bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Working in Family Firms: Paid Less but More Secure? Evidence from French Matched Employer-Employee Data
Authors: Bassanini Andrea , Breda Thomas , Caroli Eve , Rebérioux Antoine
Published: June 2015

The authors study compensation packages in family-owned and nonfamily-owned firms. Using French matched employer-employee data, they first show that family firms pay on average lower wages. Part of this wage gap is attributable to low-wage workers sorting into family firms and high-wage workers sorting into nonfamily firms; however, they also find evidence that company wage policies differ according to ownership status, so that the same worker is paid differently under family and nonfamily firm ownership. In addition, family firms are characterized by lower job insecurity, as measured by lower dismissal rates. Family firms also appear to rely less on dismissals, and more on hiring reductions, than do nonfamily firms when they downsize. The authors show that compensating wage differentials account for a substantial part of the inverse relationship between the family/nonfamily gaps in wages and job security.
Variation in Approaches to European Works Councils in Multinational Companies
Authors: Marginson Paul , Lavelle Jonathan , Quintanilla Javier , Adam Duncan , Sánchez-Mangas Rocío
Published: June 2015

Drawing on a unique international data set of multinational companies' employment practices, the authors use logistic regression analysis to address variation in the existence of and management practice toward transnational social dialogue through European Works Councils (EWCs). Adopting a contingency perspective, they find that the degree of internationalization of companies' operations and management organization, international HR structure, and the presence of workforce organization exercise strong influence on whether multinationals covered by the relevant European Union legislation have established an EWC. So too do multinationals' country of origin, sector, and size by employment. While concern has focused on the significant proportion of EWCs in which management's information and consultation practice seems to be minimalist, the authors find that this is less likely to be the case where the HR function is internationalized.
Is U.S. Public Sector Labor Relations in the Midst of a Transformation?
Authors: Katz Harry C.
Published: June 2015

In this article the author assesses whether a fundamental transformation is underway in public sector (state and local government) labor relations in the United States by revisiting the arguments made by the author and Kochan and McKersie (1986) regarding the transformation of labor relations in the private sector. The author argues that the economic pressures that led to a transformation of private sector labor relations starting in the 1980s have not played a comparable role in recent developments in the public sector because of the political nature of labor relations in that sector. Other insights are drawn from a comparison of recent developments with events that occurred during the mid-1970s, an earlier taxpayer revolt era. The author concludes that a fundamental transformation in public sector labor relations has not occurred, attributable to some degree to the limited decline in public employee union membership and the fact that a majority of the public has favorable attitudes toward public sector employees and union collective bargaining rights. Factors that might lead to such a transformation in the future are highlighted.
When Does Money Make Money More Important? Survey and Experimental Evidence
Authors: Devoe Sanford E. , Pfeffer Jeffrey , Lee Byron Y.
Published: June 2015

The authors investigate how the amount and source of income affects the importance placed on money. Using a longitudinal analysis of the British Household Panel Survey and evidence from two laboratory experiments, they found that larger amounts of money received for labor were associated with individuals placing greater importance on money; but this effect did not hold for money not related to work. The longitudinal survey analysis demonstrated these differential effects of the source of income on money's importance while holding constant stable individual differences. The experiments provide causal evidence that the source of income has an effect on the importance of money as well as on the effort expended to earn more money. The authors' results suggest that, even as individual differences in the importance placed on money may affect peoples' income, depending on its source, income can also affect the importance people place on money.
The Diffusion of Pay for Performance across Occupations
Authors: Bayo-Moriones Alberto , Galdon-Sanchez Jose Enrique , Martinez-De-Morentin Sara
Published: June 2015

The authors analyze the differences in the incidence of pay-for-performance plans across occupations in a sample of Spanish manufacturing establishments. Results show that significant differences occur across occupations in the incidence of individual, group, and firm- or plant-level pay for performance plans. They also examine the roles of establishment size, multinational ownership, and the human resource department in the incidence of pay-for-performance plans and their variability across occupations within the same firm. These factors are correlated with a greater use of pay for performance and, in most cases, this effect is similar across occupations.
Work-Life Flexibility Policies: Do Unions Affect Employee Access and Use?
Authors: Berg Peter , Kossek Ellen Ernst , Misra Kaumudi , Belman Dale
Published: June 2015

