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Collective Bargaining and Productivity the Industrial Relations Research Association COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND PRODUCTIVITY THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH ASSOCIATION The Industrial Relations Research Association was founded in 1947 by a group who felt that the growing field of industrial relations required an association in which professionally minded people from d i fferent organizations could meet. It was intended to enable all who were professionally interested in industrial relations to become better acquainted and to keep up to date with the practices and ideas at work in the field. To our knowledge there is no other organization which affords the multi-party exchange of ideas we have experienced over the years-<1 unique and invaluable forum. The word "Re­ se<lrch " in the name renects the com·iction of the founders that the encourage­ ment, reporting and critical discussion of research is essential if our profes­ sional field is to advance. In our membership of 4,000 you will find representatives of management, unions, government; practitioners in consulting, arbitration and law; and scholars and teachers representing many disciplines in colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, as well as abroad. Among the disciplines represented in this Association are administrative sciences, anthropology, eco­ nomics, history. law, political science, psychology and sociology as well as in­ dustrial relations. l\lembership is open to all who are professionally interested and active in the broad field of industrial relations. Libraries and institutions who are interested in the publications of the Association are also invited to become members, and therefore subscribers to the publications. Membership dues cover publications for the calendar year, January through December 31, and entitle members to the Proceedings of the Annual Winter l\1eeting, Proceedings of the Annual SpTing Meeting, a special research volume (Membership DiTectory Handbook every six years), and quarterly is­ sues of the 1\'ewsle/ler. Dues for membership on standing order are: ....... .... $15 Regular Membership Family Membership (At same address, no additional publications) l 50 Contributing Membership Citizens of Countries Other than U.S. & Canada Living Abroad 5 Retired Membership (If a member for at least 10 years and not now gainfully employed) 5 Student Membership (Limited to 3 consecutive years) 5 Institutional or Library Subscription 15 Inquiries and other communications regarding membership, meetings, pub­ lications and the general affairs of the Association, as well as orders for publi­ cations, copyright requests, and notice of address changes, should be addressed to the IRRA Office. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH ASSOCIATION (608/262-2762) Social Science Bldg .. University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH ASSOCIATION COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND PRODUCTIVITY AUTHORS JOSEPH GOLDBERG ROBERT McKERSIE LEON GREENBERG RUDOLPH OSWALD WAYNE HORVITZ LEONARD SAYLES PETER TCHIRKOW FRANCES BAIRSTOW LAURENCE HUNTER SAM ZAGORIA ARCHIE KLEINGARTNER Ross AzEVEDO EDITORIAL BOARD GERALD SOMERS, Chairman ARVID ANDERSON MALCOLM DENISE LEONARD SAYLES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND PRODUCTIVITY. Copyright @ 1975 by INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH ASSOCIATION. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Edition Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-36659 PRICE $6.00 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH ASSOCIATION SERIES PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL WINTER MEETING (May Publica­ tion) PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL SPRING MEETING (Fall Publica­ tion) Annual Research Volume (Fall Publication) (MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY HANDBOOK every sixth year in lieu of research volume) IRRA NEWSLETTER (Published Quarterly) Inquiries and other communications regarding membership, meetings, pub­ lications and the general affairs of the Association, as well as orders for publica­ tions, copyright requests, and notice of address changes, should be addressed to the IRRA publication office: Barbara D. Dennis and James L. Stern, Co-editors; Richard U. Miller, Secretary-Treasurer; Elizabeth S. Gulesserian, Executive Assistant. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH ASSOCIATION 7226 Social Science Building, University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706 U.S.A. Telephone 608/262-2762 Colwell Printing Corp., 510- N. Hickory, Champaign, IL 61820 ii CONTENTS PREFACE .. .................... ............... ......................................................... iv CHAPTER !-Definitions and Concepts ..... ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... ... .. .. 