Session 5
— Economic Analysis of Unions
Case Study 5.5e_02 "When Striking Is Illegal"
Directions: Complete the following case study and record your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
Topic: Why workers in certain public industries cannot legally strike.
Objective: To demonstrate how workers in certain industries in which striking is illegal use strategies like "blue flu" or "work slowdown" to express job dissatisfaction and force management to meet their demands.
In 1947, the United States Congress passed a law making it illegal for certain government employees to strike. This law addressed workers whose duties protect both society and the economy. Police officers, firefighters, air traffic controllers and other workers are needed to run the complex infrastructure of the U.S. economy. If they decided to strike, entire industries could cease to function. This could threaten the safety of all U.S. citizens. Imagine no police officers to fight crime, no firefighters to extinguish fires and no air traffic controllers to guide planes to a safe landing. If one of these industries stopped functioning, the effect on the overall economy would be huge.
In 1981, air traffic controllers walked off their jobs, demanding improved working conditions. President Ronald Reagan used the 1947 law to justify firing the striking employees. He claimed that the controllers, who were responsible for the safety of all passengers, violated the duty of their jobs. When government employees are hired, they sign an oath promising not to strike. When workers in these industries become dissatisfied with their working conditions, they must find other ways to make their demands known.
CS Question 1: Why is it unlawful for workers in certain industries to strike?
Since striking is illegal for certain employees, they may use a labor strategy known as slowdown. It refers to the purposeful slowing of production. A slowdown allows workers to use their collective power without actually striking. In a slowdown, workers attempt to make their time less financially beneficial to management. They might fill out forms incorrectly, skip steps in the production line or arrive late from breaks. Other forms of slowdown are:
A work-to-rule slowdown involves enforcing every single management or governmental rule about safety, process or procedure. Oftentimes, such rules can be very specific and petty. During normal working conditions many of these rules are overlooked or generalized to gain efficiency. Enforcing rules to the letter is time-consuming and can be frustrating to management.
A safety inspection slowdown occurs when a union exercises all of its rights to inspect machinery and working conditions. This creates interruptions and delays in production. Further, the union may be able to halt or limit specific production if the safety inspectors discover a safety risk of any kind.
During a blue flu epidemic, dissatisfied workers call in sick rather than go on full strike. Sick days are part of a worker's contract. The government cannot fire workers for calling in sick. While this is a form of strike, it usually does not shut down an industry. However, it does shift the workload to nonunion supervisors and management. Workers organize blue flu outbreaks to demonstrate their power to management and to express their demands. The term blue flu refers to the color of police officers' uniforms. Though the origin of the blue flu is found in law enforcement, other industries have also adopted this strategy.
Worker slowdown stategies are increasingly being used in the private sector. Private sector employees may have less job security than those in the public sector. Worker slowdown allows individuals in the private sector to use collective bargaining action with a decreased chance of losing their jobs.
CS Question 2: What is slowdown?
When contract negotiations broke down, teachers in Racine, Wisconsin, participated in a blue flu, since they are forbidden by law to strike. Racine was also the sight of a 50-day teacher strike in 1977, which led to current laws making it illegal for Wisconsin teachers to strike. Hundreds of teachers began calling in sick on Monday, February 16, 1998. The teachers in Racine had been without a new contract for years. The starting salary for a teacher in Racine was $24,607. The lowest 10 percent salary range for American teachers is between $19,710 and $24,390.
The Racine Unified School District is made up of 31 schools employing 1,600 teachers and educating 21,000 students. In total, the action caused the closure of 18 schools over a four-day period. Some students participated by walking out of school or displaying other signs of support. The district closed all schools on Monday, February 24, fearing the escalation of blue flu activity that could endanger students. District personnel made clear their plans to take the teachers' union to court on Tuesday, Feburary 25, and to seek an injunction against the blue flu epidemic. That Tuesday, the union responded by ordering teachers back to work. Teachers returned to work on Wednesday, February 25. The action did not get the teachers a new contract. It did, however, pull attention back to the issue. Teachers continued to picket, and the union continued to negotiate on behalf of the teachers. The teachers did receive a salary increase that went into effect January 26, 1999. The starting salary for a teacher in the Racine Unified School District increased to $26,451.
CS Question 3: What is your opinion on the blue flu action of Racine's teachers and its resoluton?
There are reports that physicians use similarly subtle strategies to work around the current medical system. In 1996, California Governor Pete Wilson declared that state employees were no longer allowed to give pregnancy-related care to undocumented immigrants. The medical community was outraged and took several steps to protest the regulation. Since striking would prevent individuals from receiving medical care, it was not an option. The physicians took the opposite approach. They promised to keep delivering care despite the governor's order. Over 20,000 physicians publicly stated that they would disobey any law requiring them to deny services. Ultimately, the courts declared this regulation unconstitutional.
CS Question 4: How did the California medical community protest the new regulation concerning undocumented immigrants?