The author hypothesizes a two-way causality between intracontractual strikes and productivity change in U.S. manufacturing: on the one hand, strikes during the term of a contract, which are thought to reflect more broadly practiced shop floor militancy, slow the pace of productivity growth; and on the other hand, periods of rapid productivity growth provoke increased intracontractual strike activity, among other forms of shop floor protest. The model is tested with quarterly data from 1961 through 1981. Modified two-stage least squares estimates support the hypothesis of two-way causality. A specific finding is that shop floor confrontation played a significant role in the slump in manufacturing productivity that began in the mid-1960s, but not in the more precipitous productivity slowdown of the post-1973 years. JNDUSTRIAL relations practices and labor productivity are linked together in the public mind and in the academic literature with some surety of a connection but with less surety of its mechanisms. In this paper I seek to contribute to our understanding of one of those mechanisms, the link between strike activity and productivity change. More specifically, I hypothesize and test a structural model of the relationship between a varying rate of productivity growth in the United States manufacturing sector and the incidence of strikes occurring within the unexpired terms of collective bargaining agreements. I interpret the frequency of such strikes as reflecting the variable pattern of a broadly practiced worker militancy and shop floor

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This study examines the differential effects of union density on the degree of earnings inequality among women and among men. Our results suggest an equalizing impact of union density for all men and for both men and women who work year‐round and full time. Union density does not appear to equalize and may even contribute to a disequalization of the earnings distribution for all women.

This article offers a summary of events and circumstances surrounding the implementation of the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations' New Alliance program in Pennsylvania. Focusing on the challenges involved in establishing and operating the state's five new Area Labor Federations (ALFs), the article documents the emerging success of Pennsylvania's ALFs in building the capacity for and strategically minded use of local and regional power by and for the statewide labor movement's affiliates and their allies.

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