THE IMPACT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ON FACULTY COMPENSATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

This study focused on an examination of the impact of collective bargaining on faculty compensation primarily during the 1970s. Six research questions with accompanying hypotheses were set forth. The sample consisted of forty-five matched pairs of union and nonunion institutions. The matching process attempted to control for five major compensation-determining variables in order to isolate the effects of unionization. Changes in faculty compensation in dollars and percentage changes were tested for statistical significance using t tests and analyzed from the year immediately prior to six years following unionization. The data were examined by all faculty ranks combined, public and private institutions, AAUP categories, and individual academic ranks. The results showed that prior to unionization faculty compensation levels were not unusually low for those institutions that subsequently unionized. Second, faculty compensation at institutions with collective bargaining was significantly higher in the short-run but not in the long-run than at comparable nonunion institutions. Third, the impact of collective bargaining on faculty compensation did not differ significantly between public and private institutions. Fourth, the adoption of collective bargaining did not significantly change the faculty compensation structure among different types of institutions based on AAUP categories except for Category I institutions in the long-run. Fifth, the adoption of collective bargaining did not significantly change the compensation ranges across academic ranks with the exception of those faculty ranks below full professor in the short-run. Sixth, interrank compensation differentials between junior and senior faculty were not significantly reduced by unionization. Finally, less comprehensive two-year institutions demonstrated significant long-run percentage gains in compensation relative to more comprehensive four-year institutions. The major conclusion of the study was that the impact of collective bargaining on faculty compensation was short-run in nature. Thus, the academic marketplace appeared to be reasonably efficient in making compensation adjustments between union and nonunion institutions. Severaly early beliefs about collective bargaining were not supported such as the belief that compensation deprivation led to unionization and collective bargaining narrowed the compensation gap between junior and senior faculty.