1. Introduction
2. Seven Tests of Just Cause
3. Arbitration
4. Readings and Activities

Collective Bargaining Negotiations, Strike and Impasse

When a union and an employer come together to negotiate or renegotiate a collective bargaining agreement, the odds are very, very high that the parties will agree to a contract without any disruption of the workplace by a strike or a lockout. However, in a small number of cases, the parties will reach an impasse. In an impasse, an employment relations term for a deadlock, neither side is willing to make any further compromises or changes to its position to reach a settlement.

Where such a dispute occurs, there are a number of strategies available to the parties. From the employee side, these include strikes, slowdowns, boycotts, and corporate campaigns. Employers also have an economic weapon of their own in lockouts, which are rare but do occur. Lockouts are essentially the flip side of the strike and take place when employers close down their operation and tell employees they will not reopen until the union accedes to the employer demands. Additional dispute resolution techniques that the parties may turn to in an effort to resolve a dispute are mediation and interest arbitration.

We will also now take an in-depth look at collective bargaining in two industries. These industry case studies help illustrate how the various components of collective bargaining discussed in recent lessons come together in practice.

The industries we will be examining have relatively high profiles. The professional sports industry (i.e. baseball, basketball, football, and hockey) is an important part of American culture and anything that threatens to interfere with that industry, such as a labor dispute, receives significant media attention. Labor disputes in the second industry, newspapers, also receive significant attention because of the important role they play in providing information. Newspapers are one of the main means of disseminating information and interruptions in that service quickly impact the public.

Beyond their visibility, these two industries have relatively little in common. In pro sports, for example, employees are generally very highly paid professionals, while the newspaper industry employs many different types of workers, ranging from professionals (reporters) to skilled blue-collar employees (printers) to less skilled employees (truck drivers and delivery people). The bargaining structure in the two industries is also different. Bargaining in pro sports is highly centralized and takes place on an industry-wide basis. The newspaper industry is more decentralized, with bargaining occurring mostly on a location-by-location basis.

This lesson (including commentary, readings, and activities) will focus on bargaining impasses and the primary mechanisms used by unions and employers to resolve such disputes. Particular attention will be paid to strikes and strike threats in the bargaining process. As you move through the case studies, be alert to the issues addressed in earlier lessons, including bargaining strategies and economic and non-economic issues.