Strikes on Merseyside: A Regional Analysis*

In this article the authors use detailed strike statistics to analyse Merseyside's reputation as an area with a high strike propensity. They conclude that this reputation is exaggerated and that the present contraction of male-dominated employment could reduce strike activity further.     

Supervisor Support for the Permanent Replacement of Economic Strikers

Sixty-one supervisors were surveyed to examine the importance of organization commitment, union approval, and quality of union-management relationship in explaining supervisor support for hiring permanent replacements in short and long strike situations. Organization commitment and union approval exhibited a unique negative relationship with support for hiring replacements in a short strike, and union approval exhibited a unique negative relationship with support for hiring replacements in a long strike situation.     

Dockers,Devlin and industrial disputes

Industrial conflict on the docks was for many years attributed to casual forms of employment. Consequently, the instigation of a more permanent employment relationship in 1967 was expected to bring industrial peace on the waterfront. However, empirical investigation reveals that ‘permanent’ employment has had little, if any, effect on strike activity.     

Managerial succession and organizational performance—evidence from the German Soccer League

It has been widely studied how organizational performance changes after the replacement of managers. However, there is little evidence whether environmental changes moderate the efficiency of management replacements. In this paper, I explicitly consider the effect of a change in the environment of organizations on post‐replacement effects. Analyzing the performance effect of coach replacements in the German Soccer League before and after the introduction of the 3‐points‐rule theoretically and empirically I find that the magnitude of the performance effect of coach replacements differs under alternative regimes. The empirical analysis confirms predictions from my theoretical model and identifies moderating effects. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural Change and Labor Requirement of the Japanese Economy

This paper extends the framework of input–output decomposition analysis into a model which decomposes changes in the labor requirement of an economy into effects of occupational substitution, changes in labor productivity and changes in material inputs. By application of this model to the Japanese experience it was found that the most important characteristic of the evolution of the Japanese labor force in the period 1975–85 was the replacement of blue collar workers by highly skilled professionals and technicians. Both technical change and changes in the structure of final demand fostered the increasing demand for professionals and technicians. As the mix of employment shifted towards high knowledge level occupations, Japan's labor productivity increased sharply.     

Trading cost expectations: Evidence from S&P 500 index replacement stock announcements

This paper tests the effect on stock value of an expected change in future trading costs. The capitalized value of a reduction in trading costs is hypothesized to increase the stock value, a trading cost effect. Improved liquidity reduces trading costs. Inclusion as an S&P 500 Index replacement stock is an event hypothesized to increase liquidity. We use 114 observations between January 1, 1983 and October 12, 1989 of stocks added to the Index as replacements for stocks removed. The abnormal return of each stock is regressed against the ratio of the bidask spread to the price of the stock, the change in trading volume of the stock, and the open interest in the Index futures contracts at the close of the month prior to the replacement announcement. We find that the positive abnormal returns for replacement stocks are related to increased daily trading volume after inclusion in the Index. Further, the trading cost effect is proportional to percentage bid-ask spreads prior to inclusion. The trading cost effect increases as trading in derivatives of the Index increases. The volume and stock price changes after replacement are not transitory, indicating an improvement in liquidity. Three alternate hypotheses suggested in prior research to explain the abnormal returns for replacement stocks are tested. Testing each of the three models previously considered: price pressure, inelastic demand curves, and information, we find that none can be accepted with statistical confidence. The abnormal returns of Index replacement stocks are consistent with rational pricing of an anticipated reduction in future transaction costs. This anticipated reduction is capitalized in the value of the stock at the time of the replacement announcement. These results are consistent with a trading cost effect.     

A Historian’s Perspective on the PATCO Strike, Its Legacy, and Lessons

This article argues that the unsuccessful 1981 strike of federal air traffic controllers was the most significant single event in accelerating the decline of organized labor in the United States in the late 20th century. Like the failed Homestead steel strike of 1892, the PATCO strike cast a long shadow over US labor relations for many years after the event itself. Among the effects of the strike was the role it played in legitimizing the use of permanent replacement workers during strikes. This article draws lessons from the PATCO debacle that are worth considering 25 years later.

