ATTITUDES OF CANADIAN NURSING FACULTY TOWARD UNIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN HIGHER EDUCATION.
Contributors: Columbia University. Teachers College.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 259
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Higher.; Sociology, Industrial and Labor Relations.
Description: The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the extent of differences in attitudes toward unions and collective bargaining in higher education among nursing faculty employed in unionized and non-unionized Universities in Canada. The second purpose was to determine whether Canadian nursing faculty attitudes were related to their socio-demographic characteristics.

A Likert-scale type questionnaire was distributed to 671 nursing faculty in 20 universities across Canada. A total of 336 (50.1%) questionnaires were returned; 329 usable responses were analyzed, using descriptive, analysis of variance, crosstabulation with chi square, factor analysis, and multiple regression statistics.

The findings suggested that three distinct attitudes, positive, neutral and negative, existed among the nursing faculty in this study. The nursing faculty generally had neutral attitudes toward unions and collective bargaining in higher education. There was no statistically significant difference between the unionized and non-unionized nursing faculty in their attitudes toward unions and collective bargaining in higher education; however, the unionized nursing faculty were slightly more positive in their attitudes than the non-unionized faculty.

Nursing faculty attitudes were also found to be related to a number of socio-demographic variables. Tenured, full-time, associate professors with a doctoral or a bachelor's degree and with 16 to 20 years of service, who were members of the Faculty Association and have previously run for or held an elected office in a union, were more favorable in their attitudes. Nursing faculty who have previously been involved in union activities, such as reading union literature, helping new members learn about the union, supporting a union position, asking a union representative for information, or giving views on union issues, were favorable in their attitudes.

Finally, nursing faculty whose families supported union activities, had positive attitudes toward unions and collective bargaining in higher education.

The findings implied that Canadian nursing faculty are still struggling in their attempts to accept unions and collective bargaining and they consider these principles as an added pressure in their struggle for their own identity in higher education.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-07, Section: B, page: 3524.

Thesis (ED.D.)--COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TEACHERS COLLEGE, 1991.

School code: 0055.