Bargaining Power, Strike Duration, and Wage Outcomes: An Analysis of Strikes in the 1880s / David Card, Craig A. Olson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Card, David.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Olson, Craig A.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w4075.

NBER working paper series no. w4075

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Bargaining Power, Strike Duration, and Wage Outcomes

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1992.

Summary:

We study strike durations and outcomes for some 2000 disputes that occurred between 1881 and 1886. Most post-strike bargaining settlements in the 1880s fell into one of two categories: either a union "victory", characterized by a significant wage gain or hours cut, or a union "defeat", characterized by the resumption of work at the previous terms of employment. We find a strong negative relation between strike duration and the value of the settlement to workers. reflecting the declining probability of a union victory among longer strikes. For the subset of strikes over wage increases we estimate a structural model that includes equations for the capitulation times of the two parties and a specification of the wage increase conditional on a union victory. This framework provides a simple index of employees' relative bargaining power. based on the relative time to a union capitulation. Employees' relative bargaining power was higher in disputes involving fewer workers and in union ordered strikes. but substantially lower after the Haymarket Square incident in Chicago in 1886.

Notes:

Print version record

May 1992.