A municipal workers’ union that represents sanitation workers in many small Midwestern c...

A municipal workers’ union that represents sanitation workers in many small Midwestern cities studied the contracts that were signed in the previous years. The contracts were subdivided into those settled by negotiation without a strike, those settled by arbitration without a strike, and all those settled after a strike. For each contract, the first-year percentage wage increase was determined. Summary figures follow.

Does there appear to be a relationship between contract type and mean percent wage increase? If you were management rather than union affiliated, which posture would you take in future contract negotiations?