XV. POSTER SESSION

Labor Market Flexibility and Poverty Dynamics

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes and Ricardo Serrano-Padial
San Diego State University

     One of the major labor market developments of the past decades has been the growth of temporary work contracts, particularly in Spain, where temporary workers have accounted for more than one-third of the workforce since the mid-1980s. Using Spanish data from the European Community Household Panel and dynamic panel data estimation techniques, we examine the poverty implications of past and current temporary employment. We account for individual unobserved heterogeneity potentially correlated with the regressors and for poverty state and duration dependence. The results inform whether temporary work constitutes an effective means of supporting individuals and their families.

The Relationship between Employee Involvement and Workplace Dispute Resolution

Alexander J.S. Colvin
Pennsylvania State University

     This paper examines the relationship between employee involvement programs and workplace dispute resolution, by use of data from the 1999 Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey. Results of the analysis provided some support for a link between the adoption of employee involvement programs and formal grievance procedures in nonunion workplaces. The results also provided some support for a link between employee involvement and lower grievance rates. The relationships found differed depending, however, on the type of employee involvement program and how it was implemented. Whereas self-directed teams and workgroup autonomy were positively associated with the adoption of formal grievance procedures, problem-solving groups and individual employee autonomy were negatively associated with the adoption of procedures in nonunion workplaces. Individual employee autonomy was associated with lower grievance rates in both nonunion and union workplaces, however, whereas greater workgroup autonomy was associated with lower grievance rates in nonunion workplaces and was associated with higher grievance rates in union workplaces.

Labor-Management Conflict and Industrial Accidents: Lessons from the Airline Industry

William L. Dougan and Stephen J. Havlovic
University of Wisconsin--Whitewater

     A database was created by merging National Mediation Board (NMB) filings and Federal Aviation Administration safety incidents to test the hypothesis that labor-management conflict is associated with safety incidents among major airline carriers. A log-linear regression analysis showed support for this hypothesis. The number of NMB filings was found to be inversely associated with the amount of time between safety incidents. This suggests that more attention should be paid to labor-management conflict in the airline industry in order to improve passenger safety. Future research should examine labor-management conflict within individual airlines.

Effects of Joint Consultation Committee
on Workers' Union Commitment:
Evidence from Korea

Yongjin Nho
Seoul National University of Technology

Yong-Seung Park
Kyung Hee University

     The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the Joint Consultation Committee (JCC) in Korea affects workers' union commitment. We propose two moderating variables in explaining the causal relationship between the JCC and workers' union commitment: (1) union bargaining power--the "complementarity effect"--and (2) industrial relations climate--the "trust effect." This study analyzes the Korean Labor Institute's survey data of 818 employees from 282 Korean business establishments in 2000. Empirical results show that the JCC affects workers' union commitment in a negative manner. In particular, we find that unionization rate has a statistically significant effect on the relationship between the effectiveness of the JCC and workers' union commitment, whereas the industrial relations climate does not have a significant moderating effect on the relationship.

New Voices at Work: Race and Gender Identity Caucuses in the U.S. Labor Movement

Ruben J. Garcia
California Western School of Law, San Diego

     Although race and gender identity caucuses are important organizations in the labor movement today, they are not viable alternatives to traditional unions. In spite of labor law's subordination of minority rights to majority rule, this paper finds that women and people of color in union-based identity caucuses maintain a strong faith in traditional unions. At the same time, case studies and interviews show the need for identity groups in the labor movement today. The law of union democracy should be evaluated for whether it increases the voices of identity caucuses within unions even in a system of exclusive union representation.

Acknowledgement

     This article was supported by the William H. Hastie Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin Law School, 2000-2002. It is published in Hastings Law Journal 54 (2002).

Ramping Up the Organizational Learning Curve: The Impact of Gainsharing Suggestions on
Plant Performance

Jeffrey B. Arthur
Virginia Polytechnic and State University

Christopher L. Huntley
Fairfield University

     The study considers whether a Scanlon gainsharing program can improve organizational productivity beyond what would be expected from increased production experience. We propose that productivity improvement under gainsharing can be explained by an increasing amount of employee knowledge applied to the production process in the form of employee suggestions. We test this hypothesis using four years of monthly data on employee suggestions, production volume, and production costs at one location. We find that, controlling for changes in cumulative production volume and subject to the constraints of organizational forgetting, performance improvements under gainsharing are significantly related to the cumulative number of implemented employee suggestions.

