This analysis of General Accounting Office survey data on strikes in 1985 and 1989 shows that employers' permanent replacement of striking workers was associated with longer strikes than would otherwise have occurred. Furthermore, the authors find that simply announcing the intent to replace strikers was also associated with longer strikes. Finally, when employers permanently replaced strikers, the probability of settlement fell approximately 30%. These findings are consistent with models focusing on the joint costs of a strike and on private information in the bargaining process.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbowdJohn M.TracyJoseph S., 1989. “Market Structure, Strike Activity, and Union Settlements.”Industrial Relations, Vol 28, No. 2 (Spring), pp. 227–50.
2.
CardDavid. 1990a. “Strikes and Bargaining: A Survey of the Recent Empirical Literature.”American Economic Review, Vol. 80, No. 2 (May), pp. 410–15.
3.
CardDavid. 1990b. “Strikes and Wages: A Test of an Asymmetric Information Model.”Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 105, No. 3 (August), pp. 635–59.
4.
CardDavidOlsonCraig A., 1992. “Bargaining Power, Strike Duration, and Wage Outcomes: An Analysis of Strikes in the 1880s.” Working Paper #294, Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University, January.
5.
GallagherDanielGrammCynthia L., 1991. “Integrating Behavioral and Economic Perspectives of Strike Activity: Promise or Illusion?” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Management Association, Atlanta, Georgia, November.
6.
GosshansWerner. 1991. Letter to Dr. William Spriggs describing the GAO's data construction procedure, January 25.
7.
GrammCynthia L.1986. “The Determinants of Strike Incidence and Severity: A Micro-Level Study.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 39, No. 3 (April), pp. 361–76.
8.
GrammCynthia L.1991a. “Empirical Evidence on Political Arguments Relating to Replacement Worker Legislation.”Labor Law Journal, Vol. 42 (August), pp. 491–95.
9.
GrammCynthia L.1990. “Employers' Decisions to Operate During Strikes: Consequences and Policy Implications.” Paper presented at the Conference on Industrial Relations Practices and the Changing Economy at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., and at the Congressional Staff Seminar at the Institute for Labor Market Policies, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University (November).
10.
GrammCynthia L.1991b. Managing During Strikes: Results from a Survey of Businesses to Assess Employer Strategies and Their Effects. Unpublished research report.
11.
GrammCynthia L.SchnellJohn F., 1993. “Striker Replacements: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications.” Paper presented at the 68th Annual Western Economic Association International Conference, Lake Tahoe, Calif., June.
12.
GundersonMorleyMelinoAngelo. 1990. “The Effects of Public Policy on Strike Duration.”Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 8 (July), pp. 295–316.
13.
HarrisonAlanStewartMark. 1989. “Cyclical Fluctuations in Strike Durations.”American Economic Review, Vol. 79 (September), pp. 827–41.
14.
HayesBeth. 1984. “Unions and Strikes with Asymmetric Information.”Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 2, No. 1 (January), pp. 57–83.
15.
HuberP.J.1967. “The Behavior of Maximum Likelihood Estimates Under Nonstandard Conditions.” Proceedings of the Fifth Berkeley Symposium in Mathematical Statistics and Probability. Berkeley: University of California Press.
16.
KalbfleischJ. D.PrenticeR. L., 1980. The Statistical Analysis of Failure Time Data. New York: John Wiley.
17.
KaufmanBruce E.1992. “Research on Strike Models and Outcomes in the 1980s: Accomplishments and Shortcomings.” In LewinDavidMitchellOlivia S.ShererPeter D., eds., Research Frontiers in Industrial Relations and Human Resources. Madison, Wis.: Industrial Relations Research Association, pp. 77–129.
18.
KennanJohn. 1985. “The Duration of Contract Strikes in U.S. Manufacturing.”Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 28 (April), pp. 5–28.
19.
KennanJohn. 1986. “The Economics of Strikes.” In AshenfelterOrleyLayardRichard, eds., Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 2. New York: Elsevier Science Publishers.
20.
KennanJohnWilsonRobert. 1993. “Bargaining with Private Information.”Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 31, No. 1 (March), pp. 45–104.
KennanJohnWilsonRobert. 1989. “Strategic Bargaining Models and Interpretation of Strike Data.”Journal of Applied Econometrics, Vol. 4 (Supplement), pp. S87–S130.
23.
KieferNicholas M.1988. “Economic Duration Data and Hazard Functions.”Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 26, No. 2 (June), pp. 646–79.
24.
MorrisonD. G.SchmittleinD. C., 1980. “Jobs, Strikes and Wars: Probability Models for Duration.”Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Vol. 25, pp. 225–51.
25.
NewbyMartinWintertonJ., 1983. “The Duration of Industrial Strikes.”Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. 146 (Part 1), pp. 62–70.
26.
OlsonCraig A.1991. “The Use of Strike Replacements in Labor Disputes: Evidence from the 1880s to the 1980s.” Unpublished Paper, University of Wisconsin-Madison, March.
27.
OndrichJan I.SchnellJohn F., 1993. “Strike Duration and the Degree of Disagreement.”Industrial Relations, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Fall), pp. 412–31.
28.
PetoR., 1977. “Design and Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials Requiring Prolonged Observation of Each Patient, Part 2, Analysis and Examples.”British Journal of Cancer, Vol. 35, pp. 1–39.
29.
RederMelvin W.NeumannGeorge R., 1980. “Conflict and Contract: The Case of Strikes.”Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 88, No. 5 (October), pp. 867–86.
30.
Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. 1991. Workplace Fairness Act Report Together with Minority Views, 102d Congress, 1st Session, Calendar No. 16c, Report 102-111, July 18.
31.
SkeelsJack W.McGrathPaulArshanapolliGangadha. 1988. “The Importance of Strike Size in Strike Research.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 41, No. 4 (July), pp 582–91.
32.
TracyJoseph S.1986. “An Investigation into the Determinants of U.S. Strike Activity.”American Economic Review, Vol. 76 (June), pp. 423–36.
33.
TracyJoseph S.1987. “An Empirical Test of an Asymmetric Information Model of Strikes.”Journal of Labor Economics, Vol.5 (April), pp. 149–73.
34.
United States General Accounting Office, Human Resources Division. 1991. Labor-Management Relations: Strikes and the Use of Permanent Strike Replacements in the 1970s and 1980s. GAO/HRD-91-1, January 18.
35.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1990. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1990, 110th edition. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of the Census.
36.
VromanSusan B.1989. “A Longitudinal Analysis of Strike Activity in U.S. Manufacturing: 1957–1984.”American Economic Review, Vol. 79 (September), pp. 816–26.
37.
WeilerPaul C.1990. Governing the Workplace: The Future of Labor and Employment Law. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
38.
WhiteHalbert. 1980. “A Heteroskedasticity-Consis-tent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity.”Econometrica, Vol. 48, pp. 817–30.
39.
YagerDaniel V.1993. Loading the Scales: Is the Balance Between the Right to Strike and the Right to Operate in Need of Reform?Washington, D.C.: Employment Policy Foundation.
