Breaking the deadlock: How union and employer tactics affect first contract achievement

Abstract

The United States labour movement faces a potentially transformative moment, as workers have won breakthrough union organizing victories at various high‐profile, private‐sector employers. While winning an election is essential to establishing collective bargaining, unions then need to secure a first contract with employers to make tangible improvements in working conditions. Drawing on a sample of 126 responses about postcertification collective bargaining, we find that both employer and union tactics have significant impacts on first contract achievement. Employers continue to impede first contract achievement by committing unfair labour practices, but unions can improve their chances of establishing an agreement by utilizing tactics that engage the public.

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“…First, once unions establish greater credibility by proving their effectiveness, especially with more members and resources for collective bargaining purposes, more workers would likely want to remain as members. Notwithstanding recent rapid unionization in the likes of Amazon, Starbucks, and Apple, while bearing in mind most new certifications do not result in first contracts (Kallas, Park and Aleks 2023), unions are quintessentially an experiential good and, at present, few U.S. workers have experienced them (Gomez and Gunderson 2004). Once this situation changes, confidence in and support for unions would likely rise.…”

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“…Private sector unionization drives are currently back in vogue in the United States (Kallas et al, 2023). Employees are using union membership to contribute to a sense of personal identity, as well as utilizing union backing and union-formation threats to advocate for traditional workplace improvements such as increased wages, better benefits, more time off and safer working conditions.…”