Union authorization card signatures and union certification election vote

Analyzing 1986–87 data from 261 NLRB certification election campaigns, the author finds that union tactic variables explain more of the variance in election outcomes than any other group of variables, including employer tactics, bargaining unit demographics, organizer background, election background, employer characteristics, and election environment. The results suggest that unions can significantly improve the probability of winning an election by using a rank-and-file intensive organizing strategy. This strategy includes a reliance on person-to-person contact; an emphasis on union democracy and representative participation; the building of support for the first contract during the organizing drive; the use of escalating pressure tactics; and an emphasis on dignity, justice, and fairness rather than on bread-and-butter issues.

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What Businesses Attract Unions? Unionization over the Life Cycle of U.S. Establishments

ILR Review ◽

10.1177/0019793916654926 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 70 (3) ◽

pp. 733-766 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Emin Dinlersoz ◽

Jeremy Greenwood ◽

Henry Hyatt

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Union Activity ◽

Certification Election ◽

Certification Elections

What types of businesses attract unions? The study develops a theory of union learning and organizing to provide an answer to this question. A union monitors the productivity of establishments in an industry and uses this information to decide which ones to organize. An establishment becomes unionized if the union wins a certification election, the outcome of which can be influenced by costly actions taken by the two parties. The model offers predictions on the nature of union selection, which are examined empirically. Data on union certification elections, matched with data on establishment characteristics, are used to explore where union activity is concentrated.

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South/non-south differentials in national labor relations board certification election outcomes: Comment

Journal of Labor Research ◽

10.1007/bf02685344 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 375-384 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Edmund R. Becker ◽

John Thomas Delaney

Keyword(s):

Labor Relations ◽

Board Certification ◽

National Labor Relations Board ◽

Certification Election

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The Effect of Union Characteristics on the Outcome of NLRB Certification Elections

ILR Review ◽

10.1177/001979398704000205 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 225-240 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Cheryl L. Maranto ◽

Jack Fiorito

Keyword(s):

Labor Relations ◽

White Collar ◽

Blue Collar ◽

National Union ◽

Strike Activity ◽

National Labor Relations Board ◽

White Collar Workers ◽

Certification Election ◽

Certification Elections

This paper examines the determinants of National Labor Relations Board certification election outcomes in individual election units between 1972 and 1980. Particular emphasis is given to the role of national union characteristics in determining union success or failure. The authors find that union success in organizing both blue- and white-collar workers is influenced positively by union size and internal democracy and negatively by strike activity and the centralization of its decision making. Benefits provided directly to members by unions significantly increase, and higher dues significantly reduce, white-collar organizing success, whereas the same factors have no significant effect on blue-collar organizing.

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The Influence of Attitudes and Normative Pressures on Voting Decisions in a Union Certification Election

ILR Review ◽

10.1177/001979398904200207 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 262-279 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

B. Ruth Montgomery

Keyword(s):

Important Determinant ◽

Public University ◽

Representation Election ◽

Clerical Workers ◽

Normative Pressure ◽

Union Representation ◽

Certification Election ◽

Voting Decisions ◽

Management Staff ◽

Voting Intentions

This paper investigates how both attitudes and normative pressures influenced the voting decisions of public university clerical workers in a December 1984 union representation election. Not surprisingly, the voters' attitudes, shaped by the results they expected to follow from union certification and their evaluation of those results as good or bad, appear to have been an important determinant of voting intentions and, in turn, actual votes. Also influential, although less so, was normative pressure, a function of how the voters thought others (family, co-workers, other clericals, supervisors, and other management staff) wished them to vote and how strongly they were inclined to satisfy those wishes.

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The Attitudes of Union and Nonunion Male Workers toward Union Representation

ILR Review ◽

10.1177/001979398503800202 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 179-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Stephen M. Hills

Keyword(s):

Job Satisfaction ◽

Multivariate Analysis ◽

Longitudinal Survey ◽

Union Representation ◽

Region Of Residence ◽

Certification Election ◽

Force Data ◽

Union Contract ◽

The U.S ◽

Do So

This study finds striking differences in attitudes toward union representation between union and nonunion workers in the U.S. labor force. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of 1980 show that if a certification election were held at the workplace of the men aged 28 to 38 who were sampled, 87 percent of those already covered by a union contract said they would vote for union representation, whereas only 27 percent of the nonunion workers said they would do so. Among the nonunion workers, however, attitudes differed sharply by race and industry, as pro-union attitudes were more widespread among blacks than whites and among workers in government and construction than those in other industries. The author tested the effect of several possible determinants of attitudes, such as degree of job satisfaction, occupation, pay rate, and region of residence. Many of these factors were significantly related to union attitudes, but including them in a multivariate analysis did little to change the differences in attitude across industries.

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