The authors examine the influence of individual and collective voice mechanisms on employee access to and use of six work–life flexibility practices. Their multilevel analyses are based on an original survey of 897 workers nested in departments across eight unionized establishments in the United States. Collective voice measures include the effectiveness of union pay benefits and union schedule support at the individual and union (group) levels. The authors' analyses indicate that when unions are perceived to effectively support workers' schedule needs, individual access to flextime, gradual return to work, and a compressed workweek is higher. By contrast, when unions are perceived to effectively negotiate higher wages and benefits and enforce the collective agreement, individual access to flextime and a compressed workweek is lower. Collective voice measures are also significantly related to the use of a number of work–life flexibility practices. These findings suggest that union behavior can have a significant and varied influence on access to and use of work–life flexibility practices.
People Skills and the Labor-Market Outcomes of Underrepresented Groups
Authors: Borghans Lex , Ter Weel Bas , Weinberg Bruce A.
Published: June 2015

In this article, the authors show that people skills are important determinants of labor-market outcomes, including occupational choice and wages. Technological and organizational changes have increased the importance of people skills in the workplace. The authors particularly focus on how the increased importance of these skills has affected the labor-market outcomes of underrepresented groups, assuming that gender differences in interactions and cultural differences and prejudice may impede cross-racial and ethnic interactions. Estimates for Britain, Germany, and the United States are consistent with such an explanation. An acceleration in the rate of increase in the importance of people skills between the late 1970s and early 1990s in the United States can help explain why the gender wage gap closed and the black-white wage gap stagnated in these years relative to the preceding and following years.
Offshoring and the Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market
Authors: Oldenski Lindsay
Published: June 2015

Using firm-level data on offshoring paired with occupation-level data on employment and wages, the author estimates the impact that offshoring has had on U.S. workers from 2002 to 2008. She finds that offshoring by U.S. firms has contributed to relative gains for the most high-skilled workers and relative losses for middle-skilled workers. An increase in offshoring in an industry is associated with an increase in the wage gap between workers at the 75th percentile and workers with median earnings in that industry, and with a decrease in the gap between workers earning the median wages and those at the 25th percentile. This pattern can be explained by the tasks performed by workers. Offshoring is associated with a decrease in wages for occupations that rely heavily on routine tasks and an increase in wages if the occupation is nonroutine and communication-task intensive. The results hold in both ordinary least squares (OLS) and instrumental variable specifications.
I Don't like Mondays: Explaining Monday Work Injury Claims
Authors: Butler Richard J. , Kleinman Nathan , Gardner Harold H.
Published: June 2015

More workers' compensation claims for soft-tissue injuries are filed on Monday than on any other day of the week. Explanations for the Monday claims include “warm-up” or ergonomic effects, false classification of off-the-job weekend due to economic incentives, or psychological responses to Monday work. To sort out these possibilities, the authors examine more than 200,000 employment day patterns for a single, large U.S. employer with uniform human resource policies. Although the authors find more soft-tissue injury claims (mostly sprains and strains) filed for younger workers, union members, and for workers with higher expected workers' compensation benefits, they do not find that these factors—nor the absence of health insurance—differentially increase soft-tissue injury filings on Monday. Moreover, comparing soft-tissue injuries with lacerations and broken-bone claims suggests soft tissues are not due to ergonomic factors either. Additional evidence suggests that workers simply do not like Monday work. Hence, it may be cost-effective for employers and employees to institute practices that make the Monday workplace more attractive.
Part-Time Wage Penalties for Women in Prime Age
Authors: Matteazzi Eleonora , Pailhé Ariane , Solaz Anne
Published: June 2015

Using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data for the year 2009, the authors evaluate how vertical and horizontal job segregation explains the differential between full-time and part-time pay for prime-age women in four European countries: Austria, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom. The selected countries are representative of different welfare state regimes, labor market regulations, and extents and forms of part-time employment. Full-time hourly wages exceed part-time hourly wages, especially in market-oriented economies, such as Poland and the United Kingdom. Results using the Neuman-Oaxaca decomposition methods show that most of the full-time–part-time wage gap is driven by job segregation, especially its vertical dimension. Vertical segregation explains an especially large part of the pay gap in Poland and the United Kingdom, where, more than elsewhere, part-timers are concentrated in low-skilled occupations and the wage disparities across occupations are quite large.
The “Suite” Smell of Success
Authors: Fabling Richard , Grimes Arthur
Published: June 2015

The authors use a panel of more than 1,500 New Zealand firms, from a diverse range of industries, to examine how the adoption of human resource management (HRM) practices affects firm performance. The panel is based on managerial responses to mandatory surveys of management practices in 2001 and 2005 administered by the national statistical office, linked to objective longitudinal firm performance data. The authors find that, after controlling for time-invariant firm characteristics and changes in a wide range of business practices and firm developments, a suite of general HRM practices has a positive impact on firm labor and multifactor productivity. Conversely, these practices tend to have no effect on profitability, in part because the adoption of performance pay systems raises average wages in the firm.
Retirement System Characteristics and Compensating Wage Differentials in the Public Sector
Authors: Ehrenberg Ronald G.
Published: June 2015

