Joseph Shister

The Logic of Union Growth

JOSEPH SHISTER University of Buffalo T HE numerous patterns of union growth can be conveniently broken down into two basic categories: (1) aggregative and (2) particular. The latter focuses on growth in given occupations, plants, firms, industries, or geographical regions. Each of these categories obviously has a time dimension; for brevity one can distinguish between short-run and long-run variations, with the exact quantitative meaning attached to these appellations a function of the analytic objective in hand. A theory of union growth should, therefore, provide a framework for analysis of these basic patterns. Although a number of writers have discoursed on the determinants of union growth, the only systematic analysis to emerge in the literature thus far is that offered by Dunlop.2 While Dunlops effort represents a very real contribution to the problem, his analysis is incomplete in two respects. First, certain important determinants (e.g., union leadership) find no place in it and, second, his basic determinants have not been sufficiently refined for operational purposes.

The National War Labor Board: Its Significance

FROM its inception until September, 1944, the National War Labor Board and its agencies-regional boards and commissions-had closed almost io,ooo dispute cases and 275,000 voluntary cases, involving almost every conceivable labor issue-wages, working conditions, union security, etc. It follows, therefore, that the Boards2 actions are leaving an appreciable imprint on the pattern of American labor relations. And this imprint will remain not only for the duration of the war but also for the period following the close of hostilities. The Boards policies will be significant as a starting-point for peacetime developments in those bargaining units where they will have exerted a direct influence during the war; and they will serve as a precedent for policy in those units where the Boards actions will not have left any lasting impact during the war. As a consequence, it is important to understand what the implications of the Boards decisions are for postwar labor relations. And it is also important, from a historical point of view, to understand how the Board has controlled the labor market during wartime. This paper will, accordingly, be concerned with both these problems. It is the purpose of this paper not to

The Economics of Collective Wage Bargaining: A Case Study

t X WE purpose of this paper is to present a case study of collective wage I determination, emphasizing those aspects of the problem which, the writer believes, have not received sufficient attention in other case studies of union wage policies. The unions connected with the two main branches of the Cincinnati printing industry have been chosen as the object of investigation. Following a brief introduction which relates to the objectives of the wage policies of the unions in question, the tactics used to attain these objectives will be analyzed. Then the consequences of the wage policies on employment opportunities will come in for consideration.