Six State Study of Impasse Procedures in the Public Sector

• NCJ Number: 93686
• Author(s): P F Gerhart; J E Protning
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 261 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Labor
• Corporate Author: Case Western Reserve University
• Sale Source: National Technical Information Service
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examines the effectiveness of a variety of policies and procedures used to resolve public-sector labor disputes in Iowa, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Abstract

The study is limited to municipal and school districts and four key public-sector occupations: police, fire, sanitation, and teachers. The general research hypothesis is that if an impasse procedure provides for certain statutory guides, is administered along particular lines, and the intervenor has particular qualities and uses particular tactics in a given dispute, the dispute or impasse will be resolved sooner rather than later. Part of the research focus is the nature of the statutory guides, the administrative approaches, the effective tactics, and intervenor qualities. The key issue, however, is whether any of these factors make an impact on the timing of dispute settlement. Using the case study approach, the researchers identified 22 school districts and 32 cities for investigation as to the effectiveness of the impasse procedures available to the parties. The investigation consisted of open-ended personal interviews with 189 persons on both sides of the bargaining table as well as mediators. Members and staff of five State agencies were interviewed for their views on the difficulty of impasses, the variations in impasse procedure administration and on the qualities of the neutral intervention most likely to yield success. The study concludes that effective impasse procedures are those that produce peaceful, timely, bilateral settlements by either (1) increasing the 'costs' to the parties for continued disagreement or (2) enhancing rational bargaining by providing experts to assist the parties in developing alternative solutions to problems. It appears that the qualities and behaviors of those charged with the administration of a State's impasse policy are more influential than the policies themselves in determining the effectiveness of the impasse procedures. The appendixes contain the site selection form and interview formats, the analysis of State statutes, and the data summary.