Unemployment insurance and strikes

In several states workers who are unemployed because of a labor dispute can collect unemployment benefits. Due to imperfect experience rating, such policies can create a public subsidy to strikes. This study examines whether these policies affect strike activity. In particular, both cross-sectional and fixed effects models are employed to test whether an increase in the public subsidy inherent in unemployment insurance leads to an increase in strike frequency. This research was in part supported through a grant from the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. We thank Dan Lovallo and Yoshio Okunishi for excellent research assistance.     

The effect of strikes on shareholder returns

Relationships between labor disputes and shareholder wealth are examined through analysis of 91 strikes between 1951 and 1973. Stock market reactions to strikes of different durations are analyzed through a market model methodology. Different market adjustments are found for short, intermediate, and long duration strikes. Shareholder returns prior to strikes are below market returns for firms in the short strike category, approximately equal to the market returns for firms in the short strike category, approximately equal to the market for firms in the intermediate strike duration category, and above the market for firms in the long strike category. After strikes, shareholder returns decline for firms in the short and long strike duration categories.     

Police recognition strikes: Illegal and ill-fated

This study investigates the relationship between strike activity by nonunion public employees and unionization. This study examines strike activity and unionization rates of some 600 nonunion municipal police departments from 1972 to 1978 and finds that recognition strikes occur primarily where bargaining laws provide little or no protection of bargaining rights for municipal police. These strikes, however, do not help nonunion police gain recognition. The author thanks John Delaney for helpful comments on this paper.     

Hunger strikes: preventing harm to students.

When the health center encountered a student hunger strike, an initial search for medical information regarding fasting provided very little on which to build management decisions. The result of a more thorough evaluation of starvation literature is presented, along with survey responses from students who fasted. Starvation may produce many adverse events, including death. Yet, according to reports, acaloric fasts that include full water intake seem to be readily tolerated for 2 weeks in young, healthy adults. Our students included juice, sports drinks, and vitamins in their diets and completed their strike without major problems. Supplementation with carbohydrates and vitamins may improve the safety or comfort of a hunger striker, but clear proof of this effect does not exist.     

When disaster strikes. The concerns of staff nurses

1. This study determined how involvement with an earthquake affected patient care delivery and ascertained what nurses need to continue providing safe and efficient care in future disasters. 2. Although 60% of the staff had experienced a previous disaster, the literature described that learned coping does not automatically "transfer" to present loss experiences. 3. Providing staff with debriefing sessions and other support groups is helpful in the post-trauma period. At all levels, there is a need to communicate concerns and to be involved in disaster drills and other disaster preparedness sessions.     

The determinants of strikes over time and across industries

This paper presents a pooled time-series, cross-section analysis of strike activity across 27 major industry groups over the years 1970–1980. While numerous studies have analyzed the time-series behavior of strike activity and fewer studies have analyzed the cross-sectional pattern of strikes, little work has been done to combine both perspectives into one empirical analysis. This paper improves on this by incorporating variables into one regression model that is capable of explaining both dimensions of the variation in strike activity. The regression results suggest that strikes over time and across industries are affected by a wide range of economic, organizational, institutional, occupational, demographic, market structure, political, and other variables.     

Dock strikes and the demise of the dockers' 'occupational culture'

Throughout the post-war period dockers have vied with coal miners as Britain's most strike-prone occupational group.‘The dockers’‘occupational culture’ was believed by many to be a principal factor behind this militancy, but this alone cannot account for the pattern or level of conflict on the waterfront. Furthermore, following decasualisation in 1967 and the progressive unitisation of cargo handling operations in the 1970s and 1980s the occupational culture of the dockers was progressively undermined. By the late 1980s the National Dock Labour Scheme had become the central pillar of what remained of the dockers’ occupational culture, and as the 1989 national dock strike illustrated, without the support of the Scheme the dockers were unable to mount any effective resistance to the attack on their terms and conditions of employment initiated by the employers and fully supported by the state. It is only by integrating the sociological study of working class imagery and consciousness with an industrial relations analysis of the institutions, processes and structural conditions of workplace negotiations over the wage-effort bargain that it is possible to explain the nature and causes of dock strikes per se, the intensity of conflict on the waterfront, and the consummate failure of the dockers in the 1989 strike.     

Window strikes: bird collisions in a Neotropical green city

Urban Ecosystems - Window strikes are among the most worrisome causes of bird mortality. Being responsible for billions of avian deaths, bird-window collisions have been widely studied in the US...     

