XIII. POSTER SESSION

The Impact of U.S. Unions on Productivity: A Bootstrap Meta-analysis

     The relationship between unions and labor productivity has attracted considerable attention from scholars in industrial relations and economics. Despite a voluminous literature, there is continuing controversy regarding the impact of unions on productivity. Empirical studies are divided approximately equally between positive and negative union-productivity effects. Hence, generalizations from the available evidence are not obvious using traditional literature reviews. Accordingly, the approach adopted in this paper is to use meta-analysis to draw inferences from the diversity of results and to detect possible regularities in the association between unions and productivity. Resampling methods are used to calculate confidence limits in a meta-analysis of the association between unions and productivity for the population of U.S. studies. The available evidence points to a positive and statistically significant association between unions and productivity in the U.S. manufacturing and education sectors, of around 10 and 7 percent, respectively.

An Analysis of Contingency Theory as a Determinant of Union Decline

Steven Lance Popejoy
Central Missouri State University

     This paper looks at the decline of unionism in the United States in the context of structural contingency theory, proposing that some of the variation is due to a mismatch of structure between labor and management. Using a historical survey approach, the basic structure of the union movement is investigated at different points in history. By illuminating dramatic environmental changes, it is shown that basic union structure was altered following such changes, explaining the transition from guilds to craft unionism to industrial unionism. Discussion of current environmental changes associated with globalization and flexible specialization emphasize that the organizational structure of unions no longer matches that of management, and may in part explain the difficulties experienced by the union movement in the past several decades.

World Survey of Nurses' Unions and Associations: Results and Analysis

Paul F. Clark and Darlene Clark

Penn State University

     This paper presents the results of a world survey of nurses' unions and associations that gathered information about the employment-related priorities and problems of registered nurses (RNs) around the world and the strategies nurses' unions and associations are employing to address these priorities and problems.
     The analysis of the 105 responses received from organizations in 76 different suggests that, despite differences in economics, politics, cultures, and healthcare systems across countries, RNs around the world have similar priorities and face similar problems in the workplace. Among the most common problems cited were a shortage of nurses, understaffing, safety and health problems, and mandatory overtime.

Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice Through Employee Empowerment Unionism

John W. Budd
University of Minnesota

     Employee voice should be a fundamental objective of the employment relationship, equally important to efficiency and equity. Moreover, efficiency, equity, and voice should be balanced because there is no hierarchy between the conflicting human rights of property and labor. A model of employee empowerment unionism is proposed to balance all three goals: efficiency, equity, and voice. The basic feature of employee empowerment unionism is that individual employees are empowered to make decisions within a union-negotiated framework that provides minimum standards, procedural safeguards, and institutional support. Diverse examples of employee empowerment unionism include a high-performance work model (Saturn), and models of individual responsibility for wages (Hollywood unions) and grievances (Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers).

Labor Arbitration Is a Matter of Contract . . . Or Is It?

Rebecca Bernhard
Oppenheimer, Wolff, & Donnelly LLP

     This article examines whether traditional contract law should apply to collective bargaining agreements. Beginning with the ambiguity of the notion that collective bargaining agreements are contracts but should not be held to traditional contract principles, I explore the rationales for each position, comparing them to traditional theories of contract. Analyzing the impact of past practice and federal labor law on the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements, I discuss whether these factors produce labor common law significantly different from contract common law. Finally, I discuss whether a traditional contract analysis of collective bargaining agreements is appropriate in the era of modern labor relations.

Partnerships Between Community-Based Organizations and Construction Trades Unions

Helena Worthen
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

     Community-based organizations (CBOs) and building-trades unions are establishing partnerships that set up pre-apprenticeship programs through which women and minorities access apprenticeship programs. Negotiating the legal and financial structures that stabilize these partnerships stretches the capacities of both unions and CBOs. Building on the conference held at the U.C. Berkeley Labor Center in March, 2003, that brought labor and community partners together, this paper gives examples of partnerships and the challenges facing partners. It raises the question of whether these forms of "community unionism" or "social movement unionism" foreshadow more broadly applicable strategies that link training and organizing.

Organizational Impact of Work-Life Practices

Karen S. Markel
Oakland University

     Organizations worldwide are adopting work-life practices (e.g. telecommuting, altered work schedules, leave policies, and dependent care). There has been research examining employee experiences of these practices, but their impact on the organization has been ignored. These practices are likely to have an effect on the management of workers--specifically, on their administrative and staffing functions. The findings from interviews with organizational managers and employee focus groups from twenty-eight companies in seven countries revealed that work-life practices do impact an organization's administrative and staffing activities. This research also revealed an unanticipated consequence on management: the negative impact that work-life leave practices have on coworkers.

