The author reviews evidence that the bargaining structure is becoming more decentralized in Sweden, Australia, the former West Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, although in somewhat different degrees and ways from country to country. He then examines the various...

Analyzes how expenditures of the city of San Francisco were altered in response to changes in municipal labor costs over the period 1945 through 1976. Discussion of the demands model and organizational model; Description of data; Trends in department employees; How the intradepartment...

In this article the author assesses whether a fundamental transformation is underway in public sector (state and local government) labor relations in the United States by revisiting the arguments made by the author and Kochan and McKersie (1986) regarding the transformation of labor relations in...

Symposium introduction.

This case study of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) demonstrates the value of resource dependence and contingency organizational theories-two branches of organization theory, which has most commonly been used to interpret firm behavior-for analyzing union revitalization. Consistent...

This study analyzes the relationship among plant-level measures of industrial relations performance, economic performance, and quality-of-working-life programs. The analysis employs pooled time-series and cross-section data from 18 plants within a division of General Motors for the years...

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...

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...