The Determinants of Collective Bargaining Power in Labor-Management Relations - Focusing on the Analysis of the Economic Variables -

노사관계에 있어서 단체 교섭력의 결정요인 - 경제적 변수를 중심으로 -

Most of the theories of collective bargaining outcomes start with a set of economic variables. The economic constraints, pressures, and incentives influence the bargaining power relationship between labor union and employer. In this paper, the critical macro and micro economic variables that need to be considered in analyzing the economic context of collective bargaining power relationship is outlined. The focus is on the role that economic forces play in shaping the results of bargaining, that is the outcome of negotiations. In this study, the elasticity of the demand for labor is introduced as one of the most important economic aspects that influence bargaining power. Unions will be most successful in increasing wages when they enjoy an inelastic demand for labor. If the demand for labor is not naturally inelastic, some institutional arrangement for "taking wages out of competition" must be sought. Inflation, business cycle, and income policy are influential in shaping both parties' goals and expectations as well. In addition to the analysis of the economic variables, the nature of power is diagonized with some introductory notions about its care and feeding before proceeding to the details of the above issues.