featherbedding
Union-mandated excess hiring
Featherbedding is the practice of requiring employers to hire more workers than necessary or to pay for work not actually performed.
The term comes from labor disputes where unions negotiated rules preserving jobs made obsolete by technology: The railroad union was accused of featherbedding by insisting on firemen for diesel locomotives.
Management uses the term pejoratively; workers might call it job protection.
Joining into one
- collective bargainingJoint worker-employer talks
- work rulesEmployment conduct policies
- job securityProtected employment status
- seniorityRank from length of service
grievance · arbitration · closed shop · labor contract · strike · shop steward · trade union · make-work
Needless duplication
- bloatSwell abnormally
- inefficiencySuboptimal use of resources
- overbookingAccepting excess reservations
- no-show jobsSalaried roles requiring nothing
Suboptimal use of resources
- squanderingReckless depletion of resources
- misallocationImproper distribution of resources
- cost overrunExpenses exceeding allocated funds
- misuseImproper application
Permanent track for trains
- transportation industryBusiness of moving things
- government oversightOfficial review of operations
- deregulationRemoving governmental business restrictions
- diesel locomotiveOil-fueled railway engine
legislative reform · public sector · civil service · mandate · policy reform
union
Joining into one
- collective bargainingJoint worker-employer talks
- work rulesEmployment conduct policies
- job securityProtected employment status
seniority · grievance · arbitration · closed shop · labor contract · strike · shop steward · trade union · make-work · craft union
redundancy
Needless duplication
- bloatSwell abnormally
- inefficiencySuboptimal use of resources
- overbookingAccepting excess reservations
inefficiency
Suboptimal use of resources
- squanderingReckless depletion of resources
- misallocationImproper distribution of resources
- cost overrunExpenses exceeding allocated funds
railroad
Permanent track for trains
- transportation industryBusiness of moving things
- government oversightOfficial review of operations
- deregulationRemoving governmental business restrictions
diesel locomotive · legislative reform · public sector · civil service · mandate · policy reform
- labor relationslabor relations, labor disputes, collective agreement, union elections, bargaining
- wastetrash, garbage, rubbish, refuse, debris
- labor actionslabor strike, strike, strike vote, walkout, picket
- labor unionsunion dues, trade union, union membership, labor union, union shops
- workplace wastewaste, inefficiency, redundancy, bloat, excess
- unionslabor unions, labor union, trade union, union locals, credit union
featherbeddingdownsizing
Reducing workforce or scale
streamlining · layoffs · headcount reduction · skeleton crew · retrenchment
featherbeddingoverwork
Toil to exhaustion
speedup · labor exploitation · stretch-out · worker exploitation · wage slavery
feather, bedding, featherbed, feathers, featherbeds, featherbedded, bed