Sample Questions for Econ 322 Midterm

1) How does the union movement in the United States differ from the European movement in terms of theoretical underpinnings, history, political influence, and scale of collective bargaining?

2) From the standpoint of union organization, what are the pros and cons of industrial unions versus craft unions? How has the history of unionization in the United States reflected those pros and cons?

3) How has union density changed since World War II? What factors have been hypothesized to explain at least part of the change? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these explanations.

4) What are the major pieces of legislation regulating collective bargaining in the United States? What are their impacts on union density?

5) What factors led to the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act?

6) Why do employee teams potentially violate the NLRA?

7) Critics have argued that the NLRB is overly influenced by political pressure. Review arguments supporting or refuting the critics. What do you think of these arguments?

8) What are examples of union free bargaining?

9) Why is the decision of which workers are included in a bargaining unit important? Who decides the make-up of a bargaining unit?

10) How can firms fight whipsawing?

11) Why have high wage differentials between the union and nonunion sectors in construction helped lead to declines in union density?

12) What is salting?

13) What factors would a union take into account in deciding which firms or sectors to target for organization?

14) What has happened to union success in organization drives using NLRB elections versus voluntary recognition drives?

15) What are right-to-work laws? How do right-to-work states differ from other states?

16) How do firms fight union organization drives?

17) What are RC, RM, or RD petitions? When can they be filed and by whom?

18) How does the role of a human resource manager differ in a union versus a nonunion firm in terms of personnel evaluation, compensation, selection, and training?

19) What are mandatory, voluntary or illegal items in collective bargaining?

20) What is an impasse?

21) What causes strikes? How common are they?

22) Can firms permanently replace strikers? How often do they?

23) What factors make the union resistance or the firm concession curve steeper?

24) Why can the threat of a strike increase the likelihood of a settlement without a strike?

25) What is a public good?

26) Explain alternative styles of bargaining. How do they correspond to aspects of game theory?