The determination of wages for unionized construction electricians in New York City, 1953-1983

The dissertation will use both econometric techniques and historical accounts to analyze the determination of wages in the unionized labor market for construction electricians in New York City from 1953 to 1983. I hypothesize that hourly wage change is significantly effected by union structure and membership involvement. Earlier wage studies have established a positive correlation between the percentage of an industry's labor force that is organized and the growth of wages. S. Sobotka's investigation of construction union wage effects, H. G. Lewis' classic re-evaluation of wage studies and more recent work by R. Freeman and J. Medoff have all demonstrated the existence of a union wage effect.However these studies have not fully developed the notion of a "union effect" in terms of the social relations of work and trade union structure. The object of my research is to investigate the union wage relation at the micro-economic level through a case study of wage change for electricians represented by Local Union No. 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.Wage movements are explained through a two step procedure. The first part identifies a union wage effect by regressing the rate of wage change on a set of conventional independent variables. These include the degree of union strength and market factors such as unemployment levels and productivity. The second part of the inquiry examines the role of union structure and union activism by establishing proxies for a secondary pay scale, union meeting attendance and union organizing campaigns. The econometric results lend support to my arguments that conventional models of union wage are inadequate. The statistical improvements gained from my stylized social variables indicate a need to look more closely at the social aspects of wage determination.