This paper presents evidence that a trade-off exists between wages and certain characteristics of retirement systems in the public sector. Cross-section econometric estimates for uniformed municipal employees, based upon data from two national surveys of municipalities, suggest that, other things equal, an increase in the contribution made by uniformed employees to their retirement system leads to a compensating increase in their salaries, while retirement systems with more “generous” characteristics are associated to some extent with lower salaries. The estimates also indicate that the extent of retirement system underfunding is related to employers' and employees' perceptions of the probability that promised retirement benefits will not be fully paid and that these perceptions too are reflected in compensating wage differentials. The author concludes that pension reform legislation in the public sector will be likely to have an impact on public sector wages and, therefore, careful consideration should be given to the design of such legislation.
The Law and Equal Employment Opportunity: What's Past Should Not Be Prologue
Authors: Smith Arthur B.
Published: June 2015

This article explores the debate over the role of law in ensuring equal employment opportunity. The author describes the constant change in judicial and administrative regulation on this subject that has resulted, he believes, from the absence of consensus on whether the goal of public policy should be to promote equal treatment or equal achievement in the workplace. He argues that the overlapping and conflicting regulations, inconsistent results, and general confusion produced by the past encounters between the law and discriminatory employment practices should not be the model for future development of policy.
Taxation and the Wife's Use of Time
Authors: Hunt Janet C. , DeLorme Charles D. , Hill R. Carter
Published: June 2015

This study examines the influence of taxation on the wife's choice between home and market production by treating the marginal tax rate as a decision variable. The data analyzed, from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, provide information on the annual hours that husbands and wives devote to market work and housework, including child care, whereas previous studies have measured only changes in market hours and have assumed, in effect, that all other hours were devoted to nonproductive leisure. The empirical results indicate that wives working outside the home react to higher levels of taxation by reducing their market hours and increasing their home production time. In fact, the hypothesis cannot be rejected that wives completely reallocate time lost from the labor market to nonmarket production in an attempt to restore household real income. The authors conclude that the production loss from progressive taxation is usually overstated, though wives may lose through depreciation of their market skills and society loses to the extent that specialization in the economy declines.
Estimating the Narcotic Effect of Public Sector Impasse Procedures
Authors: Butler Richard J. , Ehrenberg Ronald G.
Published: June 2015

This paper first describes in a relatively nontechnical fashion several econometric techniques that the authors believe should be useful to industrial relations researchers. Those techniques are then applied to an analysis of whether public sector impasse procedures create a “narcotic effect,” that is, a tendency for the bargaining parties, once they use the procedures, to become increasingly reliant on them in future negotiations. The authors reanalyze data from Thomas Kochan and Jean Baderschneider's study of the impasse experience of police and firefighters under New York State's Taylor Law during the 1968–76 period and find that while a narcotic effect did exist, as Kochan and Baderschneider argued, that relationship lasted only during the early years of the period and was actually reversed in later years. The authors conclude by explaining how such a pattern of results could occur, tracing the implications of their findings for public policy, and suggesting other research questions that could be analyzed by the econometric methods they have described. (A comment by Kochan and Baderschneider follows this article.)
Splitting-the-Difference in Interest Arbitration
Authors: Farber Henry S.
Published: June 2015

This study develops two models of the behavior of interest arbitrators in which the arbitrator has some exogenous notion of an equitable settlement and yet is also influenced to some extent by the positions of the parties. The author argues that it is the arbitrator's notion of an equitable outcome that determines the positions of the parties, and empirical evidence suggesting that the arbitrator merely splits the difference is misleading. In fact, the parties are likely to position themselves around the expected arbitration award, suggesting that the expected arbitration outcome shapes the parties' bargaining positions rather than the reverse. There is nevertheless some truth to the notion that an arbitrator who is sensitive to the demands of the parties can chill bargaining. The author therefore proposes that the arbitration award be made independent of actual negotiating positions through a closed-offer mechanism.
The Role of Military Forces in Public Sector Labor Relations
Authors: Jacobs James B.
Published: June 2015

