Chapter 8 – The Negotiations Process and Strikes

True/False

[QUESTION]
1. Distributive bargaining involves aspects of negotiations where one side's gain is the other side's loss.
Ans: True
Page: 193
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
2. Integrative bargaining involves bargaining with different members within the organization.
Ans: False
Page: 194
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
3. Distributive and integrative bargaining can never take place within the same negotiations since each involves different actors.
Ans: False
Page: 195
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
4. Intra‑organizational bargaining occurs when different goals and preferences exist within the union or management.
Ans: True
Page: 195
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
5. "Surface bargaining" occurs when either side refuses to give in to the demands of the opposing side.
Ans: False
Page: 196
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
6. Intra‑organizational conflict is common in the public sector because of its complex decision making structures and numerous political constituencies.
Ans: True
Page: 197
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
7. Unions often make comparisons with other unions when establishing targets for wage bargaining.
Ans: True
Page: 198
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
8. During the early stages of negotiations, management and unions often decide to discuss wage issues first.
Ans: False
Page: 198
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
9. Unions are more likely to press for application of local labor market comparisons during negotiations when they are strong.
Ans: False
Page: 199
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
10. The threat of outsourcing has allowed management to drive down, or hold down the wages of union labor.
Ans: True
Page: 199
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
11. Unorganized white collar workers are rarely ever affected by wage increases in the union sector.
Ans: False
Page: 200
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
12. Local unions must typically seek authorization from national unions in order to carry out official strikes.
Ans: True
Page: 204
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
13. A "laundry list" is a list of issues that both management and unions decide are not important to discuss during the last stages of bargaining.
Ans: False
Page: 205-206
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
14. During the final stages of negotiations, only a small number of decision makers usually are involved.
Ans: True
Page: 206
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
15. Many experts recommend that rank and file union members, and mangers who are not on the negotiation teams not be trained in interest-based bargaining techniques.
Ans: False
Page: 209
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
16. According to the Hicks model, a primary reason why strikes occur is because management and labor have very different expectations of what will happen if a strike occurs.
Ans: True
Page: 211
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
17. The Hicks model states that strikes can occur even if a contract zone exists.
Ans: True
Page: 211
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
18. Kerr and Siegel argued that the reason why strike rates were higher in some industries was because of greater social isolation and harsh physical labor in those industries.
Ans: True
Page: 212
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
19. Data indicate that strike frequency increased in the 1980s as unions were fighting to stay alive as institutions.
Ans: False
Page: 213
Difficulty: Hard

[QUESTION]
20. Hiring strike replacements increases the duration of strikes.
Ans: True
Page: 215
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
21. The Supreme Court recently ruled that union ratification procedures are unconstitutional because they prevent unions from bargaining effectively with management.
Ans: False
Page: 216
Difficulty: Hard

[QUESTION]
22. Unions have seen traditional strike leverage decline in recent years.
Ans: True
Page: 218
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
23. Recently, unions have increased the use of workplace slowdowns instead of strikes in order to place pressure on employers to yield to union demands.
Ans: True
Page: 218
Difficulty: Medium

