In cross-sectional data, the positive association between seniority and earnings is typically much stronger for nonunion workers than for union workers, a finding that seems inconsistent with the generalization that seniority is more important in the union sector than in the nonunion sector. The...

Using CPS data for 1977-2002, the author tests the standard wage determination model's prediction that the threat of union organization increases nonunion wages and reduces the union/nonunion wage differential. The results are mixed. Estimates employing the predicted probability of union...

This study develops two models of the behavior of interest arbitrators in which the arbitrator has some exogenous notion of an equitable settlement and yet is also influenced to some extent by the positions of the parties. The author argues that it is the arbitrator's notion of an equitable...

This paper develops a model of the determination of the union status of workers that allows for the possibility of queuing for union jobs. The empirical results derived, using a sample from the University of Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics, are supportive of the queuing hypothesis. The...

The author documents four facts regarding the pattern of NLRB-supervised representation election activity over the period 1952-98: (1) election activity fell sharply and discontinuously beginning in the mid-1970s, after increasing for two decades; (2) unions' election win rate declined less...

Analysis of the wages awarded by 64 arbitrators in 25 simulated interest arbitration cases strongly supports a model in which arbitrators, in determining an award, are influenced both by the facts of the case and by the offers of the parties. The arbitrators clearly weighted the facts more...

Shows that strikes in the construction industry in the United States have, by most measures, increased during the years since 1949. Categories of construction strike activity according to the major cause of the stoppage; Measures of strike activity; Major source of the increasing frequency of...

Presents a model of bargaining between trade unions and employers in which an interest arbitration procedure encourages negotiated settlements. Criteria that have been used to evaluate interest arbitration and other dispute settlement procedures; Effect of strikes; Effects of an arbitrator's...