Union-management relationships have been filled with fear since the rise of capitalism; public education is no different. Workers fear exploitation by owners (profits depend on it) and capitalist/management has always worried that the working classes will organize and either take over the firm or strike and bring production to a screeching halt.…

The current review presents both postulated and empirically tested consequences of university unionization and labor strikes on the North American institution's administration, faculty, and students. The review explores the impact of collective bargaining on employee working conditions including job security, academic freedom, university…

What lies at the end of the trail of unionization of government employees is union control of government for its own ends. (Author/IRT)

Organizational resources and group solidarity are central foci in literature on social movements generally and worker insurgency specifically. Research, however, seldom deals with both simultaneously and their potential interrelations. In this article, we examine the complex relationships between union organization and worker solidarity relative…

This article describes when teachers in Detroit, Michigan and Gary, Indiana went on strike in September 2006, which have resulted in the closure or relocation of 35 schools to other campuses since the end of the 2004-05 school year. The 2006-07 school year has brought with it a fresh wave of labor unrest, as teachers in districts large and small…

Over the 29-year period from 1966 to 1994, the number of faculty strikes recorded by the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions totaled 163. They transpired in 96 two-year and 67 four-year institutions. The vast majority involved faculty members employed at public sector colleges and…

Explains how sitdown strikes--a tactic to win union recognition and higher pay--exploded on the labor scene in the 1930s. A brief history of the sitdown strike is included. (WL)

This study investigated the phenomena of strike propensity and strike compliance among teachers in an illegal teachers' strike that occurred in British Columbia, Canada, in 1983. A questionnaire developed for this study was distributed in early 1984 to a random sample of 1,000 teachers from eight school districts; a total of 456 responded. The…

The issues presented by proposed federal laws covering collective bargaining for public employees are perhaps the most important issues confronting public officials and the general functioning of representative government in our society. HR 8677 (and to a lesser extent HR 9730) is unacceptable because (1) it provides for federal regulation of…

The growth of unionization and the enactment of collective bargaining legislation are considered to be the causes of increased strike activity in the public sector. This paper includes statistical data on the frequency and number of public employee strikes in each state; summarizes the state labor legislation; and presents an average of strikes,…

The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are facing three realities that might make them reluctant to strike: an army of unemployed teachers, an internecine battle, and a rotten economy. (Author/IRT)

The hypothesis tested and supported by samples of workers from the Quality of Employment Surveys is that the union wage premium is, in part, a compensating wage for accepting employment in hazardous and/or strike-prone industries. (Author/RM)