Does a Specific Union Impact on Wage Increases? Evidence from Canada, 1985-2007

10 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2010

See all articles by Edison Roy-Cesar

Edison Roy-Cesar

University of Montreal

François Vaillancourt

Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organization (CIRANO)

Date Written: February 1, 2010

Abstract

The purpose of this note is to examine the effect of belonging to a specific union on negotiated wage increases, given unionisation status. The data consist of all collective agreements with more than 500 employees, which were signed in Quebec (N=632) or Ontario (N=1349) during the 1985-2007 period. The model used is a standard wage equation with the negotiated rate of increase of base wages, annualized as the dependent variable and four dichotomous variables for a specific union, the CPI and the unemployment rate two quarters before the collective agreements, the presence or not of a cost of living agreements in the collective agreement and eighteen industrial dichotomous variables. We find with one exception no evidence that one union is better than another in obtaining higher wage growth.

Keywords: Unions Wages, Collective Agreements

JEL Classification: J31, J50

Suggested Citation

Roy-Cesar, Edison and Vaillancourt, François, Does a Specific Union Impact on Wage Increases? Evidence from Canada, 1985-2007 (February 1, 2010). CIRANO - Scientific Publications 2010s-09, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1566960 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1566960

Edison Roy-Cesar

University of Montreal ( email )

C.P. 6128 succursale Centre-ville
Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7
Canada

François Vaillancourt (Contact Author)

Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organization (CIRANO) ( email )

2020 rue University, 25th floor
Montreal H3C 3J7, Quebec
Canada

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