When A. Philip Randolph assumed the leadership of the Brotherhood of

Question

When A. Philip Randolph assumed the leadership of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, he began a ten-year battle to win recognition from the Pullman Company, the largest private employer of Black people in the United States and the company that controlled the railroad industry's sleeping car and parlor service. In 1935 the Brotherhood became the first Black union recognized by a major corporation. Randolph's efforts in the battle helped transform the attitude of Black workers toward unions and toward themselves as an identifiable group; eventually, Randolph helped to weaken organized labor's antagonism toward Black workers.

In the Pullman contest Randolph faced formidable obstacles.The first was Black workers'  understandable  skepticism toward unions, which had historically barred Black workers from membership. An additional obstacle was the union that Pullman itself had formed, which weakened support among Black workers for an independent entity.

The Brotherhood possessed a number of advantages, however, including Randolph's own tactical abilities. In 1928 he took the bold step of threatening a strike against Pullman. Such a threat, on a national scale, under Black leadership, helped replace the stereotype of the Black worker as servant with the image of the Black worker as wage earner. In addition, the porters' very isolation aided the Brotherhood. Porters were scattered throughout the country, sleeping in dormitories in Black communities; their segregated life protected the union's internal communications from interception. That the porters were a homogeneous group working for a single employer with a single labor policy, thus sharing the same grievances from city to city, also strengthened the Brotherhood and encouraged racial identity and solidarity as well. But it was only in the early 1930's that federal legislation prohibiting a company from maintaining its own unions with company money eventually allowed the Brotherhood to become recognized as the porters' representative.

Not content with this triumph, Randolph brought the Brotherhood into the American Federation of Labor, where it became the equal of the Federation's 105 other unions. He reasoned that as a member union, the Brotherhood would be in a better position to exert pressure on member unions that practiced race restrictions. Such restrictions were eventually found unconstitutional in 1944.   1 
 C 
1. According to the passage, by 1935 the skepticism of Black workers toward unions was

(A) unchanged except among Black employees of railroad-related industries
(B) reinforced by the actions of the Pullman Company’s union
(C) mitigated by the efforts of Randolph
(D) weakened by the opening up of many unions to Black workers
(E) largely alleviated because of the policies of the American Federation of Labor

2 
 D 
2. In using the word “understandable” (line 14), the author most clearly conveys

(A) sympathy with attempts by the Brotherhood between 1925 and 1935 to establish an independent union
(B) concern that the obstacles faced by Randolph between 1925 and 1935 were indeed formidable
(C) ambivalence about the significance of unions to most Black workers in the 1920’s
(D) appreciation of the attitude of many Black workers in the 1920’s toward unions
(E) regret at the historical attitude of unions toward Black workers

3 
 B 
3. The passage suggests which of the following about the response of porters to the Pullman Company’s own union?

(A) Few porters ever joined this union.
(B) Some porters supported this union before 1935.
(C) Porters, more than other Pullman employees, enthusiastically supported this union.
(D) The porters’ response was most positive after 1935.
(E) The porters’ response was unaffected by the general skepticism of Black workers concerning unions.

4 
 C 
4. The passage suggests that if the grievances of porters in one part of the United States had been different from those of porters in another part of the country, which of the following would have been the case?

(A) It would have been more difficult for the Pullman Company to have had a single labor policy.
(B) It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to control its channels of communication.
(C) It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to build its membership.
(D) It would have been easier for the Pullman Company's union to attract membership.
(E) It would have been easier for the Brotherhood to threaten strikes.

5 
 The best answer is A.

But it was only in the early 1930's that federal legislation  prohibiting a company from maintaining its own unions with company money  eventually allowed the Brotherhood to become recognized as the porters' representative.

Lines 34-38 indicate that in the early 1930's it became illegal for a company to maintain its own union with company funds.

Thus, the passage suggests that prior to 1930's a company was permitted to fund its own union.

1930’s :  legislation was passed that prohibited companies from self-funding unions

1920’s :  it was still legal for companies to self-fund unions

The last sentence in the third paragraph states that companies funded their own unions with company money and in the 1930’s, federal legislation was passed that ended this practice.

Choices B, C, D, and E describe practices that are not implied in the passage. 
5. The passage suggests that in the 1920's a company in the United States was able to

(A) use its own funds to set up a union
(B) require its employees to join the company's own union
(C) develop a single labor policy for all its employees with little employee dissent
(D) pressure its employees to contribute money to maintain the company's own union
(E) use its resources to prevent the passage of federal legislation that would have facilitated the formation of independent unions

6 
 B 
6. The passage supplies information concerning which of the following matters related to Randolph?

(A) The steps he took to initiate the founding of the Brotherhood
(B) His motivation for bringing the Brotherhood into the American Federation of Labor
(C) The influence he had on the passage of legislation overturning race restrictions in 1944
(D) The influence he had on the passage of legislation to bar companies from financing their own unions
(E) The success he and the Brotherhood had in influencing the policies of the other unions in the American Federation of Labor

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 6
  
I'm late to the party here, but I'll add my two cents, just in case it helps somebody out there.

