bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Relative Performance Evaluation for Chief Executive Officers
Authors: Gibbons Robert , Murphy Kevin J.
Published: June 2015

Relative performance evaluation (RPE) provides employees with an incentive to perform well while insulating their compensation from shocks that also affect the performances of other workers in the same firm, industry, or market. This paper reviews the benefits and costs of RPE and tests for the presence of RPE in the compensation contracts of chief executive officers (CEOs) using data on 1,668 CEOs from 1,049 corporations from 1974 to 1986. The results, in contrast to the findings of previous research, strongly support the hypothesis that RPE is used in compensation and retention decisions affecting CEOs: the revision in a CEO's pay and the probability that a CEO remains in his position for the following year are positively and significantly related to firm performance, but are negatively and significantly related to industry and market performance.
Do Incentives Matter? The Case of Navy Recruiters
Authors: Asch Beth J.
Published: June 2015

This study examines how Navy recruiters in April–August 1986 responded to a multiperiod incentive plan that included piece rates, quotas, prizes, and standards. Recruiters generally produced more enlistments as they gained experience and as the date of their eligibility for a prize approached. Those with higher past output (who were thus more likely to win a prize), however, produced less as they approached the prize eligibility date. Recruiters also enlisted markedly fewer recruits immediately after winning a prize. This evidence that recruiters varied their effort over time in response to an incentive system, the author suggests, has implications for such private sector jobs as sales and tenure-track teaching.
Wages, Employer Costs, and Employee Performance in the Firm
Authors: Holzer Harry J.
Published: June 2015

Analyzing data from a 1982 survey of firms, the author finds evidence that firms' wage levels are positively associated with the previous experience of new hires, the tenure of employees with the firm, managers' perceptions of employee productivity, and managers' perceptions of the ease of hiring qualified workers; they are negatively associated with job vacancy rates and training time. Although the magnitudes of some of these relationships are not large, in combination they suggest that high-wage firms can sometimes offset more than half of their higher wage costs through improved productivity and lower hiring and turnover costs. The effects are generally stronger for firms that have chosen high wage levels than for firms in which unions have imposed high wage levels.
The Effects of Human Resource Management Decisions on Shareholder Value
Authors: Abowd John M. , Milkovich George T. , Hannon John M.
Published: June 2015

Using an event study methodology, the authors investigate whether human resource decisions of firms (such as decisions concerning compensation and benefits or staffing) announced in the Wall Street Journal in 1980 and 1987 discernibly affected either the level or variation of abnormal total shareholder return. They find no consistent pattern of increased or decreased valuation in response to any of five categories of HR announcements, even after controlling for the likely effect of such announcements on total compensation costs. On the other hand, announcements of permanent staff reductions and shutdowns or relocations were associated with significant increases in the variation of abnormal total shareholder return around the announcement date, which indicates that HR decisions in those two categories do affect shareholders' predictions of firms' performance.
A Note on the Severity of the Decline in Union Organizing Activity
Authors: Chaison Gary N. , Dhavale Dileep G.
Published: June 2015

Using data on representation elections conducted by the National Labor Relations Board from 1975 to 1987, the authors examine the extent of the recent decline in union organizing activity. An analysis of elections for selected unions and in major industry categories shows no widespread recovery from the sharp drop in organizing that occurred from 1981 to 1982. Although union success rates in new units have been fairly constant, the low number of new members recruited through elections points to a continuation of the downward trend in union density.
Gender Differences in Current and Starting Salaries: The Role of Performance, College Major, and Job Title
Authors: Gerhart Barry
Published: June 2015

This study examines starting and current salaries of exempt employees hired between 1976 and 1986 by a large, private firm. In 1986 the ratio of women's salaries to men's was 88%. With controls for year of hire, potential experience, degree, college major, firm tenure, performance, and job title, the ratio is 94–95% for the full sample and 97–98% for college graduates. Women's 1986 salary disadvantage can be traced largely to their salary disadvantage at the time of hire: with an adjustment for starting salary, the 1986 salary ratio rises to 96–99% for the full sample and 98–100% for college graduates. The apparently greater female disadvantage in starting salary than in subsequent salary growth may stem from the smaller amount of job-relevant information available on applicants than on current employees.
The Effect of International Competition on Union and Nonunion Wages
Authors: MacPherson David A. , Stewart James B.
Published: June 2015

Using data from the May 1975 to 1981 Current Population Surveys, the authors examine the impact of international competition on union and nonunion wages. Two findings emerge from the study. First, international competition, measured by import share, was a significant determinant of union and nonunion wages: a 10% rise in the import share lowered the union wage differential by about 2%. Second, the net negative effect of a given import share on both union and nonunion wages decreased sharply in absolute magnitude as the percentage organized increased.
Union-Nonunion Differences in Pension Fund Investments and Earnings
Authors: Dorsey Stuart , Turner John
Published: June 2015

