Paula B. Voos

The Union Impact on Profits: Evidence from Industry Price-Cost Margin Data

This paper uses industry price-cost margin data to estimate the extent to which unions reduce profits. Estimates allowing for the endogeneity of union status are contrasted with estimates that assume union status is exogenous and not determined in part by either profitability or industry structure. Endogeneity is found to be an important consideration in estimating the union impact on profits: two-stage estimates are considerably larger than OLS estimates. The final section explores the total estimated redistribution from capital to labor in the manufacturing sector. An important conclusion is that unions raise prices less than was previously believed.

Union Organizing: Costs and Benefits

This paper examines the costs and benefits to current union members in manufacturing of programs to organize the unorganized. The marginal cost of organizing an additional employee, in constant dollars, is estimated for a sample of unions between 1964 and 1977. The primary benefit of organizing that is quantifiable is the extent to which the maintenance or extension of union coverage permits the maintenance of or increase in the union wage. Estimates of this benefit are derived from previous econometric research linking the union wage to the percentage of the industry organized. This single benefit is found to be larger than the estimated marginal cost of extending union coverage in 19 of 20 manufacturing industries.

The Influence of Cooperative Programs on Union-Management Relations, Flexibility, and Other Labor Relations Outcomes

There has been considerable interest recently in joint union-management committees as a means of promoting union-management cooperation. At the same time, many unionized firms have been experimenting with quality of worklife and other workplace-level programs aimed at the average employee in the bargaining unit. Survey data were obtained concerning firms’ actual experiences with these programs with regard to union officer-management relations, grievances and the ability to resolve them informally, labor flexibility, absenteeism, and turnover. There is no indication that the workplace-level programs impede union-management cooperation. Instead, they generally have positive effects on the union-management relations outcomes examined, although those effects generally are smaller than those of the joint committees.

The Korean economic crisis and working women

Abstract This article evaluates the impact of the 1997 Korean economic crisis on female employees. Facts on employment, labour force participation, and the changing nature of jobs (permanent/temporary) tend to support “buffer” theories of womens employment. Occupational sex segregation was reduced substantially between 1997 and 2002; nonetheless, the unexplained portion of the wage differential between men and women (a proxy for wage discrimination) increased. The crisis created setbacks for the equality of working women in Korea; however, new realities stimulated a changed strategy in the form of a union for contingent and small-firm workers among Korean women.

Right-to-Work Laws: New Evidence from the Stock Market

This article is an empirical examination of whether or not stockholder wealth rises in response to passage of a right-to-work law—a state law banning union security clauses from collective bargaining agreements. Stockholder wealth rose when Louisiana passed such a law in 1976 and when Idaho did so in 1985–1986. Presumably this occurred because investors anticipated higher future profits with weaker labor unions or a lower probability of future organization. This is new evidence that such laws are more than symbolic: They hamper labor unions.

Union organizing expenditures: Determinants and their implications for union growth

This paper explores some implications of the economics of union organizing. Following the literature, it is argued that the economic costs and benefits of organizing are systematically related to the proportion of the union’s jurisdiction already organized. Evidence is presented that unions do allocate a smaller proportion of their budgets to organizing when a greater proportion of their jurisdiction is already organized. Total union organizing expenditures, however, are found to increase over a broad range as the percentage organized increases. The supply of union-organizing services to unorganized workers apparently only declines at relatively high levels of union penetration. These critical levels of unionization have been attained only by a few U.S. labor organizations.

Managerial Unionism: Prospects and Forms

Surveys demonstrate that U.S. managers, like other workers, want greater voice at work. Many have joined organizations that repre sent employee interests: caucuses based on social identity, pressure groups, and professional associations. In varying degrees, these organizations use old union tactics such as mutual aid, skill-certi fication, and political activity. All these organizations have seri ous limitations. For the benefit of both managers and unions them selves, unions should increase their outreach to these organiza tions and employees. Public-sector unions often include some managers so they provide one model. However, methods of repre sentation beyond collective bargaining are important here. Ad equate representation of managers requires return to Sidney and Beatrice Webbs conception of unions as any continuous associa tion of employees seeking to improve their working lives.

Effects of Unionization on Graduate Student Employees: Faculty-Student Relations, Academic Freedom, and Pay

In cases involving unionization of graduate student research and teaching assistants at private U.S. universities, the National Labor Relations Board has, at times, denied collective bargaining rights on the presumption that unionization would harm faculty-student relations and academic freedom. Using survey data collected from PhD students in five academic disciplines across eight public U.S. universities, the authors compare represented and non-represented graduate student employees in terms of faculty-student relations, academic freedom, and pay. Unionization does not have the presumed negative effect on student outcomes, and in some cases has a positive effect. Union-represented graduate student employees report higher levels of personal and professional support, unionized graduate student employees fare better on pay, and unionized and nonunionized students report similar perceptions of academic freedom. These findings suggest that potential harm to faculty-student relationships and academic freedom should not continue to serve as bases for the denial of collective bargaining rights to graduate student employees.

Progressive Perspectives on Union Renewal

T he American labor movement is currently struggling to reinvent itself: to enhance its public image, its political effectiveness, and its bargaining power. Most centrally, it is trying to markedly increase the number of persons organized each year. The context is challenging: Rapid globalization and new technology have increased both capital mobility and competitive economic pressures. American labor law excludes large numbers of people from protection for union activity. It also makes it difficult for protected workers to organize and negotiate initial contracts with their employers. And temporary work, at-home work, employee leasing, independent contracting, and other forms of contingent employment continue to spread. Nonetheless, at least since the election of John Sweeney to the leadership of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organiza tions (AFL-CIO) in 1995, American unions have been reinvigorated and are making progress on numerous fronts. The number of workers organized each year is up—albeit not enough to expand the percentage of workers who are unionized. Working alliances have been formed with some environmental, community, and religious organizations, as witnessed by labor’s ability to lead a broad coalition of organizations concerned with the World Trade Organization’s failure to protect labor standards and the environment in its push for globalization of economic activity. Domestic campaigns emphasiz ing the need for economic justice for immigrants, minorities, women, and

An IR perspective on collective bargaining

Abstract In examining collective bargaining, industrial relations (IR) emphasizes a number of things of interest to HR scholars. First, IR adopts a different level of analysis from HR — that of the economy and the broader society — in contrast to HRs primary focus on the employing organization. Second, IR has an understanding of workplace conflict that emphasizes its collective and inherent nature, complementing HRs focus on managing individual conflict for the good of the organization. Finally, IR addresses the value of collective bargaining in promoting democracy and correcting “labor problems” arising from competitive markets, even in situations in which there is excellent personnel management.