This article examines the use of military forces as replacements in public sector strikes, a practice employed in over forty cases since President Nixon established the modern-day precedent by deploying troops in the 1970 postal strike. The author shows that, despite the dubious legality of Nixon's action, legal constraints on the President and particularly on the governors in this context are very weak. He argues that political and philosophical qualms about breaking strikes with military replacements may have more vitality as constraints, but they are subject to erosion if the appropriate role of military forces in public sector labor relations does not become a subject of public debate. Following an appraisal of the major policy options, the author concludes that the use of troops as strike replacements is primarily a political rather than legal problem.
The Union Impact on Hospital Wages and Fringe Benefits
Authors: Feldman Roger , Scheffler Richard
Published: June 2015

This paper uses 1977 data from a national probability sample of 1,200 hospitals to estimate the effect of unions on wages and fringe benefits in four occupations: registered nurses, practical nurses, secretaries, and housekeepers. The results show that unionization has a significant impact on wages that increases with the length of time collective bargaining has been in effect at the individual hospital. The overall wage effect of unions is about 8 percent for both types of nurses and 11 to 12 percent for secretaries and housekeepers employed in hospitals. The authors also estimate an equation for hospital wide fringe benefits, which shows that such benefits are positively related to the percent of full-time employees in the four occupations covered by union contracts.
Job Queues and the Union Status of Workers
Authors: Abowd John M. , Farber Henry S.
Published: June 2015

This paper develops a model of the determination of the union status of workers that allows for the possibility of queuing for union jobs. The empirical results derived, using a sample from the University of Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics, are supportive of the queuing hypothesis. The no-queue model can be rejected using a likelihood-ratio test. This suggests that a simple probit or logit model for union status is misspecified because it is not based on any consistent behavioral theory. An important implication of the model is that because most new entrants to the labor market prefer union jobs but cannot get them and because accrual of nonunion seniority makes workers progressively less likely to desire union jobs, the union status of workers is largely determined by their success in being selected from the queue early in their working life.
Monopoly, Plant, and Union Effects on Worker Wages
Authors: Kwoka John E.
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the effects of industry concentration, plant size, and unionization on the wages of blue-collar manufacturing workers. The author points out that few previous wage studies have included all three of those variables or have employed data sufficiently detailed to test adequately their effect on wages. This study, using data primarily from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey, demonstrates that concentration, plant size, and unionization all exercise significant and independent effects on wages.
The Impact on Women of Proposed Changes in the Private Pension System: A Simulation
Authors: Cohen Cynthia Fryer
Published: June 2015

This study estimates the effects on pension benefits received by women that would result from some of the changes recommended in 1981 by the President's Commission on Pension Policy. The private pension system now presents several barriers to the attainment of benefits by women: (1) the low level of coverage in many industries with a high proportion of women employees; (2) the requirement of many years of service with the same employer before benefits can be received; (3) the offsetting of private benefits by some portion of social security benefits; (4) the frequent exclusion of individuals under age 25 with less than one year of service; and (5) the frequent exclusion of part-time workers. To test the effects of these barriers, this study first links two simulation models to generate data estimating the private retirement benefits of a cohort of women who were aged 25 to 27 in 1960. Those benchmark estimates are then compared with the benefits predicted in five change models, each of which removes one of the five barriers to benefit attainment. Significant differences are found between benefits under the benchmark model and those under the three models testing changes in coverage, vesting, and integration. No significant effects result from the assumed removal of the last two barriers.
Behavioral Research in Industrial Relations
Authors: Lewin David , Feuille Peter
Published: June 2015

This paper examines and assesses the behavioral content of industrial relations research in a variety of social science disciplines. The authors compare economic research on the wage and productivity consequences of unionism with psychological research on worker attitudes toward unions; sociological research on the negotiation process and conflict resolution; and industrial relations research on bargaining outcomes. This review shows that although both economic and noneconomic studies of industrial relations are heavily empirical, they differ markedly in analytical frameworks and research designs, dependent variables investigated, the choice of research tools and methods, and the types of data analyzed. The authors also identify and briefly discuss some opportunities for cross-fertilization among disciplines that arise from this portfolio of industrial relations research.
The Impact of Union-Management Cooperation on Productivity and Employment
Authors: Schuster Michael
Published: June 2015

This study examines the effects of union-management cooperative programs on productivity and employment. The author collected productivity and employment data for each of nine manufacturing plants at monthly time intervals over a period of four to five years—from two years before to at least two years after the introduction of the cooperative program. Regression analysis of these time-series data is supplemented by qualitative data from personal interviews and relevant records. The results show that after introduction of the cooperative programs, productivity increased in six of the eight firms in which it could be measured and employment remained stable in eight of the nine firms.
Human Resources and Industrial Relations in China: A Time of Ferment
Authors: Helburn I. B. , Shearer John C.
Published: June 2015

