Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Human Resources Development and Performance Technology

First Advisor

Eversole, Barbara

Abstract

Collective bargaining processes, plays an important role in employee employer relations and has significant impact on the dynamics and operations of organizations. The presence of unions poses challenges to management and appeases employees. The present study examined the roles unions plays in the collective bargaining process and their impact on negotiations for white-collar versus blue-collar workers. The study investigated, whether white-collar employees receives preferential treatment over blue-collar employees, during the collective bargaining process, and whether management concessions towards white-collar employees will be perceived to be more favorable than those of blue-collar employees and correlations between job satisfaction and collective bargaining outcomes, which may be related to perceived bias for white-collar employees. A survey conducted on 120 union employees. The results of the study showed, white-collar employees received preferential treatment over blue-collar employees. Further, that 48% of participants felt that management made favorable concessions to white-collar workers. No correlations were found between job satisfaction and outcomes of collective bargaining.

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