The authors use IRS data to compare the composition, risk, and rate of return to union pension investments with those of nonunion pension funds. They find almost no differences between single-employer union and single-employer nonunion funds. Collectively bargained, multiemployer funds, however, held less risky portfolios than either union or nonunion single-employer funds. Multi-employer funds averaged a lower risk-adjusted rate of return for 1977–80, but performed as well as nonunion investments from 1981 to 1986. Thus, little evidence is found that “social investing,” most likely to occur in multi-employer funds, has increased the risk or consistently reduced the returns of union pension funds.
Factors Influencing the Effect of Joint Union-Management Programs on Employee-Supervisor Relations
Authors: Cooke William N.
Published: June 2015

This study tests a model in which programmatic features of joint union-management programs, the exercise of relative power options by employers, and organizational constraints are hypothesized to influence the intensity of collaborative efforts and, in turn, changes in employee-supervisor relations. An analysis of survey responses provided in 1986 by 92 unionized manufacturing plants having formalized joint programs generally supports the model. The results suggest, for example, that improvements in employee-supervisor relations are more likely when joint programs are structured to have highly active team-based efforts and substantial union leader participation; when programs are in their first few years of activities; when there has been either substantial growth or substantial decline in employment levels; and when the employer has refrained from subcontracting out bargaining unit work.
Evaluating the Evidence on Union Employment and Wages
Authors: Linneman Peter D. , Wachter Michael L. , Carter William H.
Published: June 2015

Using Current Population Survey data for the years 1973–86, this study tests the hypothesis that the steep decline of union employment shares since 1973 is related to increases in union wages relative to nonunion wages. The authors show that although the aggregate union wage premium has changed little since 1973, some industry-specific premiums have risen substantially, and the industries with the rising premiums are those experiencing declines in union employment shares. The increase in the premium explains from 21% to 64% of the decline in union shares depending on the equation specification. The paper also presents a detailed set of union wage premiums and employment shares for the sample period.
Managerial Momentum: A Simultaneous Model of the Career Progress of Male and Female Managers
Authors: Cannings Kathleen , Montmarquette Claude
Published: June 2015

Using a firm-level data base to estimate a simultaneous model of the interaction of performance, ambition, and rewards in the internal promotion process, the authors analyze differences between men and women in “managerial momentum”—sustained career progress within the firm. They find that in the Canadian firm studied, the tendency of women to rely more than men on formal bidding for promotion to secure offers of promotion deprives them of managerial momentum. Underlying the greater success of men in gaining promotion is their greater use of informal networks, a less meritocratic means than bidding of bringing one's desire for promotion to the attention of superiors, and indeed one that appears to enable men to offset performance evaluations that are on the average lower than those of women.
The Integration of Women into Professional Personnel and Labor Relations Work
Authors: Hardin Einar
Published: June 2015

The author analyzes the employment share and relative earnings of women in personnel and labor relations (PLR) occupations. Using data from three government sources, he finds that women's employment share in PLR work, which remained at about 30% from 1950 to 1970, grew swiftly thereafter, reaching 58% in 1989, and was highest in industries with a high proportion of women in their total work force. Women's earnings relative to men's in the “specialist” PLR occupation grew between 1983 and 1989, but did not reach equality, and in the “managerial” PLR occupation they remained about two-thirds of men's between 1986 and 1989. At least two-thirds of the 1979 earnings differential between men and women reflected gender differences in earnings for identical age, education, and extent of work.
Do Unions Influence the Diffusion of Technology?
Authors: Keefe Jeffrey H.
Published: June 2015

This study examines how unions affect the diffusion of manufacturing process technologies. Analyzing information from the 1983 Industry Wage Survey of the Nonelectrical Machinery Industry, which provides establishment-level data on union status and the use of seven advanced manufacturing process technologies, the author finds that unionized plants were more likely than nonunion plants to be using advanced technology. This pattern, however, apparently reflects not the effect of unionism, but of plant size and the use of shift work, both of which are related to unionism. Statistical tests reveal no direct union effect on the diffusion of the seven advanced manufacturing technologies.
Profit-Sharing and Employment Variability: Microeconomic Evidence on the Weitzman Theory
Authors: Kruse Douglas L.
Published: June 2015