This study of current industrial relations practices in mainland China draws on the relevant literature and particularly on the authors' discussions with managers and government and union officials in the steel industry during a visit to China in March 1983. The authors describe the recruitment, selection, placement, and training of blue-collar and managerial employees; the increasing use of financial incentives; and the “iron rice bowl” approach to discipline, which generally excludes discharge. They also discuss employee participation in management through workers' councils and trade unions and the sometimes conflicting functions of unions as both “arm of the state” and workers' representatives.
The Influence of Management Consultants on the Outcome of Union Certification Elections
Authors: Lawler John J.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the effect of management consultants on the probability of union victory in representation elections. An analysis of data on 130 elections in retail grocery outlets shows that consultant involvement decreased the probability of union victory to a degree that was sufficient to alter the outcome of closely contested elections. The impact of consultants was nevertheless considerably smaller than that of factors such as unit size and conditions in the relevant labor market.
The Effect of Blue-Collar Unions on White-Collar Wages and Fringe Benefits
Authors: Solnick Loren M.
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the influence of blue-collar unions on the wages and fringe benefits of white-collar workers employed in the same establishment. The author uses establishment data on employee compensation in 1974, the last year such data were collected, to estimate these wage and fringe spillovers in the two-digit industries in the manufacturing sector. Wage spillovers appear in only three of 16 industries, with the effect ranging from 10 to 19 percent. For fringes, however, significant spillovers are evident in 12 industries, with effects ranging from 15 to 52 percent. Although the models estimated also allow for the influence of white-collar unions on white-collar wages and fringes, no such effects were observed.
Conflicting Statutory Purposes: Another Look at Fifty Years of NLRB Law Making
Authors: Gross James A.
Published: June 2015

The author describes how in 1947 Congress incorporated two conflicting statements of purpose in Taft-Hartley: a restatement of the Wagner Act's policy of encouraging collective bargaining, and a new statement stressing the rights of individual employees and making no mention of collective bargaining. As a result, the author argues, both liberal and conservative Boards can justify their policies by choosing between the Taft-Hartley Act's inconsistent statements of intent. The author's analysis draws on the language and histories of the Wagner and Taft-Hartley Acts, the comments of seven former chairmen of the NLRB who attended a conference at Cornell commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Board and the Wagner Act, interviews with several of those chairmen, and writings by former chairmen.
Assessing the Accuracy of BLS Local Unemployment Rates: A Case Study
Authors: Buss Terry F.
Published: June 2015

The accuracy of local unemployment rates published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been questioned because of their heavy reliance on secondary data sources. It has often been suggested that this criticism could be tested if the BLS's survey methodology for determining national rates were applied to local labor markets. This study employs that methodology more rigorously than previous studies to estimate unemployment in the Youngstown/Warren SMSA in June 1984. When the resulting estimates are compared with those obtained using the BLS's local survey methodology, it is found that the BLS estimates significantly understate unemployment. The author offers suggestions for improving BLS local-level statistical programs.
The Role of Personality and Tastes in Determining Occupational Structure
Authors: Filer Randall K.
Published: June 2015

Using a unique data set containing explicit measures of both personality and tastes, this study applies logit techniques to predict which of five broadly defined occupational groups an individual will enter. The addition of personality and taste factors to a conventional set of variables—gender, race, education, experience, and father's socioeconomic status—significantly increases the predictive accuracy of estimating equations. Also, the results are generally consistent with a well-functioning labor market that sorts workers into jobs satisfying their individual preferences. A specific finding is that gender differences in occupational structure are strongly linked to differences between men's and women's personalities and tastes.
Greasing the Squeaky Wheel: The Relative Productivity of Osha Complaint Inspections
Authors: Smith Robert Stewart
Published: June 2015

This paper questions the validity of allegations by the General Accounting Office in 1979 that OSHA was then allocating more of its resources to investigating worker complaints than the quality of those complaints warranted. Specifically, the author finds that complaint-initiated inspections and “general schedule” inspections (those made on the basis of targeting criteria developed by OSHA) were similarly productive in uncovering safety violations in 1977–79. The findings also suggest that the interindustry distribution of complaints closely matched the distribution of general schedule inspections; complaints were not used by unionized workers as a weapon in negotiations; and the 1980 changes in complaint handling that were enacted in response to the GAO's report did not improve the “yield” of complaint-initiated inspections relative to that of general schedule inspections.
The Effects of Grievance Activity on Productivity
Authors: Ichniowski Casey
Published: June 2015

