Structural Antecedents of the Shape of Strikes: A Comparative Analysis

Two models purporting to explain variation in strike shape (Shorter and TYlly, 1971; Britt and Galle, 1972) are compared using cross-sectional data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We found that the concentration of workers in larger plants is conducive to shorter, broader, less frequent strikes. More heavily unionized industries tend to be characterized by broader, shorter, more frequent strikes; industries with larger work forces tend to have somewhat more frequent and shorter strikes. Industries with larger unions have more frequent strikes but do not differ in strike shape from industries with smaller unions. Following Olson's (1971) assumption of the importance of overcoming economic disincentives and Knowles' (1952) argument that certain strike shapes have traditionally been more effective for workers, we concluded that variations in the size of plants and industries affect the degree to which short, broad strikes are effective, and that the impact of unionization variables should be interpreted in light of their ability to overcome economic disincentives against striking.