Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 4-24-2024
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Public Policy Leadership
First Advisor
Kyle G. Fritz
Second Advisor
Jarod Roll
Third Advisor
Rebecca Marchiel
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
In principle, railroad workers have a legal right to engage in strikes in the United States, just like a majority of other workers. In practice, however, they are ostensibly forced into compulsory arbitration where Congress legislates their contract even if they vote to strike. The government’s justification for overriding the workers’ right to strike in this way is that a full-scale strike could have serious economic impacts to the national economy. Overriding railroad workers’ right to strike still raises ethical concerns, because the right to strike is crucial for workers to protect their interests. While unrestricted, indefinite, large-scale strikes may lead to significant economic harms, there may be ways to limit strikes that prevent the worst economic harms to the nation while also protecting worker rights more effectively. I explore both unrestricted strikes and strikes that are legally restricted in participation, duration, or geographical area. Each type of strike is evaluated along two metrics: how well it is able to create pressure on employers to protect workers’ rights, and how well it limits economic damage compared to the standard American policy of unrestricted strikes. Few restricted strikes are currently used in the US, so where information on these metrics is scarce, I draw on similarly developed Western countries. Ultimately, I find that a combination of limitations on participation and duration is the best way to minimize economic damage while protecting worker rights. I also recommend future investigations to procure more detailed economic data on strike actions as well as define further different categories of industrial actions.
Recommended Citation
Morrisey, Evan, "An Investigation of Alternative Strike Policies for Railroad Workers" (2024). Honors Theses. 3104.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3104
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