Fairness, Risk Shifting, and the New
Employment Contract: How Stakeholder
Networks Can Bring About Justice for Workers

Harry J. Van Buren, III
University of Northern Iowa

     In this paper, evidence about the changing nature of employment (here cast in terms of the new "employment contract") is presented. Problems related to fairness, risk shifting, and the absence of consent are offered as explanations for why the new employment contract may not be beneficial to workers, especially those whose skills are largely fungible. The use of stakeholder analysis and network theory together might help us understand how greater justice in the employment relationship might be achieved. Three principles underlying a new movement for justice in employment are offered.

Two-Tiered Employment in the Global Economy: The World Maritime Industry

Clifford B. Donn
Le Moyne College

     Globalization of the world maritime industry in the period since World War II has resulted in a two-tier labor market. Those two tiers are separated by nation of vessel registration and shipping segment.

     The key component of globalization in maritime is the development of flags and crews of convenience. They have broken the link between the ownership of a vessel, the nation where it is registered, and the nationality of the crew that sails it. Competition from flags and crews of convenience has had a dramatic impact on employment opportunities for seafarers in the traditional maritime national. Since World War II, vessel registration has shifted from economically developed nations to less-developed flag-of-convenience nations, and crews have shifted from North America and Western Europe to Asia.

     Seafarers in the upper tier enjoy high wages and benefits and satisfactory accommodations aboard ship. More than that, they are generally protected by unions and collective bargaining agreements.

     Seafarers in the lower tier have much lower wages and few benefits and are subject to mistreatment. They are usually not protected by unions or collective bargaining, and they may lose their jobs even for contacting a union. Their only union protection (if any) is likely to come from the International Transport Workers Federation (the ITF), which attempts to protect workers on flag-of-convenience vessels without "legitimate" collective bargaining agreements. The ITF is fighting an uphill battle, however, and, even where it negotiates agreements, they are often ignored once the vessel leaves port.

     The upper tier of the maritime labor market has been shrinking, while the lower tier has been expanding. At the same time, the lower tier has had a significant downward impact on wages and conditions in the upper tier.

The Survival of Gainsharing Plans:
An Analysis of 1992-1999 Panel Data

Dong-One Kim
Korea University

     Utilizing 1992-1999 panel data from North American establishments, this study examines factors influencing the survival of gainsharing programs. This study extends the concept of strategic HRM to explain program survival. Major findings include (1) a gainsharing program lasts longer when it is accompanied with employee involvement, and when it supports job-based pay; (2) a customized gainsharing plan lasts longer than standard plans; and (3) under the differentiation business strategy, a differentiation-oriented gainsharing plan lasts longer than a cost-oriented gainsharing plan. Internal and external fits are found to influence program survival more strongly than program performance.

Diversity in the Workplace

Harry W. Holt, Jr.
George Washington University

     About 15 years ago, the Hudson Institute published a report entitled "Workforce 2000," which predicted significant changes in the composition of the workforce. Since that time, many employers have acknowledged the importance of the increase in diversity in the workforce. Because of this, they have begun to question the effectiveness of human resources systems that were designed to serve a more homogenous workforce. Scholars have increased their research in the area of managing diversity. Practitioners have reported an increase in resources being utilized to look at the issue of managing diversity in the workplace. For example, in a study by the Society of Human Resource Management, three of four Fortune 500 companies have some type of a formal diversity program in place, more than half of which have staff dedicated to the issue of managing diversity. Today African Americans and Hispanics each make up about 12 percent of the U.S. population, and Asian Americans make up about 6 percent. By the year 2020, it is predicted that African Americans will still account for 20 percent, and Hispanic Americans will have reached 20 percent and Asian Americans 9 percent.

