William J. Sonnenstuhl

Harrison Miller Trice

The Crucial Balance

Strategies for Employee Assistance Programs

Harrison M. Trice

This Key Issues report addresses questions often raised by employers and union leaders setting out to develop job-based programs to help alcoholic and other troubled employees. Following chapters on the historical development and key components of EAPs, the authors discuss the importance of balance in program strategies and in corporate and union responsibilities. The authors also present examples to show the role EAPs might play when the problems of alcoholic and other troubled employees lead to arbitration and workers' compensation cases. The focus in the concluding chapter is on the future of EAPs—the need for more research and further development of educational programs for EAP practitioners.

Cover -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- I. EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE: AN OVERVIEW -- Employee Assistance Terms Defined -- Historical Antecedents of EAPs -- Social Betterment -- Personnel Counseling -- Occupational Mental Health -- Industrial Alcoholism -- Employee Assistance Programs -- Why EAPs Are Adopted -- Union Reactions to Employee Assistance -- Member Assistance -- Summary -- II. EAP PROGRAM COMPONENTS AND IMPLEMENTATION -- Program Policy -- EAP Sensitivity to Alcoholism -- The Core Technology of EAPs -- Top-Management Support -- Program Management and Coordination -- Supervisory Training -- Peer Training -- Employee Education -- The Counseling Component -- In-House Services -- External Services -- Community Resource Network -- Union Support and Involvement -- Summary -- III. ISSUES IN PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT -- Program Strategies and Their Effectiveness -- Constructive Confrontation -- Counseling -- The Case for Balance -- Corporate and Union Responsibilities -- Provision of Services -- Confidentiality -- Third-Party Payment -- Summary -- IV. WORKERS' COMPENSATION, ARBITRATION, AND EAPs -- Workers' Compensation Insurance -- Physical-Mental Injuries -- Mental-Physical Injuries -- Mental-Mental Injuries -- The Tort of Mental Distress -- Alcohol and Workers' Compensation -- Arbitration -- Psychiatric Problems -- Alcohol Problems -- Drug Problems -- EAPs and Employer Responsibility -- V. PROGRAM EVALUATION AND THE FUTURE OF EAPS -- Program Evaluation -- Some Neglected Aspects of Program Evaluation -- Future Studies -- Integrating Research into Practice -- The Crucial Balance: A Summary -- EAP Strategies: Constructive Confrontation and Counseling -- Program Adoption -- Labor-Management Cooperation -- Appendix A: Constructive Confrontation and Its Effectiveness -- Appendix B: Counseling and Its Effectiveness -- References

Samuel B. Bacharach

Peter Bamberger

The ongoing decline in union membership is generally attributed to an increasingly hostile economic, legal, and managerial environment. Samuel B. Bacharach, Peter A. Bamberger, and William J. Sonnenstuhl argue that the decline may have more to do with a crisis of union legitimacy and member commitment. They further suggest that both problems could be addressed if the unions return to their nineteenth-century, mutual aid-based roots.The authors contend that the labor movement is characterized by two models of union-member relations: the mutual aid logic and the servicing logic. The first predominated in the early days and encouraged a sense of community among members who worked to support one another. In the twentieth century, it was largely replaced by the servicing model, which asks little of members, who remain loyal only if their leaders deliver increasing wages and benefits.Regaining legitimacy and strengthening member commitment can only happen, the authors claim, if mutual aid logic is allowed to return. They examine three unions in the transportation industry to judge the effectiveness of new programs created after the old model.

Cycles of Logics of Action

Mutual Aid and Union Renewal

Americans assume that workers do not drink on the job and that, if they do, it is because they suffer from alcoholism rather than because they are conforming to occupational expectations. William J. Sonnenstuhl disagrees. He contends that some occupational cultures encourage heavy drinking. Moreover, his research suggests that the sense of community which motivates drinking can also sometimes inspire workers to break the pattern and work sober. Revised and updated, this report addresses questions often raised by employers and union leaders developing job-based programs to help alcoholic and other troubled employees. This new edition discusses the efforts of EAP workers, the historical development and key components of EAPs, and the importance of balance in program strategies and in corporate and union responsibilities.

The Transformation of an Occupational Drinking Culture

Working Sober

Peter A. Bamberger

The ongoing decline in union membership is generally attributed to an increasingly hostile economic, legal, and managerial environment. Samuel B. Bacharach, Peter A. Bamberger, and William J. Sonnenstuhl argue that the decline may have more to do with a crisis of union legitimacy and member commitment. They further suggest that both problems could be addressed if the unions return to their nineteenth-century, mutual aid-based roots. The authors contend that the labor movement is characterized by two models of union-member relations: the mutual aid logic and the servicing logic. The first predominated in the early days and encouraged a sense of community among members who worked to support one another. In the twentieth century, it was largely replaced by the servicing model, which asks little of members, who remain loyal only if their leaders deliver increasing wages and benefits. Regaining legitimacy and strengthening member commitment can only happen, the authors claim, if mutual aid logic is allowed to return. They examine three unions in the transportation industry to judge the effectiveness of new programs created after the old model.

William J. Sonnenstuhl

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