¡¡¡¡Passage 1
¡¡¡¡Prior to 1975£¬ union efforts to organize public sectorclerical 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 multioccupational 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 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 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 1977and 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 multioccupational 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.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 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 administrator 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
¡¡
