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What Professionals Want: Union and Employer Tactics in Representation Elections of Professional Workers

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  • Rachel Aleks

Abstract

Using matched data from an original survey administered to organizers throughout the United States and election reports from the National Labor Relations Board, the author analyzes organizing campaigns of professional and non-professional workers. Professional workers have long been thought of as difficult to organize, yet they are strategically important to unions given their growing numbers in today’s economy. The author assesses whether unions and employers use different approaches in their organizing drives for professionals. An interactive model is used to test whether professionals’ distinct identity moderates the effect of common determinants of a representation election on the election outcome. The results show the benefit of an interactive model, as it highlights the importance of developing a campaign strategy unique to the group being organized.

Suggested Citation

  • Rachel Aleks, 2019. "What Professionals Want: Union and Employer Tactics in Representation Elections of Professional Workers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(3), pages 693-717, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:72:y:2019:i:3:p:693-717
    DOI: 10.1177/0019793918790946
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John-Paul Ferguson, 2008. "The Eyes of the Needles: A Sequential Model of Union Organizing Drives, 1999–2004," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(1), pages 3-21, October.
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    3. PATRICK P. McHUGH & MATTHEW M. BODAH, 2002. "Challenges to Professionalism and Union Voting Intentions: The Case of Pharmacists ," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 23(4), pages 659-671, October.
    4. Kate Bronfenbrenner, 1997. "The Role of Union Strategies in NLRB Certification Elections," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(2), pages 195-212, January.
    5. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    6. Richard W. Hurd & John Bunge, 2004. "Unionization of Professional and Technical Workers. The Labor Market and Institutional Transformation," NBER Chapters, in: Emerging Labor Market Institutions for the Twenty-First Century, pages 179-206, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Bloom, J.R. & O'Reilly III, C.A. & Parlette, G.N., 1979. "Changing images of professionalism: The case of public health nurses," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 69(1), pages 43-46.
    8. William N. Cooke, 1983. "Determinants of the Outcomes of Union Certification Elections," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 36(3), pages 402-414, April.
    9. Julia Evetts, 2002. "New Directions in State and International Professional Occupations: Discretionary Decision-making and Acquired Regulation," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 16(2), pages 341-353, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael David Maffie, 2020. "The Role of Digital Communities in Organizing Gig Workers," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 123-149, January.
    2. Rachel Aleks & Tina Saksida & Aaron S. Wolf, 2021. "Hero or Villain? A Cohort and Generational Analysis of How Youth Attitudes Towards Unions Have Changed over Time," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 532-567, June.
    3. John Kallas & Dongwoo Park & Rachel Aleks, 2023. "Breaking the deadlock: How union and employer tactics affect first contract achievement," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 223-241, May.
    4. Michael David Maffie, 2023. "Becoming a pirate: Independence as an alternative to exit in the gig economy," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 46-67, March.
    5. Nick Krachler & Jennie Auffenberg & Luigi Wolf, 2021. "The Role of Organizational Factors in Mobilizing Professionals: Evidence from Nurse Unions in the United States and Germany," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 643-668, September.

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