The Impact of Fire Fighter Unionization on Wages and Working Hours in American Cities

Explaining Salary Levels in the Public Safety Sector

“…Most previous investigators have included a city's population density-population per square mile-as a predictor of its firefighter salary levels, on the assumption that greater population density produces more fires and thus greater demand for firefighters (Duncombe, 1991;Olson, 1980;Smith and Lyons, 1980). Most previous investigators have included a city's population density-population per square mile-as a predictor of its firefighter salary levels, on the assumption that greater population density produces more fires and thus greater demand for firefighters (Duncombe, 1991;Olson, 1980;Smith and Lyons, 1980).…”

“…Olson (1980) and Smith and Lyons (1980) both operationalize the wage levels for alternative occupations in terms of wages in the manufacturing sector, which they feel would attract a comparable applicant pool. Olson (1980) and Smith and Lyons (1980) both operationalize the wage levels for alternative occupations in terms of wages in the manufacturing sector, which they feel would attract a comparable applicant pool.…”

“…Smith and Lyons (1980), following Ehrenberg (1973), argue that municipalities with a council-manager form of government are run and organized in a more &dquo;businesslike&dquo; fashion and are able to bargain more efficiently with public employees; if this is true, we should expect to see cities with council-manager governments to have lower wage levels, all else being equal. Smith and Lyons (1980), following Ehrenberg (1973), argue that municipalities with a council-manager form of government are run and organized in a more &dquo;businesslike&dquo; fashion and are able to bargain more efficiently with public employees; if this is true, we should expect to see cities with council-manager governments to have lower wage levels, all else being equal.…”

“…and on basic union-related factors such as whether or not city workers have a written contract, whether or not they have a recognized union, and whether or not arbitration is used (Ashenfelter, 1971;Ehrenberg, 1973;Olson, 1980;Smith and Lyons, 1980;Schmidle, 1984). That is, models of municipal employee salaries have tended not to include variables reflecting political and administrative decisions made by municipal policymakers concerning the kinds of things public employees will do, the number of hours they work, and the way in which they will be compensated.…”

Unions and Municipal Decline

“…Most empirical research, however, suggests that although unions do raise municipal salaries, the union wage advantage generally falls in the 2% to 16% range, no higher than the impact of private sector unions (Ehrenberg and Goldstein, 1975;Ashenfelter, 1971;Ehrenberg, 1973;Freund, 1974;Karper and Meckstroth, 1976;Hall and Vanderporten, 1977;Kearney and Morgan, 1980;Smith and Lyons, 1980). There are some opposing findings (e.g., Edwards and Edwards, 1982), including a recent study (Hunter and Rankin, 1988) that indicates that municipal unions may have more impact on fringe benefits than on salaries.…”