Multiple Choice

[QUESTION]
24. Which of the following is not a sub‑process of negotiations within the collective bargaining agreement?
A. Integrative bargaining
B. Distributive bargaining
C. Competitive bargaining
D. Attitudinal bargaining
E. Intra organizational bargaining
Ans: C
Page: 193
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
25. Why is integrative bargaining hard to accomplish?
A. Since bargaining is done on a win or lose basis, negotiations often lead to increased conflicts.
B. Parties are often in conflict because they have trouble dividing up the gains or profits from integrative solutions.
C. Integrative bargaining requires the withholding of information from the other side. Thus, unions and management do not trust each other.
D. There is often conflict within the negotiating group which makes it difficult to achieve unanimous consent.
Ans: B
Page: 194
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
26. Integrative bargaining often involves
A. breakdown in communications.
B. exchange of information.
C. refusal to share information.
D. all employees are able to bargain with management.
E. c and d.
Ans: B
Page: 195
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
27. Attitudinal structure is defined as
A. emotional or psychological level within the bargaining unit or management.
B. level of trust that exists within the bargaining unit.
C. emotional or psychological level that exists between the union and management.
D. level of trust that exists between the union and management.
E. none of the above.
Ans: D
Page: 197
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
28. What criteria do union leaders often employ to evaluate a proposed wage settlement?
A. Its acceptability to other unions.
B. Its effect on real wages.
C. Government reactions.
D. a and b.
E. None of the above.
Ans: B
Page: 198
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
29. What does an employer consider when setting a wage target?
A. The likely subsequent responses of unorganized white collar workers.
B. The profitability of the firm.
C. The state of the relationship between the firm and the union.
D. Local labor market comparisons.
E. all of the above.
Ans: E
Page: 198-199
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
30. What explains why unions have given concessions to management more frequently in recent years?
A. Employers guaranteed employment security in return.
B. Increased competition forced employers to seek lower labor costs.
C. Government deregulation led some firms to tighten their costs.
D. Unionized firms faced increased nonunion Competition.
E. All of the above.
Ans: E
Page: 199
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
31. Which of the following typically occur during management's initial preparations for negotiations?
A. The first step in preparation often involves bringing in outside consultants to sit in on division level meetings.
B. Management carries out research to assess market and area wage rates.
C. The early stages of preparation never involve upper level meetings with the labor relations staff, board of directors, and the chief executive officer.
D. Preparations involve notifying the union of the firms’ demands prior to negotiations.
Ans: B
Page: 199
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
32. Who are on the union negotiating committee?
A. Business agents
B. Elected union officers
C. Key worker representatives
D. Research staff
E. all of the above.
Ans: E
Page: 202
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
33. What characterizes the early stages of negotiations?
A. Few union representatives are involved.
B. All proposals have little significance since they are made to recognize factions within the union.
C. Grandstanding often takes place as union and management leaders present their demands.
D. all of the above.
Ans: C
Page: 206
Difficulty: Hard

[QUESTION]
34. An important task during the middle stages of negotiations is
A. threatening to strike.
B. estimating the other side's priorities on the outstanding issues.
C. inflating proposals.
D. all of the above.
Ans: B
Page: 206
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
35. What tactic(s) can be used by firms to lessen the amount of profits lost during a strike?
A. Selling off inventory
B. Bringing in replacements
C. Shifting production
D. Relying on income from other lines of business
E. all of the above
Ans: E
Page: 209
Difficulty: Hard

[QUESTION]
36. The contract zone, according to the Hicks model, is defined as
A. the difference in the strike wage expectations of union and management.
B. the difference in the wage expectations during negotiations of both union and management.
C. the range of wages that management and labor agree upon for the purpose of bargaining.
D. none of the above.
Ans: D
Page: 210
Difficulty: Hard

[QUESTION]
37. Which of the following is true according to the Hicks model of strikes?
A. Strikes occur as a result of miscalculation.
B. Given a contract zone, negotiators have very little latitude in furthering their interests.
C. It is in management's interests to reach a settlement at the highest end of the contract zone.
D. a and c.
Ans: A
Page: 211
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
38. According to Ashenfelter and Johnson, strikes occur because
A. management and union leaders hold different expectations of strike outcomes.
B. union leaders often hold higher expectations of strike outcomes than union members.
C. union members are often isolated from the mainstream of society and are thus more likely to take out their frustration on society.
D. they serve as a device to lower the expectations of union members.
Ans: D
Page: 211-212
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
39. Kerr and Siegel claim
A. that strikes are due to issues that are on the bargaining table.
B. that strikes are a result of the militancy of the unions which are a direct result of the business cycle.
C. that strikes have very little to do with bargaining issues.
D. that strikes are due to differences in the expectations of union leaders and members.
Ans: C
Page: 212
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
40. Strikes in the 1980s and 1990s can be characterized by all of the following except
A. as more hostile.
B. as more violent.
C. as offensive weapons.
D. as emotionally stronger.
E. all of the above.
Ans: C
Page: 213
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
41. What happened to strike activity in the U.S. during the 1980's?
A. Unions used strikes as offensive weapons in order to gain more concessions from management.
B. Employers were more willing to hire replacement workers in their attempts to break strikes and unions.
C. Employers rarely turned to decertification elections to eliminate union representation.
D. U.S. strike activity increased tremendously as compared to the 1970's.
E. a and d.
Ans: B
Page: 218
Difficulty: Hard