This study develops and tests a production function that includes a plant's grievance filing rate as a determinant of productivity. Application of that function to data on nine unionized paper mills for 1976–82 shows that the more grievances that were filed in a mill, the lower that mill's productivity. Although this effect produced only small percentage changes in the productivity of these mills, the author argues that these changes could result in much larger percentage changes in the mills' operating profits. Finally, a comparison between the productivity of the nine union mills and that of a nonunion mill that has no grievance procedure shows that the nonunion mill has significantly lower productivity.
The Distribution of Unemployment Spells: Canada, 1978–82
Authors: Beach Charles M. , Kaliski S. F.
Published: June 2015

This paper empirically examines entire distributions of unemployment spells according to a novel duration-share approach based on decile shares and Lorenz curves of unemployment. The approach is applied to a Canadian micro-data source akin to the Work Experience Surveys for the United States. The major empirical findings are that long-term unemployment accounts for a very substantial proportion of total weeks of unemployment, despite the short duration of the average spell of unemployment. The structure of unemployment spell distribution differs significantly by gender, age, education, and region; and significant cyclical effects on the distribution of unemployment spells are associated with the severe recession in 1982.
Earnings Effects of Labor Organizations in 1890
Authors: Dillon Patricia , Gang Ira
Published: June 2015

Analyzing data from extensive surveys of U.S. nonfarm families in 1889–90—predominantly families from eastern states—the authors of this paper show that workers affiliated with labor organizations had earnings that were 22 percent higher than the earnings of other workers, an effect comparable in magnitude to estimates for modern unions. Wage differentials varied considerably across the eight industries studied and across skill levels within each industry.
Employee Involvement: The Implications of Noninvolvement by Unions
Authors: Verma Anil , McKersie Robert B.
Published: June 2015

Using a survey of workers in a large unionized manufacturing plant in which quality circles had been introduced without the involvement of the union, the authors test several hypotheses about the profiles of workers who volunteered to join the program and of workers who participated in it. They find that volunteers were less active in the union, more eager for a “say” in decisions, and more attracted to group and voluntary activities than were nonvolunteers. Continued participation in the program, however, apparently did not affect these characteristics of volunteers. On the other hand, participation in the program appears to have increased workers' identification with the company and its goals, even after controlling for differences in pre-program individual characteristics.
Job Displacement and Earnings Loss: Evidence from the Displaced Worker Survey
Authors: Podgursky Michael , Swaim Paul
Published: June 2015

Using data from the Displaced Worker Survey, a special supplement to the January 1984 Current Population Survey, the authors estimate a model of reemployment earnings for workers displaced from full-time nonagricultural jobs between January 1979 and January 1984. Median losses for workers reemployed full-time were not large, but a sizable minority of that group—mostly workers with substantial specific human capital investments—experienced large and enduring earnings losses.
Voting for Wage Concessions: The Case of the 1982 GM-UAW Negotiations
Authors: Kaufman Bruce E. , Martinez-Vazquez Jorge
Published: June 2015

The authors of this paper use the median voter model to predict the patterns of rank-and-file voting on wage concessions in a multiplant setting, then test those predictions using data from the 1982 GM-UAW negotiations. The model predicts that workers in plants with large layoffs will vote in favor of a wage concession only if they believe that a concession will save their jobs. Surprisingly, workers in plants with growing or stable employment are also actually more likely to vote Yes. A third prediction is that the Yes vote will be smallest in plants with the most adversarial labor relations. The empirical analysis supports all three predictions.
Union Bargaining Decisions and Contract Ratifications: The 1982 and 1984 Auto Agreements
Authors: Cappelli Peter , Sterling W. P.
Published: June 2015

The authors of this study investigate the determinants of union contract ratification votes by analyzing plant-level data relevant to the 1982 and 1984 auto industry agreements with the UAW. The results strongly suggest that the more vulnerable workers are to layoff, the more likely they are to vote for ratification of proposed agreements. The results also show, however, that workers tend to vote against ratification in plants in which, other things equal, the labor relations climate is poor. In addition, comparisons across contracts indicate how voting patterns associated with various plant and worker characteristics change when contract proposals shift toward greater job security and away from wage increases.
Comparable Worth: Limited Coverage and the Exacerbation of Inequality
Authors: Smith Robert S.
Published: June 2015

Citing relevant judicial decisions, the author argues that any application of the comparable worth remedy for gender discrimination is likely to cover only certain groups of workers. Most likely to be covered are women who work for governmental or large private employers in female-dominated jobs, and least likely to be covered are women who work for small private employers. The implementation of comparable worth would cause the wages of noncovered workers to fall relative to those of covered workers, and they might even fall absolutely. An analysis of 1979 Current Population Survey data suggests that the women most likely to gain from comparable worth are fewer in number, better paid, and subjected to no greater discrimination than the women most likely to lose.
Salary Determination in the National Hockey League: The Effects of Skills, Franchise Characteristics, and Discrimination
Authors: Jones J. C. H. , Walsh William D.
Published: June 2015

