Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Political Context of Union Certification Elections

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What factors determine labor unions' ability to build membership with workplace recognition elections? Certification elections determine whether a workplace will be organized. Victory in these elections is the primary way that unions gain new members. The frequency of such elections, however, has fallen sharply. Analysts interested in the decline of union membership often emphasize shifting economic arrangements, globalization, employer resistance, and shortcomings in union organizing strategies. What is commonly overlooked, however, is the influence of national politics on labor's fortunes. For this reason and because political opportunities often are a crucial determinant of social movement success, this study fills a void in the literature by using a time-series analysis to isolate the factors that help unions' obtain these elections. The findings address how politics influence labor's capacity to build their membership. They also extend theories about how business, labor, and the government interact under different historical conditions. The results will offer new insights about the relationships between social movements and democratic states and thereby provide additional knowledge about the effects of political opportunities on social movements. This research is important for the average citizen because it sheds light on factors that contribute to the decline of organizations that provide workplace protections for workers. The new data (that come from the National Labor Relations Board and from government publications) will be made available to other scholars and thus should enhance research in this area. This research will be conducted at Ohio State University and the findings will be presented at professional conferences and in scientific journals.