This study tests an important implication of Weitzman's profit-sharing theory—the prediction that profit-sharing firms will have more stable employment than fixed-wage firms—using panel data on 2,976 publicly traded companies for the years 1971–85. Profit-sharing manufacturing firms are found to have had smaller employment decreases than other manufacturing firms during business downturns: when the unemployment rate increased by one point, manufacturing firms in which all employees participated in a profit-sharing pension plan had a 2.0% decrease in employment, compared to a 3.1% decrease for nonprofit-sharing manufacturing firms. No significant differences in employment stability were found, however, between profit-sharing and non-profit-sharing firms in the non-manufacturing sector.
The Impact on Absenteeism and Quits of Profit-Sharing and other Forms of Employee Participation
Authors: Wilson Nicholas , Peel Michael J.
Published: June 2015

Using data on 52 engineering and metal working firms in the United Kingdom in 1983–84, the authors of this study investigate how employee participation affects absenteeism and quit rates. Included in the explanatory model are measures of union presence, formal schemes for employee involvement in decision-making, employees' perceived participation in decision-making (based on interviews), and the extent of employee financial participation through profit-sharing, share ownership, and fringe benefits. The results indicate that firms with participation schemes had significantly lower average absenteeism and quit rates than firms without such schemes.
Arbitrator Decisions in Wisconsin Teacher Wage Disputes
Authors: Olson Craig A. , Jarley Paul
Published: June 2015

This study examines the role of wage comparability in the decisions of arbitrators in final offer wage disputes between Wisconsin teachers and school boards in 1977–86. The authors find that wage increases agreed to earlier in the bargaining round by comparable school districts (specifically, other districts within the same athletic conference) had a substantial impact on the decisions of the arbitrators. This result is not predicted by most theoretical studies of interest arbitration, but it is consistent with previous institutional research, the written awards of Wisconsin arbitrators, and the bargaining strategies of the parties.
When Married Men Lose Jobs: Income Replacement within the Family
Authors: Seitchik Adam D.
Published: June 2015

Using matched-file data from the January and March 1986 Current Population Surveys, the author estimates a model of earnings reduction and family income replacement in 1985 for a group of married men displaced from full-time nonagricultural jobs. The displacements, which occurred between 1981 and 1984, resulted in substantial earnings losses for a large fraction of the sample. Husbands with earnings losses had higher levels of spouse earnings and income transfers in 1985 than the control group of non-displaced husbands, but the fraction of lost earnings replaced was not large on average. The author concludes that long-term trends in both the nature of the experience of displaced workers and the structure of the family economy call for reconsideration of traditional family adjustment mechanisms.
Productivity Effects of Strikes in Struck and Nonstruck Industries
Authors: McHugh Richard
Published: June 2015

This study examines the extent to which strikes impaired productivity in nine manufacturing industries, as well as in other industries linked as suppliers or purchasers to the struck industries, in 1967–81. The analysis shows that strikes were associated with productivity declines of greater statistical significance in the linked industries than in the industries experiencing the strikes. The author concludes that studies using only the individual struck firm or industry as the unit of observation underestimate the impact of strike activity on short-run labor productivity.
Changing the Social Security Rules for Work after 65
Authors: Gustman Alan L. , Steinmeier Thomas L.
Published: June 2015

This paper simulates the effects of proposed changes in the social security rules, including the elimination of the Retirement Earnings Test, for men who work after normal retirement age. A policy change that was given serious consideration by the Social Security Administration in 1988–89 (and that is similar to other proposals made in Congress and elsewhere since then) is projected to raise long-run costs by $43 billion net of taxes and to induce an increase of 3.5% in the number of full-time male workers between the ages of 65 and 69. The outcome, especially in the short run, is greatly affected by the timing of workers' decisions to apply for benefits.
Australian Evidence on the Exit/Voice Model of the Labor Market
Authors: Miller Paul , Mulvey Charles
Published: June 2015

Two predictions of the exit/voice model of union activity that have been confirmed by empirical research in the United States are that union workers will have longer tenures and lower quit rates than nonunion workers. This study replicates the methods used in one important U.S. investigation of these “voice” effects to explore whether the same effects are apparent in Australia. The authors' analysis of data on young men from the 1985 Australian Longitudinal Survey yields support for both predictions. Two differences between the Australian and U.S. results are that the union effect on job tenure is considerably larger in Australia than in the United States, and unionism significantly reduces layoff rates in Australia, whereas it has been found to have no significant effect on layoffs in the United States.
Worker Characteristics, Job Characteristics, and the Receipt of On-the-Job Training
Authors: Altonji Joseph G. , Spletzer James R.
Published: June 2015

