The Use of Replacement Workers in Union Contract Negotiations: The U.S. Experience, 1980-1989 / Peter C. Cramton, Joseph S. Tracy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cramton, Peter C.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Tracy, Joseph S.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5106.

NBER working paper series no. w5106

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

The Use of Replacement Workers in Union Contract Negotiations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1995.

Summary:

It is argued in many circles that a structural change occurred in U.S. collective bargaining in the 1980s. We investigate the extent to which the hiring of replacement workers can account for this change. For a sample of over 300 major strikes since 1980, we estimate the likelihood of replacements being hired. We find that the risk of replacement declines during tight labor markets, and is lower for bargaining units with more experienced workers. We use the predicted replacement risk as an explanatory variable in a model of the union's choice between the strike and holdout threat. We find that strike usage decreases significantly as the predicted replacement risk increases. We estimate that a ban on the use of replacement workers would have increased strike incidence from 1982-1989 by 3 percentage points, a 30 percent increase.

Notes:

Print version record

May 1995.