The first sentence that you've quoted shows what Randolph HOPED to accomplish by joining the AFL -- he wanted to pressure other unions to drop race restrictions.

The second sentence tells us that these race restrictions were found to be unconstitutional in 1944.

We don't know that Randolph's efforts  were the reason  that race restrictions were found to be unconstitutional, or even that the other unions were influenced at all by the Brotherhood. Maybe the ruling on race restrictions happened independently of the Brotherhood joining the AFL. Maybe the other unions in the AFL didn't feel any pressure at all from the Brotherhood, and were very unhappy with the court ruling. We can't say that the Brotherhood was actually successful in influencing other unions, because we're not given that information in the passage.

For that reason, you can eliminate (E) for question 6.

I hope that helps!

mSKR · Answer

It is such a difficult passage.
How to handle such a passage if it comes in exam.

please share your thoughts...

GMATNinja · Answer

This isn't terribly helpful, but, if you haven't already, you might try using the approach explained in our  beginner's guide to RC , or in the RC videos listed  here .

In particular, you'll want to read for structure and purpose without obsessing over details. This is perhaps especially true with tougher passages. If you can come to a high-level understanding of the purpose and structure, then hopefully you'll be able to answer a couple of the questions correctly and move on without wasting too much precious time. Remember, this is an  adaptive test , and part of the battle is learning to move on when you are stumped.

I hope that helps a bit!

egmat · Answer

Question 2 seems to have stumped a lot of folks, so let me try my hand at this one.

2. In using the word “understandable” (line 14), the author most clearly conveys

(A) sympathy with attempts by the Brotherhood between 1925 and 1935 to establish an independent union
(B) concern that the obstacles faced by Randolph between 1925 and 1935 were indeed formidable
(C) ambivalence about the significance of unions to most Black workers in the 1920’s
(D) appreciation of the attitude of many Black workers in the 1920’s toward unions
(E) regret at the historical attitude of unions toward Black workers

This is a  function/purpose  question. Why did the author use the word "understandable" here?

Excerpt from the passage: 
In the Pullman contest Randolph faced formidable obstacles.The first was Black workers' understandable skepticism toward unions, which had historically barred Black workers from membership. An additional obstacle was the union that Pullman itself had formed, which weakened support among Black workers for an independent entity.

What does the author achieve by using the word "understandable"?

Through this word, the author indicates to us that as per him/her, the skepticism that black workers had towards unions is something he/she can understand. This means that the author understands where this skepticism is coming from, and so as per him/her, the skepticism is justified at some level (if you do not understand the reason for the skepticism, you would feel it is not justified, you cannot appreciate it).

Without this word, we would not know the author's opinion about the skeptical attitude. Does he agree with it, or disagree with it? Through "understandable", the author indicates that yes, this skepticism is definitely justified at some level, and so, it is therefore something that he/she appreciates. Option D is therefore the correct answer.

Useful practice:   When trying to find the purpose of a word, remove it and see what happens. How does the meaning change without the word? It will give a clue as to why the word is there.

Regards,
Harsha

tt147 · Answer

Hi  VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja   AjiteshArun

Q4. The passage suggests that if the grievances of porters in one part of the United States had been different from those of porters in another part of the country, which of the following would have been the case?

(A) It would have been more difficult for the Pullman Company to have had a single labor policy.
(B) It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to control its channels of communication.
(C) It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to build its membership.
(D) It would have been easier for the Pullman Company's union to attract membership.
(E) It would have been easier for the Brotherhood to threaten strikes.

I chose option B, because of the below sentence-
"their segregated life protected the union's internal communications from interception."
Can you please help me in understanding where am i going wrong ?

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  tt147 ,

That point appears to be for something else in the passage.

Q4 (The passage suggests that  if the grievances of porters in one part of the United States had been different from those of porters in another part of the country , which of the following would have been the case?) is about the  next  point.

We can say that if they didn't share the same grievances the Brotherhood would not have had this advantage, but we can't say anything about their communications on the basis of this point.

AGRpr · Answer

For Q6, I was thinking C. Wasn't that the ultimate outcome ? Is some word playing trick here ?

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 6 
 
Question 6 asks which of the answer choices is addressed by the passage. With that in mind, here’s (C):

The passage mentions the overturning of race restrictions in the final sentence. It says, “such restrictions were eventually found unconstitutional in 1944.” The problem is that the constitutionality of race restrictions has nothing to do with Randolph’s influence. It’s merely related to the restrictions and the constitution itself.

Also, it’s not clear, based on the passage, that  legislation was passed  in order to overturn race restrictions in 1944. It’s equally plausible that courts simply found current restrictions unconstitutional. For those two reasons, we can eliminate (C).

I hope that helps!

JaxHammer · Answer

Can anyone please explain why Option A for Question 6 is wrong? I feel like Original answer option B is specific to last paragraph where American labour is involveed. Isnt option B kinda ignoring all the efforts, obstacles Randolph faced in above passages, like I mean this option is only focussing on This American Labour thing

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  JaxHammer ,

The passage doesn't mention anything about "the steps he took to initiate the founding of the Brotherhood". It starts with "When A. Philip Randolph assumed the leadership of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters", and then moves on to what he did  next .