This paper empirically examines the extent to which skill differences, monopoly and monopsony conditions, and discrimination determine salaries (by player position) in the National Hockey League. The data set is for 1977–78 and covers more than 300 hockey players from all teams in the league. The major conclusions are that skills are the principal determinant of salaries at all positions; the monopoly characteristics of the franchise system appear to have a positive impact on salary for one position (forwards); and only for defensemen is there any evidence of possible salary discrimination against French Canadians.
Accounting for the Proliferation of Two-Tier Wage Settlements in the U.S. Airline Industry, 1983–1986
Authors: Walsh David J.
Published: June 2015

This study examines the wave of two-tier wage settlements in the U.S. airline industry that occurred from 1983 through 1986. Although two-tier plans spread throughout the industry, it was the more prosperous carriers that led the way and that were most apt to negotiate them—often over considerable union opposition. One inducement for introducing two-tier plans was competitive pressure arising from divergent labor costs in the industry, but carriers were also influenced by such potential benefits as improved morale, a chance to alter the length of wage progressions, advantages in future bargaining, and greater financial stability in the eyes of financial backers. The author sees the rash of two-tier settlements as part of a larger contest to shape labor relations in the re-consolidated, post-deregulation airline industry.
Effects of the Tax Treatment of Fringe Benefits on Labor Market Segmentation
Authors: Scott Frank A. , Berger Mark C. , Black Dan A.
Published: June 2015

Current federal tax law requires that all workers having the same experience with a firm must receive essentially the same package of fringe benefits in order for those benefits to qualify for preferential tax treatment. The authors argue that this “nondiscriminatory” provision of fringe benefits promotes labor market segmentation by inducing workers to sort themselves across the economy according to their demand for fringe benefits. Several empirical tests using 1968–78 data confirm the existence of sorting and suggest that labor market segmentation increased over time as workers responded to changes in incomes and marginal tax rates.
One Hundred Years of Strike Statistics: Methodological and Theoretical Issues in Quantitative Strike Research
Authors: Franzosi Roberto
Published: June 2015

This study reviews the two main streams of quantitative research on the determinants of aggregate strike activity over time and across countries: the economic approach and the organizational/political approach. Economists have demonstrated that strike activity is linked to the business cycle, and sociologists and political scientists have shown that it is linked in the longer term to workers' organizational capacity and political position in national power structures. The author, however, points out unresolved contradictions among the empirical findings, and a lack of integration between the economic and organizational/political approaches. Furthermore, he argues that scholars' almost exclusive reliance on official strike statistics, which convey only limited information, has prevented them from investigating some important basic questions about strikes, such as what causes strike “waves.”
Determinants of Grievance Outcomes: A Case Study
Authors: Ng Ignace , Dastmalchian Ali
Published: June 2015

Analyzing 1,160 grievance cases from the Canadian federal sector, all of which were resolved short of arbitration, the authors find that the highest percentages of decisions favorable to grievants occur in the early steps of the grievance procedure; the grievances of higher-paid employees are more likely to be granted than are those of lower-paid employees; and grievance outcomes vary depending on the nature of the issue, with grievances over working conditions most likely to be granted and grievances over assignment of work duties least likely to be granted.
Toward a Structural Account of Union Participation in Management: The Case of Western Airlines
Authors: Wever Kirsten R.
Published: June 2015

In 1983 and 1984 four unions at Western Airlines agreed to wage cuts, work rule changes, two-tier wage plans, and other concessions in return for seats on the board of directors, a Health Services Program, financial information sharing, and an Employee Involvement program. The author uses data from interviews conducted with all parties between 1983 and 1987 to argue that meaningful and lasting employee participation occurred only when the union had enough power to induce management to forgo some of its traditional prerogatives (a structural factor); the union and management shared a vision of how participation could serve both parties interests (a cognitive factor); and the union had substantial institutional security (a second structural factor).
Measuring the Pay Disparity between Typically Female Occupations and other Jobs: A Bivariate Selectivity Approach
Authors: Sorensen Elaine
Published: June 2015

