Featherbedding Brass

One of U.S. management's big complaints is against union featherbedding practices. Last week the American Institute of Management warned that unions are not alone in insisting on unnecessary jobs; management itself is guilty of widespread featherbedding.

"Featherbedding occurs at top level management and extends down to the rank of foremen," said A.I.M. in a report to its 17,000 members. And one of the biggest causes of featherbedding is nepotism. In more than half of the 23,000 U.S. companies A.I.M. studied, an executive had put his sons, cousins, brothers --even an assortment of relatives--on the payroll.*

In every field of U.S. industry, A.I.M. found other examples of executive featherbedding. It cited the case of the two Eastern banks that merged and ended up with four vice presidents who had nothing to do, and the case of the New England manufacturer who booted his incompetent production manager upstairs to "vice president in charge of personnel," where subordinates handled the job he was supposed to do. Many a corporate head creates positions to make work for friends, said A.I.M., and some invent titles merely to surround themselves with yesmen. Asks A.I.M.: "How can management, in all fairness, complain at labor featherbedding when managements are so widely guilty of the same practice? In management featherbedding. the damage is greater, the cost is larger and the bad example is more obvious."

*India, A.I.M. noted, has a new law that requires any corporate director to get the shareholders', permission before the company may employ his relative.

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