. In the first paragraph of the passage, the author asserts that efforts to unionize public-sector clerical workers prior to 1975 were limited and then goes on to describe these limited efforts. In the second paragraph, the author asserts that a new strategy developed after 1975 and cites an increase in union membership among public-sector clerical workers. The author begins the last paragraph by asking what can explain this increase in union membership, and then proceeds to provide an explanation. Thus, the passage is primarily concerned with analyzing and explaining the increase in unionization among public-sector clerical workers. 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 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 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 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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Prior to 1975, union efforts to organize public-sector clerical worker

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pulkitrana

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Question 5

5. The author states that which of the following is a consequence of the women’s movement of recent years?

(B) A structural change in multi-occupational public-sector unions

Is a structural change in multi-occupational PSU not the consequence of the women's movement?

How to eliminate option B?

Thanks in advance

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Question 5

pulkitrana

GMATNinja egmat CrackverbalGMAT

Question 5

The author states that which of the following is a consequence of the women’s movement of recent years?

(B) A structural change in multi-occupational public-sector unions

Is a structural change in multi-occupational PSU not the consequence of the women's movement?

How to eliminate option B?

Thanks in advance

In the third paragraph, the author seeks to account for the increased unionization of clerical workers since the mid-70's. They come up with the following potential explanations:

More women have entered the workforce and plan to work until retirement.
The women's movement produced "a more positive attitude towards unions."
A structural change in "multi-occupational, public-sector unions themselves" (i.e. from blue-collar to white-collar) has led to increased organizing of women.

Notice that the shift in multi-occupational, public-sector unions is mentioned as an explanation for increased unionization of clerical workers, not a consequence of the women's movement. In fact, the women's movement is mentioned as yet another explanation for the increased unionization of clerical workers.

Put another way: the women's movement is never directly related to the shift in multi-occupational, public-sector unions. Rather, both of these phenomena are themselves mentioned to explain the increased unionization of clerical workers.

Since the author doesn't argue that the women's movement is causing the shift in multi-occupational, public-sector unions, we can eliminate (B).

I hope that helps!

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