The Impact of Post-PATCO Labor Relations on U.S. Union Wages

Abstract

An augmented Phillips curve model is employed to evaluate the hypothesis that the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike of 1981 marked the beginning of a structural change in U.S. labor relations, which increased the relative bargaining power of management. After controlling for other factors which influence union wages, the resulting estimates indicate that union wage growth rates, average wages, and total union wage payments were significantly retarded by a structural shift which originated concurrently with the 1981 replacement of striking PATCO members by the federal government.Union; Wage