Tanchat · Answer

Dear experts,

I don't understand and am not convinced with OA in Q2 and Q6
I read all comments but I am not convinced with those answer.

Q2 
2. In using the word ???understandable??? (line 14), the author most clearly conveys

(A) sympathy with attempts by the Brotherhood between 1925 and 1935 to establish an independent union
(B) concern that the obstacles faced by Randolph between 1925 and 1935 were indeed formidable
(C) ambivalence about the significance of unions to most Black workers in the 1920???s
(D) appreciation of the attitude of many Black workers in the 1920???s toward unions
(E) regret at the historical attitude of unions toward Black workers

How and why "understandable" can be conveyed "appreciation" ?

6. The passage supplies information concerning which of the following matters related to Randolph?

(A) The steps he took to initiate the founding of the Brotherhood
(B) His motivation for bringing the Brotherhood into the American Federation of Labor
(C) The influence he had on the passage of legislation overturning race restrictions in 1944
(D) The influence he had on the passage of legislation to bar companies from financing their own unions
(E) The success he and the Brotherhood had in influencing the policies of the other unions in the American Federation of Labor

I'm still not convinced with (B)..

Which sentences in the passage does show the motivation of Randolph??
Also, what does the scope of "motivation"? There is no any reason or any background provided in the passage that explain why Randolph did in the passage

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

One of the primary meanings of "appreciation" is "full/deep/intuitive understanding (of a concept or point of view)".
E.g.,  Many people do not  appreciate  the importance of a supportive family until they have weathered a crisis without having such support readily available.

This is the meaning of "appreciate" that's used here.

("Appreciate" can also mean "to increase in value"—e.g., for a stock or other investment—but I doubt there's any risk that you'll confuse this meaning with others.
If you were thinking of the way you'd use "appreciate" in exchanging courtesies—e.g.,  Thank you for the favor; I really appreciate it —I think it's somewhat less likely that you'll see this form in formal writing; you'll probably see some other, more formally acceptable equivalent instead, e.g.,  is/are grateful for... .)

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

From the last paragraph:
  Randolph brought the Brotherhood into the American Federation of Labor, where it became the equal of the Federation's 105 other unions .  He reasoned that   as a member union, the Brotherhood would be in a better position to exert pressure on member unions that practiced race restrictions

where the colors mean...
 Randolph brought the Brotherhood into the AFL. 
 His reasoning   for doing so   was THIS.

Here, you just need to realize that "He reasoned that..." is going to be followed by the person's reasoning  for whatever was just stated . 
(If a sentence contains an open-ended reference, then the necessary specifics will be found in an immediately neighboring sentence. This is pretty much common-sense deduction: If the required reference were any farther away, there'd be nothing to point you to it!)

Reasons for doing something  and  motivation to do something , for professional actions, are substantively the same. (For highly personal choices, these could differ—with "motivation" referring more to deep emotional drives, as opposed to "reasons" which would mean what it always does. In professional/strategic contexts such as the one here, though—with deep personal emotions not in play—they're basically the same set of driving forces.)

Paagrio · Answer

Hi,

I completely misunderstand this one. Can any expert help me understand this?

"But it was only in the early 1930's that federal legislation prohibiting a company from maintaining its own unions with company money eventually allowed the Brotherhood to become recognized as the porters' representative."

As per my understanding this means that pre-1930's federal legislation prohibited companies from maintaining unions with company money and in the early 1930's they lifted this prohibition.

According to this, in 1920s the companies could not keep unions using using own funds, so OA to Q5 is dubious. Is it so or am I crazy?

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 5 
 
A prohibition was not  lifted  in the 1930's -- a prohibition was  put in place  in the 1930's. The 1930's legislation prohibited companies from funding their own unions.

That means that before the 1930's, companies WERE allowed to fund their own unions. So (A) is correct for question 5.

I hope that helps!

SnorLax_7 · Answer

Hi  MartyMurray   DmitryFarber   GMATNinja   KarishmaB 
 
in Q3, How can we say from above line that they supported company's union before 1935, may be they were fine with company's union and didn't need the new union, but that doesn't mean they supported that. Can you please help me with this ?

For me, Answer is D. Am I correct ?

Thanks !

DmitryFarber · Answer

First, I think you know the answer to your final question. If you're disputing the answer to an official question and you ask "Am I correct?" the answer is surely no.  :geek:

The idea in this case is that many workers didn't want an independent union because they already had one provided by the company. This means that at least some workers preferred the company union over an outside one. That's a form of support for the existing company union.

As for D, it's impossible, since by 1935 the company union no longer existed. The passage tells us that it was made illegal in the early 30's, and in 1935 the Brotherhood was recognized instead. So there was no Pullman Company union for people to respond positively to after 1935.

Kavisha1 · Answer

pls help me with the summary of the above RC

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