Search

This article focuses on the influence of a multinational corporation (MNC) on the reorganization of work and labor relations in two Canadian plants. The MNC used coercive comparisons and created a regime of cooperative competition in an effort to promote rationalization and the adoption of flexible work practices. The research used qualitative techniques including interviews, observations, informal conversations, and the study of company and union documents. The results show that both plants modified work organization and work rules in a way that was consistent with the requirements of the MNC. In one plant, however, the union was seriously weakened and unable to influence the process of change. In the other plant, the union preserved a central role and negotiated the implementation of new work practices. These differences are explained with reference to the local context and union capabilities.

Using data from a survey of AFL-CIO affiliated unions, I compare union views of managerial prerogatives in 1997 with those reported in a 1968 study. Unions today desire more input into the firm's decision-making process than in 1968, particularly with regard to issues traditionally reserved to management. Given management's traditional resistance to 'outside' interference, more cooperative relationships between unions and management may be problematic. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

In 1968, employers filed 1,091 petitions resulting in 377 elections, 42.4 percent of which unions won. In 1992, the most recent year for which data are available, employers filed 247 petitions, 66 elections were held, and the union victory rate was less than 25 percent. This research examines both the legal environment and the activity levels of employer-initiated (RM) elections over the past 25 years. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

A study is conducted to examine the relationship between employees' commitment to their company and their commitment to their union as explored in published and unpublished studies all over the world. Meta-analysis procedures are applied to determine the strength of this relationship and to test the hypothesis that the relationship between company and union commitment is moderated by a system level construct. Techniques for defining and quantifying union and company commitment, and a framework that uses industrial relations characteristics for distinguishing among countries are discussed. Results demonstrate the existence of a system-level moderator, an adversarial or consensual approach to industrial relations.

A processual model for explaining professional control is introduced. This approach characterizes control as the product of the efforts of occupational groups to gain institutional recognition and of the struggles and negotiations within and between occupations. The processual model is applied, together with the structural theories of proletarianization and professional stratification, to the analysis of union activity among Israeli physicians. Unionization and union militancy are examined because they are becoming prominent responses to bureaucratic employment. The study allows for comparisons between structural and processual models, and between the two structural models. Results show the limitations of the structural theories and demonstrate the effectiveness of the processual model in explaining professional action within bureaucratic settings.

Research in industrial relations, as in other disciplines, frequently is narrow in scope and follows well-trodden paths. Although this approach has produced valuable insights into some areas, it has contributed to a lack of research in areas that are increasingly important. Accordingly, after a brief review of industrial relations research over the past decade we suggest a number of overlooked or largely neglected topics that offer considerable research potential. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Technological changes may disrupt labor-management relations. Understanding why some workers resist technologocal change, while others accept and facilitate it, can be crucial for the survival of many firms. Unfortunately, the industrial relations literature on employees and technological change suffers from a lack of common focus and the absence of a common theoretical framework. This article attempts to redress this problem by distilling the available knowledge into a model which describes the contexts in which employee reaction to technological change would likely be supportive of the change, and those where it would not. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The effect of union decertification elections on the valuation of corporations is examined using a standard event study methodology. Cumulative abnormal daily common stock returns for 203 NYSE and AMEX listed firms are estimated for the day on which a petition for a decertification election is filed and for the day on which the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certifies the decertification election outcome. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that successful union decertifications increase firm valuation and unsuccessful ones reduce firm valuation. The primary carrier of valuation information is the date the NLRB confirms the decertification election results. The petition file date yields little, if any, information about the firm's capitalization. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Pensions are contingent claims contracts that are often fashioned by collective bargaining under conditions of asymmetric information and market power. Pensions are not an employer's or a union's optimal contract; they represent compromise. Employers use pensions to minimize labor costs and to adjust to market changes. Pensions help unions improve and protect their members' work lives and help unions to survive as institutions. When workers' estimations of their pensions differ from their employers' estimations a moral hazard can exist. Less mobile workers and those with less influence subsidize the pension benefits of other workers or reduce an employer's costs. Econometric results based on data from the President's Commission on Pension Policy show that certain workers, namely women, overvalue their plans, which provides an opportunity to lower labor costs and redistribute benefits. Unions have a contradictory effect on information. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

In recent years, the labor movement has expressed interest in using the community as a source of union power in dealing with employers. This paper explores labor's historical relationship with the community, examines the emphasis on more effective uses of the community in core union activities, identifies the communities with which labor aligns itself in coalitions, and discusses the strategies employed to form alliances with community groups. Finally, an analysis of some of the key barriers and limitations that affect prospects of the formation and effectiveness of union-community coalitions is presented. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

For the past 40 years during which dual allegiance (DA) has been studied, precious little has been discovered that expands on the insights of early writers about the topic. This paper previews the methodological and conceptual basis of DA, both of which are found wanting. Legal and ethical issues concerned with applications of DA research are not addressed appropriately by current investigators. Ideas for ameliorating some of these problems are recommended. A framework for additional research on DA is proposed that offers a plan for dealing with a number of fundamental questions about the scientific standing of the concept. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

A survey of case studies of manufacturing organizations from 1977-83 was conducted to ascertain management's role in strategic decision making in the context of industrial relations (IR). Results indicate that collective bargaining is the principal method by which manufacturing companies manage IR. Management keeps strategic decision making and collective bargaining separate in order to maintain their prerogative by limiting union challenges to decision making. Four patterns of the separation of decision making and collective bargaining were discovered: when bargaining is at industry level and decision making is at plant-level; when bargaining is at plant level and decision making is at group level; when bargaining is at division level and decision making is at group level; and when bargaining at at group level and decision making is at multinational level.

This is a study of conditions in which union members supported their unions in a conflict. This willingness to back up any union action and to be involved in such collective action is a function of the discerned costs and advantages of participation. For the purposes of study, 108 union members in a company with impending conflict were questioned at two different points during the period as to whether they would support the actions of their union. Results confirmed that the willingness to support the union can be varied by the anticipated costs and benefits.

A study of 22 urban bus companies indicated that dual employee commitment (i.e., commitment to both the company and the union) was strongest in companies with cooperative union-management environments. It was stronger among those employees who were active in union activities, and less strong among those with limited union participation. Dual employee commitment is seen as a phenomenon that is mutually beneficial to the employer and the trade union.

We analyze how, between 1989 and 1996, four unions in a Canadian hospital responded to a two-stage quality improvement (QI) initiative comprising a total quality management effort and a reengineering campaign. Results indicate that union leaders' responses to QI were a function of the extent to which the leaders perceived QI as a threat to their vested interests in union survival and protecting members' well being. The evolution of the relationship between QI and union responses, in turn, was shaped by the extent to which the unions and management accommodated each other's vested interests and by the parties' balance of power. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)