The relative effects of craft-level strikes: The case of airlines

One aspect of bargaining power is the ability of unions to impose losses on firms by striking. Using stock market data from 1963 through 1986, this study tests whether strikes by different crafts have resulted in different losses for airlines. The evidence indicates that strikes by pilots and mechanics initially reduced the share value of struck airlines and that strikes by airline workers in other jobs did not result in significant share value losses. There is no evidence that strikes have imposed permanent losses on air carriers. The authors thank Gordon Karels, David Rosenbaum, and Hendrik Van Den Berg for their helpful comments and thoughtful suggestions. We also thank Jerrold Glass of the Airline Industrial Relations Conference for providing the data on airline strikes.     

Wildcat strikes in U.S. manufacturing, 1960–1977

Using data from theBureau of Labor Statistics: Historical File, a model of wildcat strike incidence is estimated. The model supports the hypothesis that the incidence of wildcat strikes is related to the underlying relationship between the parties. In addition, national economic and political trends, industry-specific factors, and firm-specific factors have an impact on strike activity.     

The ‘isolated mass’ revisited: strikes in British coal mining

The authors examine how far inter-colliery variations in local strike activity in Britain between the Wars can be explained by the characteristics of their immediate localities highlighted by Kerr and Siegel's ‘isolated mass’ theory. A regression analysis suggests that some of the variables indicated by Kerr and Siegel did affect strike activity but only weakly. A contingency table analysis confirms that some of the Kerr-Siegel variables serve to define groups of collieries which experienced significantly different levels of strike activity. Whilst supporting many of the criticisms levelled at the Kerr-Siegel hypothesis, the authors conclude that the empirically based rejection of the hypothesis has been too emphatic.     

School children's conceptions of economics: prices,wages, investments and strikes

The understanding of various economic concepts (prices, wages, investments and strikes) by 134 British school children aged 11–16 was assessed by a questionnaire based on earlier work by Leiser (1983). Older children's concepts were more integrated, less contradictory and more comprehensive than those of younger children. However, even at 16, children had inconsistent understanding, with good comprehension in some areas and poor knowledge of others. There were negligible class differences, while several sex differences were evident, possibly linked to sex role stereotypes. The results suggest that more teaching with regard to economic concepts may be beneficial to both individuals and society.     

Lightning strikes twice: Lessons learned from two food poisoning incidents in Japan

This case study examines the unique occurrence of two food contamination crises at Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Ltd., the top company in the Japanese milk product industry. The separate incidents of food poisoning occurred in 1955 and 2000; the latter incident, involving more than 10,000 victims, was the worst case of food poisoning in Japanese history.     

The changing character of strikes involving permanent striker replacements, 1935–1990

Using NLRB cases reporting hiring of striker replacements, I provide a longitudinal analysis of 165 strikes from 1935–1990. Strikes since 1981 most closely resembled strikes occurring from 1938–1947: They lasted longer and involved more strikers and more replacements than strikes in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Interestingly, NLRB disposition of employer unfair labor practice charges remained fairly constant throughout the 55 years analyzed and overwhelmingly favored unions. Although my findings are preliminary, they suggest that more empirical analysis of replacement strikes is warranted. I also suggest how some existing strike models can be readily adapted to explain replacement strike phenomena. I thank Stephanie Mason and Brian Dilley for their research assistance and an anonymous referee for insightful suggestions.     

Partial strikes under the railway labor act: The need for a doctrine of unprotected concerted activity

In light of use by airline unions of partial-strike tactics, such as concerted refusals to bid for overtime work and so-called ” CHAOS” tactics involving unannounced refusals to fly after passengers have been ticketed and are ready to board, the authors examine whether the Railway Labor Act (RLA) should be interpreted to permit employers to discipline employees for engaging in such tactics, or whether these are a protected form of economic pressure. Although in many respects bargaining duties and economic weapons under the RLA are read consonant with precedents under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) (which governs all industries other than rail and air transport), there are a few decisions suggesting that during the period when self-help may be resorted to, employees can engage in partial strike activities as long as they violate no court order but are subject to permanent replacement in limited circumstances. These decisions, the authors submit, fail to take account of Supreme Court decsions since the 1930s that some economic pressures by unions, such as slowdowns and sitins, may not violate the labor laws but nor are they protected by those laws so as to immunize partial strikers from employer discipline. These decisions are not based on unique features of the NLRA. Rather, they give recognition to the background assumptions of Congress that employers may act to protect their property interests as long as they do not run afoul of NLRA or RLA protections and that employees who engage in partial-strike activities are subject to employer discipline even where not strictly necessary to maintain operations. Moreover, these tactics skew the bargaining process by giving employees an essentially risk-free gambit to pressure their economic position through planned disruption of carrier operations. Professor Estreicher is also labor and employment counsel to O’Melveny & Myers, LLP. The views expressed herein are the authors’ and should not be attributed to any organization. Hannah Breshin and Tom Jerman of O’Melveny & Myers, assisted the authors with this article. We also thank Professor Herbert Northrup for his helpful comments.