NCJ Number
100947
Date Published
1985
Length
253 pages
Annotation
Eight papers by Wisconsin's Special Committee on the Municipal Collective Bargaining Law examine aspects of the impact of the State's municipal employment mediation-arbitration law, which mandates the use of mediation and arbitration to resolve impasses in collective bargaining between municipal employers and employees.
Abstract
Data for the papers were taken principally from responses to a questionnaire sent to employer and employee representatives in 350 bargaining units across the State. The requested information covered the contract in effect during 1983, the most recent period for which complete data were available. All 145 units which received an arbitration award for the contract were surveyed, and the remaining 205 units were randomly selected from nonarbitrated agreements. A paper on general aspects of the negotiating process (bargaining experience, bargaining team and unit characteristics, and negotiation costs) is followed by papers on the duration of the bargaining process and the use of comparable settlements in bargaining. Other topics reviewed are issue resolution in bargaining, bargaining strategies, the roles of mediators and arbitrators, the impact of the law on employee wages, and employer and employee views of the mediation-arbitration process under the law. Major findings from all papers are summarized.