Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:52:43.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Final Offer Arbitration in Great Britain: Style and Impact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

David Metcalf
Affiliation:
The Industrial Relations Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE
Simon Milner
Affiliation:
The Industrial Relations Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract

Within the last decade a number of British workplaces have signed agreements incorporating final-offer arbitration (FOA), a well known procedure in the US but unusual in British industrial relations. This is the first thorough study of recent British experience. Data are drawn from a postal survey of 72 plants, yielding information on nearly 300 wage bargaining rounds, and from interviews with eight managers at FOA plants which had disputes under the procedure. A full picture of the style and impact of FOA procedures in British workplaces is documented.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Thanks for helpful comments go to John Kelly, Andrew Oswald, Marcus Rubin, John Treble, Andrew Wilkinson, anonymous referees and participants at conferences and seminars at Priszceton, UMIST, Department of Employment and LSE. Financial support from the Department of Employment is gratefully acknowledged but the analysis and opinions are wholly those of Metcalf and Milner and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Employment.

References

Ashenfelter, O. (1985), ‘Evidence on US experiences with dispute resolution systems’, Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University, Working Paper No. 185.Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, O. and Bloom, D. (1983), ‘The pitfalls in judging arbitrator impartiality by win-loss tallies under final-offer arbitration’, Labor Law Journal, 34, pp. 534–39.Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, O. and Johnson, G. (1969), ‘Bargaining theory, trade unions and industrial strike activity’, American Economic Review, 59.1, pp. 3549.Google Scholar
Babcock, L., Camerer, C., Issacharoff, S., and Loewenstein, G. (1991), ‘Self-serving assessments of fairness and bargaining impasse’, Carnegie Mellon University, mimeo.Google Scholar
Bassett, P. (1986),Strike Free: New Industrial Relations in Britain, London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Blanchflower, D. and Cubbin, J. (1986), ‘Strike propensities at the British workplace’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 48.1, pp. 1939.Google Scholar
Cuthbert, N.H. (1960), The Lace Makers' Society: A Study of Trade Unionism in the British Lace Industry, 1760-1960, Nottingham: Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace Makers and Auxiliary Workers.Google Scholar
Farber, H.S. (1980), ‘An analysis of final-offer arbitration’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 24.4, pp. 683705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feuille, P. (1975), ‘Final offer arbitration and the chilling effect’, Industrial Relations, 14.3, pp. 302310.Google Scholar
Feuille, P. and Schwochau, S. (1988), ‘The decisions of interest arbitrators’, The Arbitration Journal, 43.1, pp. 2835.Google Scholar
Gallagher, D.G. and Pegnetter, R. (1979), ‘Impasse resolution under the Iowa multistep procedure’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 32.3, pp. 327338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gennard, J. (1988), ‘How pendulum arbitration agreements have worked in practice’, University of Strathclyde, mimeo.Google Scholar
Income Data Services (IDS) (1987), ‘Single union deals and dispute procedures’, IDS Study, no. 509.Google Scholar
Industrial Relations Review and Report (IRRR) (1981), ‘Single union deals’, no.442, 27 June.Google Scholar
Ingram, P., Metcalf, D. and Wadsworth, J. (1991), ‘Strike incidence and duration in British manufacturing industry in the 1980s’, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE, Discussion Paper No. 48.Google Scholar
Kennan, J. (1986), ‘The economics of strikes’, in Ashenfelter, O. and Layard, R. (eds.), Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. II Amsterdam and New York: North Holland, Elsievr Publishers.Google Scholar
Kessler, S. (1987), ‘The swings and roundabouts of pendulum arbitration’, Personnel Management, December, pp. 3842.Google Scholar
Labour Research Department (1989), ‘Are single-union deals on their way out?’, Labour Research, November, pp. 911.Google Scholar
Lester, R.A. (1984), Labor Arbitration in State and Local Government, Princeton: Princeton University.Google Scholar
Lewis, R. (1990), ‘Strike-free deals and pendulum arbitration’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 28.1, pp. 3256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machin, S., Stewart, M. and Van Reenen, J. (1993), ‘Multiple unionism, fragmented bargaining and economic outcomes in unionised UK establishments’, in Metcalf, D. and Milner, S. (1993), New Perspectives on Industrial Disputes, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
McCall, B.P. (1990), ‘Interest arbitration and the incentive to bargain: A principal-agent approach’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 34.1, pp. 151167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millward, N. and Stevens, M. (1986), British Workplace Industrial Relations 1980-1984: The DE/ESRC/PSI/ACAS Surveys, Aldershot: Gower.Google Scholar
Milner, S. (1992), ‘Final-offer arbitration in the UK: Incidence, processes and outcomes’, Department of Employment, Research Paper, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Milner, S. (1993), ‘Dispute deterrence: evidence on final-offer arbitration’, in Metcalf, D. and Milner, S. (1993), New Perspectives on Industrial Disputes, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Prais, S.J. (1978), ‘The strike-proneness of large plants in Britain’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A, 141.3, pp. 368384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rico, L. (1987), ‘The new industrial relations: British electricians' new-style deals’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 41.1, pp. 6378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, C.M. (1966), ‘Is compulsory arbitration compatible with bargaining?’, Industrial Relations, 5, pp. 3852.Google Scholar
Trades Union Congress (TUC) (1988), Meeting the Challenge; First Report of the Special Review Body, London: TUC.Google Scholar
Treble, J.G. (1986), ‘How new is final offer arbitration’, Industrial Relations, 25.1, pp. 9294.Google Scholar
Treble, J.G. (1990), ‘The pit and the pendulum: Arbitration in the British coal industry, 1893-1914’, The Economic Journal, 100, pp. 10951108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Sir J. (1985), ‘Last offer arbitration’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 23.3, pp. 415424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar