Militance of the employer and the blue collar

Bargaining power is based not only on objective factors such as the level of unemployment or the structure of bargaining but also on subjective psychological factors. The most important of these is the militancy and solidarity of the union membership and of the management of the firm. Militance increases one side’s bargaining power because the other side knows that it can prevail only if it is willing to accept a long and bitter strike. An employer facing a union whose members are unified and ‘ready to walk’ will be likely to concede much more in bargaining than if the rank and file is apathetic or torn into competing factions. A union may also have second thoughts about striking when it faces an employer who is known for taking a hard-nosed, no-nonsense approach to bargaining.