The authors examine the relationship between the receipt of employer-provided training and the characteristics of workers and jobs using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. They find that the intensity of training and the duration of training were negatively related; the incidence of training was slightly higher among women than among men, but the amount of training was higher among men; blacks received somewhat more training than whites; post-secondary education had a strong positive relationship with training; and aptitude had a positive effect on training. Training does not appear to have been affected by high school curriculum or by observable and unobservable factors specific to the individual's high school.
Who Blows the Whistle and Why?
Authors: Miceli Marcia P. , Near Janet P. , Schwenk Charles R.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the effects of a number of perceptual variables on internal auditors' reporting of wrongdoing by employees and managers in their organizations. Survey responses of 653 Directors of Internal Auditing who observed what they perceived to be incidents of wrongdoing show that they were less likely to report these incidents when they did not feel compelled morally or by role prescription to do so, when they evaluated their job performance as below average, or when they were employed by highly bureaucratic organizations. Also, the auditors were more likely to report incidents to external agencies (as opposed to authorities within the organization) when they felt that the public or their co-workers were harmed by the wrongdoing, the wrongdoing involved theft by relatively low-level workers, there were few other observers, or the organization was highly regulated.
Airline Workers' Earnings and Union Expenditures under Deregulation
Authors: Johnson Nancy Brown
Published: June 2015

This study examines the early effects of deregulation on airline employees' earnings and union expenditures, broken down by craft and firm. The results of an analysis of data for the years 1972–89 generally do not support the common belief that deregulation decreased earnings, and only the results for the flight attendants' unions support the hypothesis that deregulation increased union expenditures.
Do Unions Contract for Added Employment?
Authors: Wessels Walter J.
Published: June 2015

The efficient contract model predicts unions will contract for added employment, that is, a level of employment higher than would be predicted by the demand curve for labor. Using three data sets (on Canadian industries in 1971–81, U.S. industries in 1972, and U.S. construction projects in 1973–74) and several estimation techniques, the author estimates and compares labor demand equations for both union and nonunion firms. Some regressions that control for few variables support the added-employment hypothesis, but those with more complete specifications reject it.
Journal Publication Records as a Measure of Research Performance in Industrial Relations
Authors: Gordon Michael E. , Purvis Julia E.
Published: June 2015

Using data from the Social Sciences Citation Index Journal Citation Reports, this study tracks the publication records of 788 scholars in the four U.S. industrial relations journals that have the most frequently cited articles in the field, as well as in eight top journals in related fields, for the period 1983–88. The authors construct percentile rankings for these published scholars based on the number of articles published. They argue that such an analysis could provide university review committees with one fairly objective measure of “research excellence” for use in promotion and tenure decisions.
The Demise of the National Union in Italy: Lessons for Comparative Industrial Relations Theory
Authors: Locke Richard M.
Published: June 2015

Using data collected during field research in Italy on the reorganization of the auto industry, the author analyzes recent changes in Italian industrial relations. Based on this case study, he argues for a new approach to comparative industrial relations research and theory. Instead of treating national systems as the basic unit of analysis and searching for macro-institutional features as the key dimensions to use in constructing comparative typologies of industrial relations systems, the author develops an approach focusing on micro-level developments and the politics of strategic choice to explain variation within nations. Two factors appear to be crucial in explaining this variation: local socioeconomic conditions that shape the strategies of unions and management in firms undergoing adjustment, and the choices unions make in reallocating responsibilities between local and national structures.
The Difference between Participation and Power in Japanese Factories
Authors: Marsh Robert M.
Published: June 2015

This examination of data on 48 Japanese manufacturing plants in 1983 suggests that, contrary to the belief of many Western observers, systems of participative decision making in Japan have not led to workplace democracy. Although the firms in this study allow workers to present ideas and suggestions—which can then, at supervisors' discretion, be embodied in formal proposals and passed to successively higher levels of the corporate hierarchy, receiving amendment as required for consensus —they deny workers the authority to make decisions. In general, as has been found in similar studies in other countries, strategic, non-programmed, organization-wide decisions tend to be made at high levels, whereas authority to make routine, programmed, sub-unit and individual-level decisions is delegated to lower hierarchical levels.
The Effect of Two-Tier Collective Bargaining Agreements on Shareholder Equity
Authors: Thomas Steven L. , Kleiner Morris M.
Published: June 2015

This study uses an event-time methodology to examine the impact of two-tier agreements on shareholder equity from 1981 through 1986. Following announcements of two-tier agreements, about half of the firms in the sample had negative abnormal returns (returns with values below the expected market returns) and half had positive abnormal returns. Because the positive returns exceeded the negative returns in absolute value, however, there was a statistically significant increase in mean firm value. The abnormal returns averaged between + 2% and + 4% over a 10- to 12-week period following the announcement, a figure that approximately equals the transactions cost of a stock purchase. The authors speculate that this rather low average gain may help explain the marked decline of new two-tier agreements during the latter half of the 1980s.
Determinants of Contract Duration in Collective Bargaining Agreements
Authors: Murphy Kevin J.
Published: June 2015

