The psychosocial impact of a labour dispute

Abstract

As a by‐product of a larger investigation, this paper examines the psychosocial impact of a 1976 labour dispute among Canadian air traffic controllers. Questionnaires were administered to the controllers during the dispute and during two subsequent periods of routine operations, four and 10 months later. The level of distress, as measured by the 30‐item General Health Questionnaire, was significantly higher during the dispute than during routine operations. The labour dispute was also accompanied by deterioration in perceived general functioning, perceived health and perceived anxiety. However, no increase in use of medical services was documented in the two‐month period surrounding the dispute. Nor did the findings demonstrate any direct causal relationship between the salient issue of the dispute (i.e. the implementation of bilingual air communication in parts of Canada) and the increase in distress level during the dispute. Implications for the focus of future research in the field of labour disputes are discussed.

The Psychological Impact of Industrial Strikes: Does Involvement in Union Activity during Strikes make a Difference?

“…However, it is useful to have confirmed by empirical methods the data of common sense. The results also support the findings of the small amount of existing literature (i.e., MacBride et al 1981; Barling and Milligan, 1987) that found unfavourable changes in psychological well-being for those involved in an industrial dispute. However, the current study extends those findings in two important ways.…”

“…Although the controllers had voted to strike, they were prevented from doing so by federal government legislation passed before the strike commenced. MacBride et al (1981), using the 30-item General Health Questionnaire to measure mental health, found that the level of psychological distress was significantly higher during the dispute than when measured 4 and 10 months later. The dispute was also accompanied by deterioration in perceived general functioning, perceived physical health and perceived anxiety.…”

Minor psychiatric morbidity in employed young men and women and its contribution to sickness absence.

“…Indeed, the acute cases generally took more absence than the chronic cases. Looking at those who were well at both assessments (tables 9 and 10), women Jenkins 26 (54-1) took more absence than men but both sexes increased their absence when ill. The sex difference, however, particularly in certified absence, was reversed in those who were ill at both assessments: chronically ill men take more absence than chronically ill women.…”

Stress and the Industrial Relations Process: Development of the Industrial Relations Event Scale

“…Breakdowns in the labour-management relationship represent a further source of W stress. Macbride, Lancee, and Freeman (1981) and Barling and Milligan (1987) showed that involvement in labour disputes and/or strikes exerts a detrimental effect on subsequent psychological well-being.…”