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Title: Collective Bargaining and Union Membership Effects on the Wages of Male Youths
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Blakemore, Arthur E.
Hunt, Janet C.
Kiker, B. F.
Collective Bargaining and Union Membership Effects on the Wages of Male Youths
Journal of Labor Economics 4,2 (April 1986): 193-211.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2534819
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Behavior; Collective Bargaining; Job Training; Unions; Wages, Young Men

The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the union-nonunion wage differential is a function of two effects. The bargaining effect indicates the differential between the wage received by a nonunion member of a collective bargaining unit and the wage received by a comparably productive individual in the absence of collective bargaining. The differential arises, in large part, from the bargaining monopoly power of organized labor. The membership effect is the wage differential within a bargaining unit between union and nonunion members. Holding other productivity-affecting factors constant, if this latter effect exists, it may be attributed to a process of socialization and indirect economic benefits which unionism brings to the work place. An important benefit to union members is the receipt of relatively more specific on-the-job training, a necessary inducement to negate the benefits of free riding. A seniority scheme that encourages the payment of wages below the employee's valued contribution to output during his early work-life and greater during later years will benefit workers with relatively long tenure. Such a remuneration scheme will reward one who acquires specific training. The authors find that union members have a 30 to 38 percent wage advantage over comparable nonmembers of a collective bargaining unit. In addition, their analysis indicates that about 11 to 13 percent of this differential can be attributed to the membership (training) effect. In addition, the results of the analysis shed light on the two arguments that union-nonunion wage differences result from quality-adjustment behavior on the part of the employer and the differences are simply a compensation for a lower quality of work environment.
Bibliography Citation
Blakemore, Arthur E., Janet C. Hunt and B. F. Kiker. "Collective Bargaining and Union Membership Effects on the Wages of Male Youths." Journal of Labor Economics 4,2 (April 1986): 193-211.