A municipal workers€™ union that represents sanitation workers in many small Midwestern cities studied the contracts that were signed in the previous years. The contracts were subdivided into those settled by negotiation without a strike, those settled by arbitration without a strike, and those settled after a strike. For each contract, the first-year percentage wage increase was determined. Summary figures follow.

Does there appear to be a relationship between contract type and mean percentage wage increase? If you were management rather than union affiliated, which posture would you take in future ­contract negotiations?

Transcribed Image Text:

Contract Type NegotatioArbitration Poststrike Mean Percentage Wage Increase820 Variance Standard Deviation Sample Size 0.87 0.93 9.42 1.04 1.02 8.40 147 1.21 38 16