IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/indrel/v54y2023i3p223-241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Breaking the deadlock: How union and employer tactics affect first contract achievement

Author

Listed:
  • John Kallas
  • Dongwoo Park
  • Rachel Aleks

Abstract

The United States labour movement faces a potentially transformative moment, as workers have won breakthrough union organizing victories at various high‐profile, private‐sector employers. While winning an election is essential to establishing collective bargaining, unions then need to secure a first contract with employers to make tangible improvements in working conditions. Drawing on a sample of 126 responses about postcertification collective bargaining, we find that both employer and union tactics have significant impacts on first contract achievement. Employers continue to impede first contract achievement by committing unfair labour practices, but unions can improve their chances of establishing an agreement by utilizing tactics that engage the public.

Suggested Citation

  • John Kallas & Dongwoo Park & Rachel Aleks, 2023. "Breaking the deadlock: How union and employer tactics affect first contract achievement," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 223-241, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:indrel:v:54:y:2023:i:3:p:223-241
    DOI: 10.1111/irj.12399
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12399
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/irj.12399?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard B. Freeman & Morris M. Kleiner, 1990. "Employer Behavior in the Face of Union Organizing Drives," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(4), pages 351-365, July.
    2. Rachel Aleks & Tina Saksida & Sam Kolahgar, 2021. "Practice What You Preach: The Gender Pay Gap in Labor Union Compensation," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 403-435, October.
    3. John-Paul Ferguson, 2008. "The Eyes of the Needles: A Sequential Model of Union Organizing Drives, 1999–2004," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(1), pages 3-21, October.
    4. John DiNardo & David S. Lee, 2004. "Economic Impacts of Unionization on Private Sector Employers: 1984-2001," NBER Working Papers 10598, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Rachel Aleks, 2019. "What Professionals Want: Union and Employer Tactics in Representation Elections of Professional Workers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(3), pages 693-717, May.
    6. John DiNardo & David S. Lee, 2004. "Economic Impacts of New Unionization on Private Sector Employers: 1984–2001," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(4), pages 1383-1441.
    7. Jane Holgate, 2015. "An International Study of Trade Union Involvement in Community Organizing: Same Model, Different Outcomes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(3), pages 460-483, September.
    8. Rajib N Sanyal & Joao S Neves, 1992. "A Study of Union Ability to Secure the First Contract in Foreign-Owned Firms in the USA," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 23(4), pages 697-713, December.
    9. Morris M. Kleiner, 2001. "Intensity of Management Resistance: Understanding the Decline of Unionization in the Private Sector," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 22(3), pages 519-540, July.
    10. Chris Riddell, 2013. "Labor Law and Reaching a First Collective Agreement: Evidence From a Quasi-Experimental Set of Reforms in Ontario," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 702-736, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Robert Armstrong & Michael Floren & Jason Imbrogno & Keith Malone, 2024. "Impacts of racial diversity and firm size on union voting behavior in Alabama," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 20-32, January.
    2. Mathieu Dupuis & Ian Greer & Anja Kirsch & Grzegorz Lechowski & Dongwoo Park & Tobias Zimmermann, 2024. "A Just Transition for Auto Workers? Negotiating the Electric Vehicle Transition in Germany and North America," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 770-798, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dinlersoz, Emin & Greenwood, Jeremy & Hyatt, Henry R., 2014. "Who Do Unions Target? Unionization over the Life-Cycle of U.S. Businesses," IZA Discussion Papers 8416, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Sojourner, Aaron & Yang, Jooyoung, 2015. "Effects of Unionization on Workplace-Safety Enforcement: Regression-Discontinuity Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 9610, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Emin Dinlersoz & Jeremy Greenwood & Henry Hyatt, 2017. "What Businesses Attract Unions? Unionization over the Life Cycle of U.S. Establishments," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 70(3), pages 733-766, May.
    4. Ghaly, Mohamed & Kostakis, Alexandros & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2021. "The (non-) effect of labor unionization on firm risk: Evidence from the options market," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    5. Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & Harald Dale-Olsen, 2020. "Do Public Subsidies of Union Membership Increase Union Membership Rates?," DoQSS Working Papers 20-14, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    6. Dinlersoz, Emin & Greenwood, Jeremy & Hyatt, Henry R., 2014. "Who Do Unions Target? Unionization over the Life-Cycle of U.S. Businesses," IZA Discussion Papers 8416, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & Harald Dale-Olsen, 2017. "Union Density, Productivity, and Wages," DoQSS Working Papers 17-11, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    8. Thomas A. Kochan, 2012. "Collective bargaining: crisis and its consequences for American society," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 302-316, July.
    9. Matthew Knepper, 2020. "From the Fringe to the Fore: Labor Unions and Employee Compensation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(1), pages 98-112, March.
    10. Tobias Brändle & Laszlo Goerke, 2018. "The one constant: a causal effect of collective bargaining on employment growth? Evidence from German linked‐employer‐employee data," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(5), pages 445-478, November.
    11. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2017. "Unionization Regimes, Capacity Choice by Firms and Welfare Outcomes," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 85(6), pages 661-681, December.
    12. Alessia Matano & Paolo Naticchioni, 2017. "The Extent of Rent Sharing along the Wage Distribution," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 751-777, December.
    13. Omesh Kini & Mo Shen & Jaideep Shenoy & Venkat Subramaniam, 2022. "Labor Unions and Product Quality Failures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(7), pages 5403-5440, July.
    14. Frandsen, Brigham R. & Frölich, Markus & Melly, Blaise, 2012. "Quantile treatment effects in the regression discontinuity design," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 168(2), pages 382-395.
    15. Zweimüller, Josef & Lalive, Rafael & Wuellrich, Jean-Philippe, 2009. "Do Financial Incentives for Firms Promote Employment of Disabled Workers? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 7373, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Simon Jäger & Shakked Noy & Benjamin Schoefer, 2022. "The German Model of Industrial Relations: Balancing Flexibility and Collective Action," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 53-80, Fall.
    17. Barth, Erling & Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald, 2025. "Turning non-members into members: Do public subsidies to union membership matter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    18. Greenstone, Michael & Gayer, Ted, 2009. "Quasi-experimental and experimental approaches to environmental economics," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 21-44, January.
    19. Gutierrez, Emilio, 2015. "Fighting Crime with a Little Help from my Friends: Political Alignment, Inter-Jurisdictional Cooperation and Crime in Mexico," CEPR Discussion Papers 10769, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:indrel:v:54:y:2023:i:3:p:223-241. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0019-8692 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.