Gregory M. Saltzman

Congressional Voting on Labor Issues: The Role of PACS:

This study measures the impact of labor and corporate political action committee (PAC) contributions on the voting of members of the House of Representatives on labor issues during 1979–80. It also analyzes the allocation of labor PAC contributions among House candidates. PAC contributions were found to have a significant direct effect on roll-call voting, even controlling for the Representatives political party and characteristics of the constituency. Since PAC money also affects roll-call voting indirectly (by influencing which party wins elections), the overall impact of PAC money on Congressional voting is probably substantial. The author also finds that labor PACs have focused more on influencing the outcome of elections than on currying favor with powerful members of the House who are likely to be re-elected anyway.

Bargaining Laws as a Cause and Consequence of the Growth of Teacher Unionism

This study analyzes state-level data for 1959–78 to determine whether the rapid growth of teacher unionism during those years was primarily a result or a cause of the public sector bargaining laws adopted during the same period. The author finds, contrary to the view of some scholars, that the enactment of laws requiring public sector employers to bargain with majority representatives of their employees was the single most important cause of the growth in the proportion of teachers covered by union contracts. Although the growth in teacher unionism in turn encouraged the adoption of some new or stronger bargaining laws, this effect was relatively weak. More important predictors of new bargaining laws included the extent of political patronage in a state and the bargaining laws adopted by neighboring states.

Impact of Reimbursement Systems on Child Psychiatrists: A Comparison of Canada and the United States

OBJECTIVE This study measured satisfaction of US and Canadian child psychiatrists with quality of care in their field and behaviors of their payers. METHOD US and Canadian child psychiatrists were surveyed concerning time spent on billing paperwork, waiting times for psychiatrist reimbursement and patient treatment, and their satisfaction with psychiatric services and behaviors of payers. Initial and two nonresponder follow-up mailings of the survey were sent in 1992 to all 83 Canadian members of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and a random sample of 212 US members. RESULTS Canadians were significantly more satisfied than Americans with the quality and affordability of services for both inpatients and outpatients. Canadians were less likely to think that third-party payers were annoying or affected their clinical decision-making. Canadians spent less time on billing-related paperwork and received payment more promptly. Canadians, however, reported significantly longer waits for both inpatients and mildly ill outpatients, but not for severely ill outpatients. CONCLUSIONS Canadian child psychiatrists were significantly more satisfied with the quality of psychiatric services and the behaviors of their payers, but Canadian patients experienced longer waits.

Job Applicant Screening by a Japanese Transplant: A Union-Avoidance Tactic

The author examines efforts by managers of a Japanese-owned auto parts plant to avoid hiring union sympathizers in 1993–94. Data from confidential questionnaires in which job applicants stated whether they would vote for union representation in their current or most recent job were matched with outcome data provided by management. Pro-union applicants were much more likely than other applicants to withdraw their applications or quit shortly after being hired. The author finds only weak evidence, however, that management overtly favored antiunion job applicants in making job offers.

Leadership Development and Organizing: For What Kind of Union?-Reply

the rank-and-file members rather than rely primarily on staff, is valid and important. There is a real danger that unions will atrophy if members view unions as businesses from which they buy certain representation services, rather than as part of a social movement in which the members personally participate. Still, I have a number of quibbles: First, the need for mass mobilization is something that good organizers have known for a long time. For example, Karsh (1958) documents an organizing drive in the early 1950s that relied on extensive personal contacts with the employees of a garment factory and rallied support from other unionized workers in the community and church leaders. A more recent example of mass mobilization was the organizing drive among Harvard University clerical and technical workers that began in the 1970s and brought union representation in the 1980s (Palmer et al., 1990; Hoerr, 1997). Second, although excessive reliance on staff and degeneration of unions into bureaucratic or autocratic institutions have undoubtedly weakened the labor movement, other factors have also contributed significantly to the erosion of union strength: