Market integration and strike activity

We consider a two-country model of wage determination with private information in unionized imperfectlycomp etitive industries. We investigate the effects of separated product markets opening up for competition as well as of further market integration on the negotiated wage and the maximum delayin reaching an agreement. From an initial situation of reciprocal intra-industrytrade, an increase in product market integration will decrease the maximal delayin reaching an agreement. However, markets opening up for competition have an ambiguous effect on both the wage outcome and the maximum real delaytime in reaching an agreement.