[QUESTION]
42. Replacement workers are used in what percentage of strikes?
A. 29%
B. 49%
C. 69%
D. 89%
Ans: A
Page: 218
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
43. What percentages of first contract negotiations for new bargaining units reach agreements?
A. 1/10
B. 1/3
C. 2/3
D. 3/4
Ans: B
Page: 218
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
44. The most unique feature of the negotiations between United Airlines and its unions in 1997 was
A. President Clinton’s refusal to use a cooling off period when the unions went on strike.
B. that the new CEO was hired by the company only after union approval.
C. the use of Worker Ownership Institutes.
D. the first use of internet and video conferencing by a union to communicate on-line as negotiations occurred.
Ans: D
Page: 223
Difficulty: Hard

[QUESTION]
45. Which of the following is true concerning steel negotiations in the 1980's?
A. In 1986 bargaining became more centralized, and subsequently took place on a company by company basis.
B. Labor relations were particularly good at U.S. Steel (USX).
C. Many domestic steel companies offered profit sharing and stock payouts in return for union concessions.
D. All of the above.
Ans: C
Page: 226
Difficulty: Hard

[QUESTION]
46. Which of the following is NOT an accurate way for a union to judge its success in increasing wages for members after negotiations?
A. Comparing the wage adjustment minus the cost of living for prior contracts and the current one.
B. Comparing the nominal increase in wages for prior contracts and the current one.
C. Comparing the settlement with other bargaining unit settlements during the same time period.
D. Comparing the settlement with other unions’ settlements during the same time period.
Ans: B
Page: 227
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
47. Which of the following is true concerning strike activity in the United States?
A. the U.S. is at the bottom of the list when it comes to the number of workdays lost and frequency of strike rates relative to other countries.
B. U.S. strikes almost always involve political motives, similar to other Western European countries.
C. U.S. strikes generally occur in order to change the employer's bargaining position.
D. U.S. strikes tend to be shorter and generally involve fewer workers than in other nations.
Ans: C
Page: 228
Difficulty: Hard

Short Answer and Answer Key

[QUESTION]
48. State two reasons why it can be difficult for labor-management bargainers to engage in successful integrative bargaining.
Possible answers:
a. There is no such thing as a purely integrative issue. All integrative bargaining ultimately must decide how to divide up the gains. Disagreements over these distributive consequences of integrative bargaining may lead to conflict and spoil integrative bargaining.
b. The parties don’t trust one another enough to either identify or solve integrative issues.
c. It is difficult to identify potential integrative issues. They are not always obvious.
Page: 194
Difficulty: Easy

[QUESTION]
49. Even if there is a positive contract zone Hicks claimed that miscalculation could still lead to a strike. What sort of miscalculation was Hicks referring to here?
Ans:
Here Hicks was referring to cases where although there is a contract zone of mutually agreed settlement points, the parties don’t find these settlement points due to bluffs or threats or bad or inexperienced bargaining. Keep in mind that although the presence of a contract zone provides settlement points that both sides prefer to the strike outcome, both sides are still trying to get to the very best point in the contract zone for their respective side.  Their efforts to get to this point may lead them astray.
Page: 210-213
Difficulty: Medium

