Self-paced
A newspaper article on Britain's unions argued that their strength was declining. ███ █████████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███████████
Summary
An article on Britain’s unions agreed that union strength was declining. The article cited the decreasing number and size of strikes. In a modern society, calling strikes is evidence of a weak negotiating position for a union. Strong unions do not need to call strikes. Strong unions can focus on working with others in the labor market to achieve goals.
23.
The argument criticizing the newspaper ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████
a
The negotiating position ██ █ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ██ █ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ ███████
This is unsupported as the main conclusion because the author uses the argument about the relationship between strikes and negotiating power to serve the broader end that union power is not declining.
b
Although unions represent ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ████████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████
This is unsupported because the author doesn’t tell us to what extent a union’s interests may trade off with other participants in the labor market. While there may be common interests, that isn’t the main conclusion of the argument.
c
There is no ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████████
This is strongly supported as the main conclusion because the author is attempting to disagree with the conclusion of the newspaper. The author argues that strikes would in fact be indicative of a lack of strength.
d
The reason for ███████ █████████ ██ ██ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ████████
This is unsupported because the author doesn’t establish what the main purpose is of unions’ existence.
e
With strong unions ██ ██ ████████ ███ █ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████████
This is unsupported because the author gives us no information about the relationship between unions and overall labor conditions in Britain, let alone any modern industrial society.