A new look at variation in employment growth in Canada: The role of industry,provincial, national and external factors

We examine fluctuations in employment growth using Canadian data from 1976 to 2010. We consider a wide range of models and examine the sensitivity of our findings to modelling assumptions. The results from our most preferred model, which we selected using the Bayesian Information Criteria, indicate that most of the variance in employment growth that is not due to the idiosyncratic error comes from domestic sources, with most of this coming from industry and provincial factors. Overall, we find that external and national factors play a much smaller role in employment fluctuations than in earlier research. We provide some possible explanations for these differences and discuss the implications of our findings for public policy and theory.     

On the effect of obesity on employment in the presence of observed and unobserved confounding

The aim of this paper was to estimate the effect of obesity on the employment probability for Italian men and women accounting for both observed and unobserved confounding. We use microdata collected by the Italian National Statistical Office for the year 2009 during a multi‐scope survey of Italian households. The employment–obesity relationship is estimated after controlling for observed confounding by using probit regression and a propensity score weighting approach. To control for both observed and unobserved confounding (endogeneity), a semiparametric recursive bivariate probit model is employed instead. Our findings suggest that obesity has a significant negative effect on the employment probability and that endogeneity might not be an important issue.     

Strategic militancy and the probability of strikes in union-firm bargaining

The paper provides a model that explains the probability of strikes by the union's use of militancy as a strategic tool in bargaining. Militants are useful because they provide a credible threat, hence enhancing the union's bargaining position. Using a multi-stage bargaining game, we show that, in general, militants will be used by the union as a strategic tool. The strategic benefit of militancy is reflected by the fact that the wage and employment level will be higher in a union that uses militants, compared to a union that does not. We use the model to show that the level of militancy and the probability of a strike decrease with the union's power. This suggests that policies that increase the strength of the union will have, at least, a partial positive effect on social welfare. We also show that the model can be viewed as providing an equilibrium of a repeated game, an interpretation that can explain the probability of strikes even in the absence of militants.     

技术进步的就业效应与技术进步路线的选择——基于1990～2005年中国省际面板数据的分析

本文结合1990~2005年中国省际面板数据,运用DEA方法测算了各省历年的全要素生产率变化,用以度量广义技术进步,并对技术进步的就业效应以及不同技术进步路线与就业增长的关系进行实证分析。研究表明虽然技术进步有助于三次产业间就业结构的调整与优化,但实证结果显示现阶段技术进步对中国就业增长产生了不利影响;虽然这并不意味着政府促进技术进步的举措就不利于实现就业的增长,但通过促进教育和培训事业的发展、鼓励科技创新等手段,政府促进技术进步的政策取向可以在不同程度上促进就业的增长,可以抑制技术进步对就业增长的挤出作用。     

Employment relations without collective bargaining and strikes: the unusual case of civil servants in Germany

The article deals with the widely neglected employment relations in the public sector of Germany with a special focus on civil servants. It is subdivided into two main parts. A shorter part elaborates on public employees and collective bargaining, a longer one on civil servants and their diverging forms of employment relations without the right to collective bargaining and strike. In order to better understand major changes that have taken place since the mid2000s, we chose a long-term perspective and examine traditional as well as present forms of interest representation. Limited degrees of decentralisation and their lasting diverging consequences are analysed in great detail.     

Effects of U.S. equal employment opportunity and affirmative action programs on women's employment stability

An important labor market issue in the United States is the effect that the Equal Employment Opportunity and affirmative action programs that were implemented in 1965 have had on the employment of women relative to that of men. Using time series data covering the period 1947–1988, an analysis of this issue is undertaken. The results indicate that women in the 20–54 age group benefitted in terms of greater stability of employment (i.e., less sensitivity to short run variations in employment) over the period 1965–1980 while they lost some of these gains over the period 1981–1988 (corresponding to the tenure of the Reagan Administration). Men in the same age group, on the other hand, experienced the opposite effect. That is, men in the 20–54 age group became more sensitive to short run variations in employment over the period 1965–1980 and less sensitive over the period 1981–1988. The evidence also indicates that the EEO and affirmative action programs had the effect of increasing the share of projected employment of women in the 20–54 age group and in the 55–64 age group while decreasing the share of projected employment of men in the comparable age groups.     

