The Geography of US Union Elections 2: Performance of the United Auto Workers Union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union,1970–82
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online February, 1987
The Geography of US Union Elections 2: Performance of the United Auto Workers Union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union,1970–82
This paper is an extension of previous work on the geography of US union elections. It is largely an exercise in description. The issue here concerns the electoral performance of two unions, the United Auto Workers union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, over the period 1970–82. Relevant descriptive variables include location, scale, sector, state right-to-work legislation, and local economic variables. Two arguments are advanced. First, there are parallels between the electoral performance of US unions, and the partisan political process. Forces of electoral fragmentation evident in the partisan political process are mediated, however, by institutional factors relating to the organizing strategies of unions. Second, it is observed that there are significant differences between the unions, especially with respect to the patterns of their electoral successes and failures. These patterns, and their associations with local economic factors, are illustrated through a series of multivariate analyses of variance. Definitive tests of hypothesized causal relationships are left to a subsequent paper.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ArcherJ CTaylorP, 1981Section and Party: A Political Geography of American Presidential Elections from Andrew Jackson to Ronald Reagan (John Wiley, Chichester, Sussex)
2.
AshenfelterOPencavelJ, 1969, “American trade union growth: 1900–1960”Quarterly Journal of Economics83434–448
3.
BausorR, 1983, “The rational-expectations hypothesis and the epistemics of time”Cambridge Journal of Economics71–10
4.
BeckN, 1982, “Parties, administrations, and American macroeconomic outcomes”American Political Science Review7683–93
5.
CavanaghT ESundquistJ, 1985, “The new two-party system”, in The New Direction in American Politics Eds ChubbJPetersonP (Brookings Institution, Washington, DC) pp 33–68
6.
Civil Rights Act, 1964, 42 USC 2000d et seq
7.
ClaggettWFlaniganWZingaleN, 1984, “Nationalization of the American electorate”American Political Science Review7877–91
8.
ClarkG L, 1986, “The crisis of the midwest auto industry”, in Production, Work, Territory: The Geographical Anatomy of Industrial Capitalism Eds ScottAStorperM (George Allen and Unwin, Hemel Hempstead, Herts) pp 145–166
9.
ClarkG L, 1987, “Restructuring the US economy: the NLRB, the Saturn project, and economic justice”Economic Geography (forthcoming)
10.
ClarkG LDearM, 1984State Apparatus: Structures and Language of Legitimacy (George Allen and Unwin, Hemel Hempstead, Herts)
11.
ClarkG LGertlerMWhitemanJ, 1986Regional Dynamics: Studies in Adjustment Theory (George Allen and Unwin, Hemel Hempstead, Herts)
12.
ClarkG LJohnstonK, 1987, “The geography of US union elections 1: the crisis of US unions and a critical review of the literature”Environment and Planning A1933–57
13.
ConverseP, 1966, “The concept of the normal vote” in Elections and the Political Order Ed. CampbellA (John Wiley, New York) pp 9–39
DunlopJ, 1944Wage Determination Under Trade Unions (Augustus Kelley, New York)
16.
DunlopJ, 1948, “The development of labor organization”, in Insights into Labor Issues Eds LesterR AShisterJ (Macmillan, London) pp 163–193
17.
Economic Report of the President, 1986 (US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC)
18.
EllwoodDFineG, 1983, “Effects of right-to-work laws on union organizing” mimeo (National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA)
19.
FiorinaM, 1981Retrospective Voting in American National Elections (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT)
20.
GordonR J, 1980, “Postwar macroeconomics: the evolution of events and ideas”, in The American Economy in Transition Eds FeldsteinM (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL) pp 101–182
21.
HibbsD A, 1977, “Political parties and macroeconomic policy”American Political Science Review711467–1487
22.
HibbsD A, 1985, “Inflation, political support, and macroeconomic policy”, in The Politics of Inflation and Economic Stagnation Eds LindbergLMaierC (The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC) pp 175–195
23.
JohnstonK, 1986, “Judicial adjudication and the spatial structure of production: two decisions by the National Labor Relations BoardEnvironment and Planning A1827–39
24.
JohnstonR J, 1982, “The changing geography of voting in the United States: 1946–1980”Transactions, Institute of British Geographers, New Series7187–204
KeyV OJr, 1949Southern Politics in State and Nation (Alfred Knopf, New York)
27.
KiewietD R, 1983Macro-economics and Micro-politics: The Electoral Effects of Economic Issues (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
28.
KinderDKiewietD R, 1979, “Economic discontent and political behavior: the role of personal grievances and collective economic judgments in congressional voting”American Journal of Political Science23495–527
29.
KinderDKiewietD R, 1981, “Sociotropic politics: the American case”British Journal of Political Science11129–161
National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act, 1935, 49 Stat. 449, as amended, 29 USC section 151–166
37.
National Labor Relations Board, various years, “Election report”Division of Information, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, DC
38.
National Labor Relations Board, 1985Legislative History of the National Labor Relations Act, 19352 volumes (US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC)
39.
RogoffKSibertA, 1986, “Elections and macroeconomic policy cycles” mimeo, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA
40.
RuskJStuckerJ J, 1978, “The effect of the southern system of election laws on voting participation”, in The History of American Electoral Behavior Eds SilbeyJBogueAFlaniganW (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) pp 198–250
41.
SchlozmanKVerbaS, 1979Insult to Injury: Unemployment, Class, and Political Response (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
42.
SchuermanJ, 1983Multivariate Analysis in the Human Services (Kluwer Nijhoff, Boston, MA)
43.
ShisterJ, 1953, “The logic of union growth”Journal of Political Economy61413–433
44.
StoneK, 1981, “The postwar paradigm in American labor law”Yale Law Journal901509–1580
TaylorPJohnstonR J, 1979Geography of Elections (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middx)
47.
TroyLSheflinN, 1985Union Sourcebook: Membership, Structure, Finance DirectoryIndustrial Relations Data Information Services, PO Box 226WOB, West Orange, NJ 07052
48.
US Department of Commerce, various years, “County Business Patterns” (US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC)
49.
VerbaSNieN, 1972Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality (Harper and Row, New York)
50.
Wagner Act—see National Labor Relations Act
51.
WattenbergM P, 1984The Decline of American Political Parties 1952-1980 (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
52.
WeilerP, 1983, “Promises to keep: securing workers' rights to self organization under the NLRA”Harvard Law Review961769–1827
53.
WilliamsonO, 1975Markets and Hierarchies (Free Press, New York)
54.
WolfingerRRosenstoneS, 1980Who Votes? (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT)
55.
WoodwardC V, 1966The Strange Career of Jim Crow2nd edition (Oxford University Press, New York)