The author develops a model incorporating variables that previous studies have hypothesized as determinants of labor contract duration, then empirically tests the model using a data set containing bargaining pair—specific, industry-specific, and union-specific variables on 373 contracts signed over the period 1977–87. Three findings, all consistent with the model, are that the rate of wage change in a contract is positively related to the contract's duration; contracts containing cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) tend to be considerably longer in duration than contracts without COLAs; and over the period studied, there was a substantial increase in average contract duration, even with controls for many economic factors.
Post-Layoff Earnings among Semiconductor Workers
Authors: Ong Paul M. , Mar Don
Published: June 2015

This study uses administrative data from California's unemployment insurance program to analyze the post-layoff earnings of displaced and recalled workers in Silicon Valley's semiconductor industry between 1984 and 1987. The authors find losses from inter-sectoral displacement that are consistent with losses found in other studies of job dislocation. The results show, however, that displaced workers who found work within the high-technology sector had earnings similar to those of recalled workers, a finding at odds with theories that emphasize either firm-specific human capital or internal labor markets. These results are instead consistent with the presence of both industry-specific human capital and efficiency wages in the high-technology sector.
The Determinants and Extent of UAW Pattern Bargaining
Authors: Budd John W.
Published: June 2015

The author, using two new data sets covering UAW contract outcomes in a wide range of industries, estimates the degree to which the union's target settlement with a Big Three automaker was followed in subsequent settlements in the same bargaining round over the years 1955–79 and 1987–90. Using several different specifications and examining both wage levels and percent wage increases, he finds that target settlements had large, statistically significant spillover effects in all years, although the effects were considerably smaller in 1987–90 than in 1955–79. Bargaining unit size and industry had important influences on pattern-following in all years. Firm-specific financial health indicators had little influence on pattern-following in the earlier period, but an important influence in 1987–90.
Advance Notice and Unemployment: New Evidence from the 1988 Displaced Worker Survey
Authors: Addison John T. , Portugal Pedro
Published: June 2015

This paper examines how advance notice of layoff affects the incidence and duration of unemployment following displacement. The authors use the Displaced Worker Survey for 1988, which, unlike earlier surveys in the series, contains information on written notice. The results are mixed. Longer written notice may more than double the proportion of white-collar workers who move directly to new employment. But written notice has no such positive effects for blue-collar workers, regardless of its length. Informal (unwritten) notice benefits male workers, either by improving their chances of avoiding unemployment (white-collar men) or by reducing the average spell of unemployment (blue-collar men).
A Simultaneous Analysis of Grievance Activity and Outcome Decisions
Authors: Chaykowski Richard P. , Slotsve George A. , Butler J. S.
Published: June 2015

The authors develop an approach for simultaneously analyzing the determinants of grievance filing activity and grievance outcomes at each stage of the grievance process. The value of this approach is demonstrated by an analysis of grievance data from a Canadian private sector firm for the years 1980–81, which shows that the determinants of the propensity to file a grievance (such as the subject matter of the grievance and past grievance filing activity) and the determinants of decision outcomes (particularly personal characteristics of the grievant) both varied across stages of the grievance process.
Salary Dispersion, Location in the Salary Distribution, and Turnover among College Administrators
Authors: Pfeffer Jeffrey , Davis-Blake Alison
Published: June 2015

This paper examines how the amount of dispersion in an organization's salary distribution and an individual's location in that distribution affect turnover. Using data for the years 1978–79 and 1983–84 on more than 10,000 administrators in 821 U.S. colleges and universities, the authors find that salary dispersion negatively affected the turnover of administrators with relatively high salaries and positively affected the turnover of those with relatively low salaries. The joint effect of salary dispersion and relative salary on turnover was strengthened when salary information was publicly available and when a well-developed external labor market was present.
Using Regional Variation in Wages to Measure the Effects of the Federal Minimum Wage
Authors: Card David
Published: June 2015

The imposition of a national minimum wage standard provides a natural experiment in which the “treatment effect” varies across states depending on the fraction of workers initially earning less than the new minimum. The author exploits this fact to evaluate the effect of the April 1990 increase in the federal minimum wage on teenagers' wages, employment, and school enrollment. Comparisons of grouped and individual state data confirm that the rise in the minimum wage increased teenagers' wages. There is no evidence of corresponding losses in teenage employment or changes in teenage school enrollment.
Labor-Managed Cooperatives and Private Firms in North Central Italy: An Empirical Comparison
Authors: Bartlett Will , Cable John , Estrin Saul , Jones Derek C. , Smith Stephen C.
Published: June 2015

