Longitudinal stability in union wage determination: Evidence from the U.S. automobile assembly industry, 1970–1999
New Research on Labor Relations and the Performance of University HR/IR Programs
ISBN: 978-0-76230-750-0, eISBN: 978-1-84950-088-3
Publication date: 12 February 2001
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the following conceptualization of union wage determination: that wage provisions in union contracts manifest significant longitudinal stability, or ‘wage rules’ that hold across bargaining rounds despite differences in industry and company profits and prospects. The contracts between the major U.S. automobile assemblers and the UAW union over the period 1970–1999 are examined and found to provide support for this hypothesis. Particularly notable is the apparent return to a variant of the previous wage rules in the ‘post-concession’ era since the mid-1980s. Possible explanations for the emergence and persistence of such rules and implications for union wage determination, the overall wage structure, and the analysis of other economic aspects of human behavior are also discussed.
Citation
Erickson, C.L. (2001), "Longitudinal stability in union wage determination: Evidence from the U.S. automobile assembly industry, 1970–1999", Lewin, D. and Kaufman, B.E. (Ed.) New Research on Labor Relations and the Performance of University HR/IR Programs (Advances in Industrial & Labor Relations, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 31-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-6186(01)10003-X
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, Emerald Group Publishing Limited