Health effects on labour market exits and entries

This paper analyses the role of health on exits out of and entries into employment using data from the first twelve waves of the British Household Panel Survey (1991–2002). We use discrete-time duration models to estimate the effect of health on the hazard of becoming non-employed and on the hazard of becoming employed. The results show that general health, measured by a variable that captures health limitations and by a constructed latent health index, affects entries into and exits out of employment; the effects being higher for men than for women. The results are robust to different definitions of employment, and to the exclusion of older workers from the analysis.     

Social security and cross-country differences in hours: A general equilibrium analysis

I develop a general equilibrium life cycle model with an intensive and extensive margin of labor supply and endogenous human capital accumulation. I use the model to assess the effects of changes to various features of social security on labor supply outcomes. Of particular interest are changes to the scale of the program and to the relevant eligibility rules. I find that the cross-country differences in social security programs account for at least 79% of the differences in employment rates of people aged 55–64 and 17–31% of the differences in aggregate hours worked between the US and continental Europe.     

探索社会化用工“以能为主”的思想政治管理模式

中国移动通信集团广西有限公司南宁分公司深入探索社会化用工情况,在人本管理模式的基础上,以人为本,不断创新管理模式,提出了社会化用工中的“以能为主”的人性化思想政治工作管理新模式。文章介绍了通过构建“以能为主”的选拔制度、绩效薪酬制度、关怀制度、激励制度,建立新的人性化思想政治工作管理的飞轮模型,旨在促进企业与员工和谐发展。     

A strike of ‘unorganised’ workers in a Chinese car factory: the Nanhai Honda events of 2010

This strike in a Chinese factory of the Japanese multinational Honda in 2010 received worldwide coverage. A young workforce sustained an on–off strike, with varying numbers of workers involved, for 19 days. Academic interest has focused on prospects for collective bargaining and union reform in China. This article, using interviews with former strikers, and newspaper sources, analyses the strike process. The workplace union, as a constituent of the All‐China Federation of Trade Unions and subject to the Chinese Party–state, was hostile; so the workers were in effect ‘unorganised’. Examples of non‐union strikes in the interwar car industry of the USA and UK show the similarity of situation with the Honda workers. Hiller's classic text, The Strike, provides a surprisingly suitable framework for understanding strikes of unorganised workers. The strikers' vocabulary ‘framed’ their demands initially as injustice, but incorporated anti‐Japanese sentiment and, then, dignity, in response to events.     

Age-specific cyclical effects in job reallocation and labor mobility

We present an empirical analysis of job reallocation and labor mobility using matched worker-firm data for the Netherlands. Our data cover the period 1993–2002. We find that cyclical adjustments of the workforce occur mainly through fluctuations in worker entry for young and prime-age workers while for old workers they occur mainly through fluctuations in separations. Moreover, we find that employment dynamics of young workers are affected especially by national and sectoral employment fluctuations whereas employment of old workers varies especially with firm-specific employment changes.     

The trade union response to agency labour in Britain

The growth of agency work in recent years has posed a challenge to trade unions, which must decide if they will accept agency workers as part of their constituency and accept employment agencies as legitimate labour‐market actors. This article analyses the reaction of British unions to agency work and identifies four main responses: exclusion, replacement, regulation and engagement. It concludes with an evaluation of union policies, which stresses the need for unions to secure broad regulation of the agency labour market either through multi‐employer bargaining or employment law.     

Still balancing the books: the NUM and the 1984–85 strike

In the context of the NUM's decision to seek a merger, this article examines the financial impact of the 1984–85 strike. In conducting the strike, its federal structure is shown to have provided the union leadership with flexibility. But it has limited the capacity to recover afterwards and has consequences for merger prospects with other unions.