Models of Militancy: Support for Strikes and Work Actions among Public Employees

This paper examines support for militant action among the employees of a public assistance agency in which negotiations were occurring over a first contract. A questionnaire survey obtained information on whether employees were willing to strike over various issues during negotiations; whether they would participate in certain work actions, such as sick-outs, in the future; and whether they actually had participated in any work actions during the previous year. The survey results show that attitudinal support for both strikes and work actions, but not actual participation in work actions, was generated partially by the incongruity of professional aspirations within bureaucratic constraints. A political process involving the relations of union members and office stewards also affected support for work actions. The social-background variables of age and sex shared common effects on support for strikes and work actions, whereas race only affected strike support. An economic model of militancy received little support, perhaps because of the nature of the sample.