The author of this study, using a bivariate probit selectivity model with data from the 1984 Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, finds that women in female-dominated jobs earned 6–15 percent less than women with the same characteristics in other occupations. These results support the crowding hypothesis, according to which women are crowded into “female jobs” because of employer discrimination, resulting in lower wages for those jobs. Previous studies, using ordinary least squares analysis, have found a higher earnings differential; but most of those studies, unlike the present one, failed to control either for individuals' decision whether or not to work or for their choice of occupation.
Union Corporate Campaigns: An Assessment
Authors: Jarley Paul , Maranto Cheryl L.
Published: June 2015

The authors examine 28 labor disputes occurring during the period 1976–88 in which the unions involved publicly declared they conducted “corporate campaigns.” They distinguish three types of campaigns —complements to traditional organizing drives, complements to strikes, and substitutes for strikes—and argue that fundamental differences among these campaigns result in different prospects for success. Organizing-related campaigns, they find, were more likely to yield gains for the union than were bargaining-related campaigns. Strike complement campaigns resulted in the largest number of unequivocal failures; and several strike substitute campaigns appear to have played only limited roles in achieving contract settlements.
The AFL-CIO Blue Cross—Blue Shield Campaign: A Study of Organizational Failure
Authors: Northrup Herbert R.
Published: June 2015

In 1985, AFL-CIO leaders and the officers of eight AFL-CIO unions announced their intention of organizing the employees of Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS). The author argues that there was no demonstrated demand for unionization on the part of the employees targeted by the campaign, but union officers apparently believed that because of labor's business relationships with BC/BS plans, there would be little resistance to unionization. Five years later, the unions had lost five NLRB elections and won none, and they had suffered one decertification. Drawing mainly on interviews with BC/BS managers and union organizers, campaign literature, and newspaper and magazine articles, the author concludes that the unions were unprepared for the problems they encountered, particularly the absence of significant employee grievances.
Union Membership and Voting for Cope-Endorsed Candidates
Authors: Delaney John Thomas , Masters Marick F. , Schwochau Susan
Published: June 2015

The authors investigate whether, as commonly believed, union members and their families strongly support the political candidates endorsed by union leaders. Using 1978 data on U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and gubernatorial races, they find that union members, and to a lesser extent the nonmembers in their families, were more likely to vote for candidates endorsed by the AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education (COPE) than were individuals who did not belong to a union and lived in households containing no union members. The authors suggest several alternative explanations for this pattern of voting behavior and discuss the implications of their results for unions' political strategy.
The Causes of Increasing Interindustry Wage Dispersion in the United States
Authors: Bell Linda A. , Freeman Richard B.
Published: June 2015

Using establishment-level data from a variety of sources, this study documents and analyzes the consistent rise in interindustry wage dispersion in the United States between 1970 and 1987. The authors attribute about 60% of the rise in this measure of wage dispersion to competitive market factors, such as changes in the demographic and occupational mix of industrial sectors. They find, however, that noncompetitive factors also play an important part in this trend. The most important noncompetitive factor is a strong link between the long-term trends in industry wages and productivity growth, which appears to stem largely from rent-sharing behavior among industries.
The Attitude of Employee Association Members toward Union Mergers: The Effect of Socioeconomic Status
Authors: Cornfield Daniel B.
Published: June 2015

The results of this analysis of data from a 1986 survey of members of the Tennessee State Employees Association suggest that employee association members were more likely to favor a merger of their association into a labor union the lower their socioeconomic status and opportunities for upward mobility. Lower-status employee association members appear to have been more favorably disposed to a merger largely because they were more desirous of an expanded role for their association. Specifically, they indicated that they would have liked their association to have the power to initiate strikes and join civil rights coalitions.
Information Sharing and Collective Bargaining in Japan: Effects on Wage Negotiation
Authors: Morishima Motohiro
Published: June 2015

Japanese firms often attempt to influence the process and outcomes of wage negotiation by sharing confidential business information with their unions and employees through the joint consultation system. In this study, using a unique survey of Japanese joint consultation committees conducted in 1981, the author examines the effects of information sharing on the process and outcomes of wage negotiation. The results show that when firms engaged in increased information sharing, negotiation processes were shorter and easier, and unions tended to demand and accept lower wage increases. In contrast, a similar study performed in the United States found that information sharing increased labor's bargaining power.
The Social Charter of the European Community: Evolution and Controversies
Authors: Addison John T. , Siebert W. Stanley
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the content, status, and likely impact of the Social Charter, a declaration of social rights (primarily workers' rights) endorsed by the European Community in December 1989. The European Commission, which initiated the Charter, has justified the mandated benefits proposed under it as a means for advancing social equality. The authors argue, however, that by raising costs, inhibiting employment growth, and disproportionately affecting poorer workers and nations, the mandated benefits approach is likely to cause less rather than more equity.