The authors analyze the differences between the behavior of private firms and that of producer cooperatives in a matched sample of the two organizational types from the regions of Emilia Romagna and Toscana in North-Central Italy, where producer cooperatives are numerous. Individual firm-level surveys provide new detailed comparative data on key issues such as investment, productivity, wages, employment, and industrial relations. Differences between the two types of firm are found in labor relations, employment, pay, production methods, the relationship to the external market environment, and the level of economic performance. The authors find no significant differences in investment horizons or criteria for finance, despite theoretical assertions to the contrary. The cooperatives apparently have higher productivity, more labor-intensive production methods, lower income differentials, and a more tranquil industrial relations environment than the private firms.
Union Effects on Productivity: Evidence from Western U.S. Sawmills
Authors: Mitchell Merwin W. , Stone Joe A.
Published: June 2015

The authors conjecture that previous studies have tended to overestimate the productivity of union firms relative to nonunion firms due to inadequate controls for output quality and input usage—important omissions if the higher cost of unionized labor leads to less labor-intensive products and techniques. To avoid those problems, this study examines a fairly standardized commodity, lumber, and controls for detailed product attributes and inputs. An analysis of data from a survey administered by the authors shows that unionized sawmills were between 12% and 21% less productive than nonunionized mills in fiscal year 1986. As predicted, when product quality and raw material usage are not included in the analysis, the estimate of union productivity is biased upward.
The Transformation of Industrial Relations in Eastern Germany
Authors: Jürgens Ulrich , Klinzing Larissa , Turner Lowell
Published: June 2015

Citing case studies based on interviews they conducted in 1991 and 1992 with labor representatives and managers at six eastern German manufacturing firms, the authors argue that the future could hold either vigor and growth or stagnation and permanent second-class status for the economy and labor movement in eastern Germany, depending largely on actor strategy and choice. The rapid spread of privatization and open markets is tending to undermine unions' influence, on the one hand; but on the other hand, institutional transfer from former West Germany (especially of codetermination law and centralized, regional-level collective bargaining) is giving unions and works councils increased possibilities for leverage.
Black South African Unions: Relative Wage Effects in International Perspective
Authors: Moll P. G.
Published: June 2015

Despite the disenfranchisement of blacks in South Africa, the state's refusal to officially recognize black unions until 1980, and police repression of the union movement, this analysis of data for 1985 shows that black unions in South Africa had by that year made wage gains similar to those of unions in more developed countries. The union effect on wages for black blue-collar workers was 24%, which is in the range of effects found in studies of U.S. unions and above the range of effects found for European unions. Another finding is that black unions compressed wages across skill levels, an effect probably owing to black unions' primary emphasis on improving the lot of unskilled workers.
Perceived Participation in Decision-Making in a University Setting: The Impact of Gender
Authors: Denton Margaret , Zeytinoǧlu Işik Urla
Published: June 2015

This analysis of responses to a 1988 survey of full-time faculty at a medium-sized university in central Canada indicates that women were less likely than men to perceive themselves as participating in university decision-making, even with controls for other relevant variables. Academic rank, visible or ethnic minority status, and membership in networks were also influential. No significant effect was found for the possession of a Ph.D., the amount of teaching experience, the possession of tenure, having a mentor, or the proportion of women in the division's faculty.
Is Poor Worker Morale Costly to Firms?
Authors: Straka John W.
Published: June 2015

In 1985 and 1990 studies, Norsworthy and Zabala reported evidence supporting the hypothesis that declining worker morale has reduced productivity and productivity growth. This study partly replicates Norsworthy and Zabala's work and extends it using U.S. auto industry data for 1958–80. Some problems are found with the original analysis. Particularly important is the finding that the substitution of random numbers for morale indicators in the translog econometric equations used by Norsworthy and Zabala yields levels of statistical significance comparable to, and in some trials even higher than, those found when morale indicators are used. Thus, the question of whether poor worker morale contributed to the slowdown in economic growth, this study concludes, is still unresolved.
Racial Differences in Men's Unemployment
Authors: Stratton Leslie S.
Published: June 2015

The author uses March 1990 Current Population Survey data to investigate the reasons for the long-standing gap between the unemployment levels of black and white men (which were about 11.8% and 4.8%, respectively, in 1990). An employment probability function that controls for labor force participation is estimated separately by race. The results indicate that only 20–40% of the differential can be explained by variables other than race that are typically associated with unemployment, such as educational level and local labor market conditions. The predicted differential appears to be greatest among younger, less-skilled men.
Determinants of Strike-Related Militancy: An Analysis of a University Faculty Strike
Authors: McClendon John A. , Klaas Brian
Published: June 2015

