Case Study Arizona Construction Labour

Words: 446
Pages: 2

Arizona Construction Labor: A Case Study of Union Decline by Herbert R. Northup, is a case study about what happens when labor unions push the costs beyond what the Arizona construction market can tolerate. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, this construction industry became highly unionized because of a series of strikes for major wage and benefit increased, which lead the sectors to move to an industry of open-shop contractors.
An open-shop contractor is a place of occupation where the workers are not required to join or financially support a union. Unionized contractors reacted to these open-shop by attempted to counter this move by agreeing to the set wages and benefits but failed because the trend of open-shop contractors continued. This case study examines the decrease in unionized construction in Arizona, from 1965 to 1989, by studying the available information and courts records, including depositions by the labor union, the company, and association officials (para. 3).
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This decrease has affected all of the United States work force, including all the sectors of this industry, and all the trades within this industry. A study in one state provided information on the cause and effects of labor unions, and the increasing open-shop contractors. In 1973, 40 percent of the employees in this industry was represented by unions. By 1987 this percent had decreased to 22 percent (para. 2). Companies moved from unionized workers and migrated to open shop contractors. This movement toward open-shop construction was irresistible. According to the case study, the employees in this industry, who were reported to be represented by unions, decreased during this period from 1.7 million to 1.2 million, while the industry's open-shop employment increased from 4.3 million to more than 5 million (para.