Union Organizing of New Units, 1955-1966

• Published in: Industrial & labor relations review 1967-10, Vol.21 (1), p.31-39
• Main Author: Krislov, Joseph
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Economic recessions; Election/Elections; Employment; Industrial production; Industrial production indices; Labor management relations; Labor union representation; Labor unionization; Organizing activities; Trade unions; Union contracts; Union organizing; Union/Unions/Unionism; United States/US; Voting patterns
• ISSN: 0019-7939; 2162-271X
• DOI: 10.1177/001979396702100103

management & labor representatives typically claim that the decisions of the Nat'l Labor Relations Board (NLRB) affect the results of union representation elections. They also claim that a Board tends to interpret the law & election rules according to its bias. A 'Democratic' board, therefore, tends to favor labor; a 'Republican' board tends to favor manag. Utilizing previously unpublished NLRB data, election results in unorganized units under the D. D. Eisenhower, & J. F. Kennedy-L. B. Johnson admin's were compared. Although unions increased their org'al efforts during the Kennedy-Johnson yrs, they did not win a signif'ly larger proportion of elections. Specifically, the N of elections & union victories in unorganized units during the Kennedy-Johnson yrs was approximately 50% greater than those during the Eisenhower yrs. However, unions won 55%0 of these elections during the Eisenhower yrs, compared to 57% during the Kennedy-Johnson yrs. Similarly, the proportion of eligible voters in units claiming representation was 45%o during the Eisenhower yrs, compared to 47% during the KennedyJohnson yrs. Although Board policies seem to have had little impact on election results, fluctuations in econ activity appeared to have had some influence. The pattern of union victories follows closely short-term movements in econ activity; the proportion of voters selecting unionization also follows the same pattern-with the exception of the 1957-58 recession. As further tests, election results & voters in units selecting unionization were r'ed with the Federal Reserve Board's index of industr production. Deviations from the trend of industr production accounted for 63% of the deviations from the trend of election results, but only 36% of the deviations from the trend of voters selecting unionization. AA.