1 Leon Greenberg CHAPTER 2-Bargaining and Productivity in the Private Sector ................ ....... ......... .............. 15 Joseph P. Goldberg CHAPTER 3-An Evaluation of Productivity Bargaining in the Public Sector ... .. .. ... .. .. .. ... .. ... .. .. .. .. .. ... 45 Robert B. McKersie CHAPTER 4-Bargaining and Productivity in the Public Sector- A Management View 63 Sam Zagoria CHAPTER 5-Bargaining and Productivity In the Public Sector: A Union View ........................................................ .. 83 Rudolph A. Oswald CHAPTER 6-Bargaining Over Work Standards By Professional Unions .......................................... 103 Frances Bairstow and Leonard Sayles CHAPTER 7-Productivity Bargaining and Organization Behavior ............................................ 119 Archie Kleingartner and Ross E. Azevedo CHAPTER 8-Productivity, Collective Bargaining and Wage Control .................................................... 141 Wayne Horvitz and Peter Tchirkow CHAPTER 9-Productivity Bargaining Abroad: An Evaluation ........ ..................................... ............. 169 Laurence C. Hunter iii PREFACE Productivity has been in the news for many years. For some time it was the principal concern of private employers, and the concept of increased efficiency was pitted against the workers' drive for security. More recently, increased productivity has become a central issue in public sector employment. As budgets have tight­ ened under "tax payers' revolts," administrators of public agencies have sought to improve their benefit/cost ratios. Joint committees and councils, with union and management representation, have existed sporadically for half a century in countries of the western world. However, the phenomenon known as "productivity bargaining" first came to the fore with the Esso agreements at the Fawley Refinery in Britain in the 1960's. It has experienced periods of rise and partial decline in Britain and has spread only haltingly in the U.S. and elsewhere. It remains to be seen whether the recent emphasis on productivity in the public sector will blossom into formalized union-management agreements with tradeoffs resulting in increased output per unit of input. The authors of this volume provide a background for the under­ standing of management's concern with productivity, of worker and union attitudes toward productivity, and of the conditions under which productivity bargaining has emerged. They also pro­ vide a basis for estimating the future course of productivity and productivity bargaining. Leon Greenberg's discussion of definitions, concepts and mea­ sures provides not only a basis for an answer to his own question, "Who is responsible for productivity improvement?", but also a useful starting point for the investigative studies provided by the other authors. Joseph Goldberg traces the development and spread of productivity issues in collective bargaining in longshoring, the maritime industry, autos, steel, construction, and other private American industries; and he notes the importance of the broad climate of the industry and the economy for the development of productivity bargaining. Environmental influences are also stressed in the descriptions and analyses of productivity and collective bar­ gaining in the public sector by Robert McKersie, Sam Zagoria, and Rudolph Oswald. In keeping with the traditions of the IRRA, the iv public sector sections are illuminated by the differing viewpoints of an academic, a management and a union spokesman. The importance of occupational status for the growth and dis­ tinctive characteristics of bargaining over work standards is empha­ sized in the chapter by Leonard Sayles and Frances Bairstow. The analysis of bargaining over standards by professional unions pro­ vides additional understanding of productivity bargaining in both private and public sectors. Archie Kleingartner and Ross E. Azevedo offer additional evi­ dence on the role of the environmental context in their discussion of productivity bargaining and organizational behavior. They show that productivity bargaining is most likely to occur in a crisis or under organizational pressure. Fortunately, they also note that this is neither the best nor a necessary condition for bargaining over work rules. Illustrative of their thesis is the detailed discus­ sion of union-management productivity incentive plans developed during the Economic Stabilization Program. Wayne Horvitz's study of the interaction between productivity bargaining and wage con­ trol buttresses the theoretical formulations and empirical findings of Kleingartner and Azevedo. The comparison of productivity bargaining in Britain, North America and European countries, drawn by Lawrence Hmiter, further illustrates the importance of economic, legislative and or­ ganizational conditions for the emergence and expansion of pro­ ductivity bargaining.
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