Description/Abstract
This study examines the dynamic relationship between union elections and occupational safety among manufacturing establishments. Data on union elections come from the National Labor Relations Board, and data on workplace inspections and accident case rates come from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The results indicate that union elections improved occupational safety. First, workplace inspections trended upwards before the election, then decreased immediately after the election, due almost entirely to employee complaints. Second, accident case rates were relatively stable before the election, then trended downwards after the election, due to accidents involving days away from work, job restrictions, and job transfers. These effects are evident regardless of the election outcome. Based on the value of statistical injury, the improvement in occupational safety is equivalent to an increase in the hourly wage between $0.47 and $2.62.
Document Type
Working Paper
Date
Summer 7-2017
Keywords
Unions, Occupational Safety, OSHA, Job transfers, Job restrictions, National Labor Relations Board
Language
English
Series
Working Papers Series
Disciplines
Economic Policy | Labor Economics | Labor Relations | Unions | Work, Economy and Organizations
ISSN
1525-3066
Recommended Citation
Li, Ling; Rohlin, Shawn; and Singleton, Perry, "Labor Unions and Occupational Safety: Event-Study Analysis Using Union Elections" (2017). Center for Policy Research. 237.
https://surface.syr.edu/cpr/237
Accessible PDF version
Source
Local input
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Included in
Economic Policy Commons, Labor Economics Commons, Unions Commons, Work, Economy and Organizations Commons
Additional Information
Working paper no. 205
For helpful comments and suggestions, the authors would like to thank Gary Engelhardt, Brigham Frandsen, Hugo Jales, and Jeffrey Kubik. The authors would also like to thank Jeanette Walters-Marquez for providing data from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.