This examination of industrial conflict in over 9,000 bargaining units in Ontario, Canada, in 1988 yields robust cross-sectional evidence of a trade-off between legal strike bans and forms of industrial conflict other than strikes. Within Ontario's health care and provincial government services sectors, the incidence of grievance arbitrations, especially those concerning economic issues, was significantly higher where striking was prohibited than where it was permitted. The authors argue that researchers and policy makers should be aware that there may be unanticipated changes in expressions of industrial conflict when legal changes restrict specific actions such as strikes. In particular, research and policy models of industrial conflict should be specified to include more than one form of conflict expression at a time.
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