The Rise and Fall of Employee Involvement Practices in Manufacturing Establishments

Wei Chi
Kansas State University

Morris M. Kleiner
University of Minnesota

Richard B. Freeman
Harvard University

     Using the National Bureau of Economic Research Human Resources Policies (HRM) survey, we obtained 10-year long panel data of employee involvement (EI), compensation, Human Resources, and other business practices and strategies from fifty manufacturing establishments. We investigated the diffusion and structure of EI programs in these establishments and the linkage between EI and other business practices and strategies. Our findings indicate that the diffusion of EI programs has not been continuous. There were waves of adopting EI programs followed by terminating EI. We found that certain programs, such as job rotation, suggestion system, and job redesign, are more likely to be adopted and continuously used than other programs, and that there were also programs that have been used much less often, such as employee representation on the board. More importantly certain programs are as likely to be terminated as adopted, and include quality circles and Total Quality Management. There were also bundles of programs that are likely to be used together, such as job rotation, suggestion systems, and joint-labor management committees, which suggest that they are complements. Finally, we found that the level of EI significantly correlates with compensation incentives, business strategies, management style, and union coverage in the establishment.

Social Networking for Employment Purposes among Mexican Undocumented Immigrants

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes
San Diego State University

Kusum Mundra
San Diego State University

     Social networks assist immigrants in forging new contacts and finding employment opportunities. This is especially the case among undocumented immigrants, who are more likely to rely on these networks given their higher deportation and income risk exposure. We use data from the Mexican Migration Project to examine the impact of social networks on Mexican undocumented immigrants' employment and earnings. We estimate the decision to migrate and work in the United States using a bivariate probit model. The predictions from this model are subsequently used to examine immigrants' earnings. Only weak networks improve the employability and earnings of Mexican undocumented immigrants.

Profit Sharing and Firm Innovation Performance: An Empirical Investigation of the High-Tech Industry in Taiwan

Mei-Ling Wang
Aletheia University

Nien-Chi Liu
National Central University

     This study uses the resource-based view of the firm and agency theory to examine the relationship between profit sharing plans and innovation in 278 high-technology firms. With firm size, innovation effort, and other factors controlled, stock bonus payment had negative lagged effects on innovation as measured by number of patents, and then led to positive lagged effects on innovation.

Do High Involvement Work Practices Make Workers Work Harder, Smarter, and/or Nicer?

Haejin Kim
California State University--Dominguez Hills

     Do high involvement work practices lead to discretionary work efforts? What are the combined effects of high involvement work practices and temporary employment practices on the perceived quality of care? These are two major questions for this study, which used a survey of 376 nurses in New Jersey hospitals. First, discretionary work efforts were conceptualized as having three different factors: working harder, working smarter, and working nicer efforts among nurses. The factor analysis of eighteen question items showed results similar to the three pre-conceived factors. Next, while high involvement work practices, especially participation and incentive components, increased the effort to work smarter, they didn't make nurses work harder or nicer. Last, while high involvement work practices increased the quality of care among nurses, temporary employment practices generally reduced the perceived quality of care. However, the mediation effects of the discretionary work effort were weak, with only a partial mediation of working harder between temporary nurse ration and quality of care.

Organizing Home Health Care Workers: A Case Study in Social Movement Unionism

Patrice M. Mareschal
Rutgers University at Camden

     This paper examines efforts to extend collective bargaining rights to home health care workers in New Jersey. Evidence of the growth in labor demand and the decrease in labor supply for home health care workers is reviewed. The current state of affairs has lead to a decline in the quality of home health care for consumers. In response, home health care workers have framed their claims as "public needs" and have attempted to build a broad coalition of unions, community organizations, and consumer advocacy groups. This coalition has produced the Quality Home Care Act (QHCA), which is under consideration in New Jersey. The QHCA is discussed and contrasted with California's Public Authority model.

Variation Among Regions of Unfair Labor Practice Charges: How Much and Why?

Michele M. Hoyman
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Diane Schmidt
California State University, Chico

     This paper examines internal and external influences on the filing and disposition of unfair labor charges (ULP) filed in the National Labor Relations Board's regional offices from 1964 to 1997. Using a 2 percent random sample of ULP charges, we investigated the possible effects of political culture, as measured by 14B status, manufacturing density, and relative labor-manufacturer strength, on the filing and disposition of ULP charges. We also examined merit and productivity measures as indicators of internal organizational influences on case disposition in regional offices. Our findings indicate that political culture seems to influence the filing and disposition of cases across administrative regions. In addition, our results suggest that while merit and productivity measures do not seem to be influenced by political culture generally, they are influenced by who files the charges. Charges filed by employers were more likely to be found meritorious where the political culture supported them.