The Impact of Faculty Collective Bargaining on the Management of Public Higher Educational Institutions

The organizational impact of university labor unions

“…Elmuti and Kathawala (1991) surveyed both union and non-union faculty at an Illinois university that had signed its first collective agreement in 1976 and found that the appeals and grievance procedures were positively influenced by unionization. Surveys of American university administrators, faculty, and union officials have concurred Gilmore 1981). In addition, given the increase in formalization and bureaucratization associated with the adoption of a faculty union (Baldridge et al 1978;Richardson andMortimer 1978, as cited in Cameron 1984), it is logical to assume that arbitrary administrative action has, in fact, been minimized at unionized institutions.…”

“…In terms of job security, Wilson et al (1983) found that following unionization fewer university presidents believed that faculty unionism increased job security. However, Gilmore (1981) surveyed chief administrators at unionized public sector universities and found that various job security provisions had increased in number and in degree of uniformity and specificity. Studies of faculty opinion have found similar results.…”

“…In terms of tenure, it appears that collective bargaining has brought about more formalized and specified written tenure policies (Benedict and Wilder 1999;Gilmore 1981;Williams and Zirkel 1988). Although Ponak and Thompson (1984) reported mixed feelings among faculty about the benefits of unionization for tenure procedures, other studies have indicated that faculty believe that unionization has improved tenure evaluation.…”

“…As with tenure issues, collective bargaining appears to have formalized promotion procedures and to have integrated these changes into collective agreements (Benedict and Wilder 1999;Gilmore 1981;Williams and Zirkel 1988). Some studies have failed to find benefits of unionization in terms of promotion.…”

“…According to Brown (1982), collective bargaining contracts for university faculty reflect and highlight this nature of distrust and suspicion. Moore (1981( , as cited in Cameron 1984 reported major alterations in trust in the unionized environment. Many studies have empirically identified the adversarial relationship between the faculty and administration that anti-union advocates had speculated about.…”