This article examines the determinants of differences in militancy among the union workers involved in a faculty strike at Temple University in 1990. Three forms of strike-related militancy are investigated: voting to continue the strike, voting to defy a court injunction, and picketing and related strike-support activities. The results indicate that job attitudes, attitudes toward the union, the perceived instrumentality of striking, attitudes toward militancy, social support, and some demographic variables were related to at least one form of militancy examined. The three forms of militancy, however, had different determinants. For example, social support and union commitment were significantly related to the more risky and confrontational forms of militancy, but not to voting to continue a strike.
The Effect of Creaming on Placement Rates under the Job Training Partnership Act
Authors: Anderson Kathryn H. , Burkhauser Richard V. , Raymond Jennie E.
Published: June 2015

The authors investigate the degree to which “creaming”—nonrandom selection of participants—in Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Title II-A programs is responsible for the high placement rates in those programs. An analysis of data from Tennessee JTPA agencies, in conjunction with Current Population Survey data, shows that creaming does take place, especially through non-selection of those handicapped by poor education or poor health. The extent of creaming, however, is not as large as some critics have suggested: the 71 % placement rate in Tennessee would fall only to about 62% if participants were randomly selected from among the economically disadvantaged population eligible for training. In contrast, targeting only high school dropouts for training—which would have the virtue of serving a group with particularly large barriers to employment—would reduce success rates by nearly one-quarter.
The Decision to Work by Married Immigrant Women
Authors: Duleep Harriet Orcutt , Sanders Seth
Published: June 2015

Using 1980 Census data, the authors analyze the labor force participation of married immigrant Asian women by country of origin, compared with that of married immigrant women from Europe and Canada. The results suggest the existence of a family investment strategy: evidence from both across groups and within groups indicates that a woman's decision to work is affected by whether she has a husband who invests in skills specific to the U.S. labor market, and also by the extent of that investment. Such a family response may help offset the low earnings of immigrant men who initially lack skills for which there is a demand in the American labor market.
The Effect of Unionization on Employment Growth of Canadian Companies
Authors: Long Richard J.
Published: June 2015

This longitudinal analysis of employment in 510 Canadian firms over the period 1980 to 1985 provides evidence that union firms in both the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors experienced substantially slower employment growth than comparable nonunion firms. Controlling for industry sector, firm size, and firm age, the author finds that within the manufacturing sector, union firms grew 3.7% more slowly per year than nonunion firms, and within the nonmanufacturing sector, union firms grew 3.9% more slowly than nonunion firms. Small firms in both sectors, however, appear to have escaped any negative union effect on employment growth. Of the control variables, firm age appears to be much more important than firm size in explaining employment growth.
Strike Incidence in British Manufacturing in the 1980s
Authors: Ingram Peter , Metcalf David , Wadsworth Jonathan
Published: June 2015

In British manufacturing during the 1980s, about one in forty wage settlements involved a strike. Using data provided by the Confederation of British Industry, the authors analyze the incidence of strikes in some 6,000 negotiations at the level of the bargaining group. Among their findings are that multi-unionism (the presence in a workplace of more than one union with the authority to bargain) was associated with higher strike incidence than was single unionism; changes in industrial relations laws during the 1980s were associated with reduced strike incidence; and, contrary to the findings of most similar studies of North American strikes, strike incidence in Britain during the 1980s appears to have been counter-cyclical, increasing as unemployment increased. Three strike theories are assessed in light of the empirical evidence.
The Decentralization of Collective Bargaining: A Literature Review and Comparative Analysis
Authors: Katz Harry C.
Published: June 2015

The author reviews evidence that the bargaining structure is becoming more decentralized in Sweden, Australia, the former West Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, although in somewhat different degrees and ways from country to country. He then examines the various hypotheses that have been offered to explain this significant trend. Shifts in bargaining power, as well as the diversification of corporate and worker interests, have played a part in this change, he concludes, but work reorganization has been more influential still. He also explores how the roles of central unions and corporate industrial relations staffs are challenged by bargaining structure decentralization, and discusses the research gaps on this subject that need to be filled.
Voting Behavior in Union Representation Elections: The Influence of Skill Homogeneity and Skill Group Size
Authors: Demsetz Rebecca S.
Published: June 2015