     A study of the major factors influencing diversity initiatives in the workplace as perceived by human resource management professionals is presented. The human resource professionals from Fortune 500 companies will be surveyed using a cross-sectional mailed survey and in-depth follow-up telephone interviews. The study will identify why organizations are attempting to manage diversity, and it will identify the best practices for managing diversity. It also will reveal the components of an effective diversity-training program, along with the outcomes that are associated with managing diversity. A managing-diversity continuum tool will be introduced that can be utilized to assist organizations in determining future managing diversity needs. The possible implications for organizations and researchers in the future will be discussed.

Women in Men's Occupations:
Reconstructing New Gender Identity

Haejin Kim
California State University

     Although affirmative action has narrowed the wage gap by enhancing women's entry into high-paying male-dominated occupations, it has been criticized as forcing women to imitate men.

     Review of interviews from the published literature shows that women's entry into men's jobs meant a challenge to masculinity associated with these jobs. To face discouraging experiences at these jobs, some women emphasized "equality" and others "difference" between women and men, reflecting the inconsistent male norms toward these women.

     This inconsistency caused instability of gender identity among these women. As a result, they tried to balance between masculinity and femininity, deconstructing and reconstructing them. Affirmative action has opened up a possibility for new gender identity.

Deauthorization and Decertification Elections:
An Analysis and Comparison of Trends

Clyde J. Scott
University of Alabama

Edwin W. Arnold
Auburn University--Montgomery

     This article compares trends in deauthorization and decertification elections over the 40-year period from 1959 through 1998, when unions won 1,328 of 3,145 deauthorization elections, or 42.2 percent, while they won 5,889 of 21,058, only 28 percent, of decertification elections.

     The number of decertification and deauthorization elections increased from the 1960s until the mid 1980s, and then began to decrease. The union victory rate in deauthorization and decertification elections improved significantly from 1989 to 1998, averaging 56.5 percent in the former and 30.6 percent in the latter. Deauthorization elections were concentrated in the mid-Atlantic, east-north-central, and Pacific regions.

The Role of Contingent Work in the
War Against Poverty

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes and Cynthia Bansak
San Diego State University

     The 1990s witnessed the success of the work-based welfare reform initiated with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in reducing welfare caseloads. Although welfare reform was effective in lowering immediate welfare dependency, researchers have questioned its long-run success in alleviating poverty, partially because of the precariousness surrounding the jobs held by those leaving welfare. This paper addresses this concern by examining the likelihood of living in poverty in the near future as a function of past employment in contingent jobs and the likelihood of taking a contingent job in light of one's welfare dependency and past poverty status.

Permanent versus Temporary Employment Contracts: Determinants and Implications

Cynthia L. Gramm and John F. Schnell
University of Alabama--Huntsville

     In this paper, we use organization-level data to test a theoretical model developed by Kandel and Pearson (2001)¹ of the optimal share of organization's workforce with permanent contracts. Our findings provide modest support for their predictions linking the firm's business strategy and demand for labor to measures of the optimal share of workers with relatively secure employment contracts. We also provide very exploratory empirical investigations of several of Kandel and Pearson's (2001) propositions linking the optimal share of workers with permanent contracts to management practices.

Note

     1. Kandel and Pearson, "Flexibility vs Commitment in Personnel Management." Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 515-56.

What Is European in the European
Social Model?

J. Boyd H. Black
Queen's University, Belfast

     The European social model is a multilevel system of regulated autonomy. The paper develops a cultural model of social Europe. The hypothesis is that European national industrial relations regulatory structures are a function of Hofstede's cultural variables and a European convergence variable. Propositions about the impact of the European Union (EU) are derived. The dependent variables, which are the main dimensions of the industrial relations systems and labor standards, are regressed on our cultural variables and a dummy variable for membership of the EU. Published Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data are used. It is found that EU membership has generated cross-national convergence.

Building a Better Future Through Mediation: Insights From a Survey of FMCS Mediators

Patrice Mareschal
Rutgers University--Camden

     Mediation in the labor relations context is somewhat unique in that the parties have an ongoing relationship. Labor mediators strive not only to help the parties solve their immediate conflict, but also to create an environment in which labor and management can improve their relationship. Thus, relationship improvement is an important part of the mediation process. This research explores mediators' perspectives on the impact mediation has on the parties' future relationship. Seventy-eight FMCS mediators completed the survey. The following variables led to more optimistic predictions by mediators of the parties' future relationship: mediator acceptability, mediator gender, and mediation outcome.