Essay Exam Questions and Answer Key

[QUESTION]
50.  Collective bargaining has been described as a process that involves the following four sub-processes:  distributive bargaining, integrative bargaining, intra-organizational bargaining, and attitudinal structuring (trust).  For each of these sub-processes, give one example or illustration of how it arose during your mock bargaining.
Suggested Answer:
Student answers may vary. This question revolves around class participative sessions where students need to arrange themselves into smaller groups, and hold mock bargaining sessions. The following information is meant to act as a guideline while constructing their answers, based on their mock sessions.
Distributive bargaining involves those aspects of negotiations in which one side’s gain is the other side’s loss. Distributive bargaining is win-lose or zero-sum bargaining. Examples of issues that most often are distributive in nature include wage rates and fringe benefits. Integrative bargaining issues and processes are those in which a solution provides gains to both labor and management, leading to joint gain or win-win bargaining. If the productivity of the firm increases, for example, the employees can benefit in the form of higher compensation or shorter work hours while the firm can benefit in the form of greater profits. Intraorganizational bargaining occurs when there are different goals or preferences within either side, either the union or management. For example, intraorganizational bargaining arises when the members of the have different preferences regarding what the union should strive for during negotiations. Attitudinal structuring (the degree of trust the respective sides feel or develop toward each other) is another subprocess within bargaining.
Pages 193-197
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
51.  Pick a strike that occurred in the U.S. sometime in the last 10 years. What do you think caused that strike? Make sure you point to specific evidence to support your claim.  Now suggest how that strike illustrates a general explanation of strike occurrence.  Describe what kinds of additional information or data you might need to determine which theory of strikes explains why a strike occurred in the case you selected. 
Suggested Answer:
Student answers may vary. Students are required to identify an instance of striking that has occurred within the United States in the last decade, and analyze possible causes, and potential factors that may have contributed to the striking. Several theories can be helpful in making this analysis. The material below examines more closely the role played by the strike threat in the negotiations process and identifies the factors that lead to strikes.
The Hicks Model of Strikes – Hicks was led to the conclusion that strikes occur only in the presence of miscalculation. Strikes could also occur even if there is a contract zone, but in the Hicks framework this also requires miscalculation.
Behavioral Sources of Strikes – Behavioral factors such as the degree to which labor is integrated into the surrounding social community may be one source of miscalculation that leads to strikes. In a classic study Clark Kerr and Abraham Siegel analyzed strike data across countries and industries, finding that strike rates were consistently higher in certain industries, such as mining and longshoring.
Militancy as a Cause of Strikes – Strikes also may occur as a result of the militancy of the work force or union. Marxist theorists have noted that there is a strong statistical association between strike frequency rates and the business cycle. Over time (and across countries) strikes tend to occur more frequently during business upturns. This association is difficult to explain with the Hicks model, which predicts that wage settlements should be higher during business upturns, but not strike frequency.
Pages: 210-213
Difficulty: Medium

[QUESTION]
52. The following three theories each purport to explain why strikes occur: the Hicks model; a behavioral explanation concerning social and geographic isolation; and a bargaining power (militance) model. Describe how each of these models in one way or another relies on miscalculation to explain strike occurrence. Then choose any real strike that occurred in the U.S. and describe how it illustrates one of the theories.
Suggested Answer:
Student answers may vary. Students are required to identify any real strike that occurred in the U.S. and describe how it illustrates one of the following theories.
The Hicks’ model is a very useful starting point for analyzing the negotiations process. To build on his approach requires an understanding of the factors that influence the willingness and ability of either side to engage in a strike. These factors determine the wage the parties expect they will end up with at the end of a strike. Furthermore, the Hicks framework suggests the need to uncover those factors that lead either side to be overly optimistic about the potential strike outcome or in other ways to miscalculate during negotiations.
Behavioral factors such as the degree to which labor is integrated into the surrounding social community may be one source of miscalculation that leads to strikes. In a classic study Clark Kerr and Abraham Siegel analyzed strike data across countries and industries, finding that strike rates were consistently higher in certain industries, such as mining and longshoring. In Hicks’ terminology, Kerr and Siegel identified a set of factors—social and geographic isolation—that contribute to the likelihood of miscalculation in bargaining. Note that Kerr and Siegel also emphasized that strike occurrence may have very little to do with the issues on the bargaining table.

Strikes also may occur as a result of the militancy of the work force or union. Marxist theorists have noted that there is a strong statistical association between strike frequency rates and the business cycle. Marxist theorists argue that the procyclical movement in strike frequency demonstrates that conflict is a product of the bargaining power held by labor. This bargaining power model of strikes focuses on the fact that strikes are typically initiated by the union and the work force. Thus, during periods when the union’s bargaining power is relatively weak, the union is less likely to press its demands and less likely to resort to a strike in seeking more favorable contract terms.
Pages: 211-213
Difficulty: Medium