The author analyzes data from survey responses of nonunion workers involved in 29 NLRB representation elections in 1972 and 1973 to test the hypotheses (1) that skill-homogeneous groups of workers are more readily organized than are still-heterogeneous groups and (2) that the workers in an election unit's largest skill groups will have the strongest pro-union tendencies. The results confirm the first hypothesis (though the results are sensitive to the inclusion of the most skill-homogeneous workplaces sampled), but only weakly support the second. The author concludes that this analysis may provide a new explanation for the decline in successful union organizing, if it is true that the workers comprising potential bargaining units have become increasingly skill-heterogeneous over time.
The Effects of Union Membership on Wages and Employee Benefits: The Case of Australia
Authors: Kornfeld Robert
Published: June 2015

In Australia, pay awards by government tribunals cover nearly the entire work force, and those awards set equal pay for comparable union and nonunion workers. Union members may, however, secure higher compensation through plant-level bargaining. This study uses 1984–88 panel data to estimate the magnitude of union effects on compensation by examining changes in the compensation of employees who enter and leave union jobs, relative to changes in the compensation of workers who remain union or nonunion. The results show that union workers in Australia enjoy 7–18% higher wages than comparable nonunion workers and are also more likely to have access to a pension plan.
The Empirical Relations between Employers' Striker Replacement Strategies and Strike Duration
Authors: Schnell John F. , Gramm Cynthia L.
Published: June 2015

This analysis of General Accounting Office survey data on strikes in 1985 and 1989 shows that employers' permanent replacement of striking workers was associated with longer strikes than would otherwise have occurred. Furthermore, the authors find that simply announcing the intent to replace strikers was also associated with longer strikes. Finally, when employers permanently replaced strikers, the probability of settlement fell approximately 30%. These findings are consistent with models focusing on the joint costs of a strike and on private information in the bargaining process.
The Effect of Accelerated Certification Procedures on Union Organizing Success in Ontario
Authors: Thomason Terry
Published: June 2015

Several observers have argued that one reason for higher union density in Canada than in the United States is that union certification procedures are considerably less time-consuming in Canada. This study tests that claim through an analysis of data on employer unfair labor practices and the outcome of union certification applications in Ontario from 1982 through 1990. The author finds that employer unfair labor practices reduced union support in certification campaigns in Ontario, but their effect is far less significant than that found in studies of the certification process in the United States.
The Effect on Black-White Wage Differences of Differences in the Quantity and Quality of Education
Authors: Maxwell Nan L.
Published: June 2015

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for the years 1979–88, the author examines the extent to which black-white differences in educational attainment, educational quality, and unmeasured individual ability can explain black-white wage differences. An analysis that corrects for both selectivity and ability biases inherent in estimating the education-wage relationship shows that the main source of the black-white wage differential is the racial difference in the quality rather than quantity of schooling. In fact, the author concludes, closing the racial gap in the basic skills learned in school could reduce the wage differential by two-thirds.
Black Immigrants in the United States: A Comparison with Native Blacks and other Immigrants
Authors: Butcher Kristin F.
Published: June 2015

This analysis of 1980 Census data shows that in 1979 immigrant black men had higher employment rates than native-born black men, but the wages of employed members of the two groups were nearly the same. Further, the wage differences that did exist between these groups appear to have stemmed from the selection process associated with migration, not (as has been argued by-some) from differences between the cultural traditions of immigrant and native-born blacks: on a variety of employment and wage measures, black Jamaican and other Caribbean immigrant men in 1979 were remarkably similar to native-born black “movers” (men who had moved out of their state of birth by the Census date).
The Determinants of Grievance Initiation
Authors: Bemmels Brian
Published: June 2015

The author estimates a behavioral model of grievance initiation with 1990 survey data on 1,205 work groups in Canada. The behaviors of supervisors, employees, and shop stewards—such as the degree to which supervisors emphasized productivity rather than friendly relations with employees—were significantly related to grievance rates, but the determinants of grievance rates varied across grievance issues. The results suggest, for example, that the grievances most likely to be initiated by stewards rather than employees were those involving job descriptions, and that grievances over work rules were the least likely to be settled through informal resolution. The model explains approximately 30% of the total variation in grievance rates across work groups—40% if industry dummy variables are included.
The Survival of Employee Participation Programs in Unionized Settings
Authors: Eaton Adrienne E.
Published: June 2015

Data from two surveys are analyzed to identify determinants of the survival of participative programs in unionized settings. The first survey responses were collected in 1987 from local union representatives of 86 bargaining units involved in a participation program; the second were collected from 66 of those same representatives, as well as 49 of their management counterparts, three years later. A surprisingly low failure rate of approximately 20–30% was reported. The results indicate that the perspectives of managers and union representatives differed sharply. For example, union representatives, but not managers, often ascribed program failure to poor labor-management relations and concessionary bargaining; and union respondents were considerably more likely than management respondents to perceive a program as defunct.