Full text: Economic essays

100 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK 
strike benefits may give out, the fear that the employers’ 
resources may be stronger, the fear that either non-union work- 
men may be brought in from outside or that the work may be 
sent out to non-union shops, the fear that in the event that the 
strike should prove unsuccessful the strikers may be black- 
listed from employment or discriminated against as regards pro- 
motion. But these fears are less than they otherwise would be, 
and at the same price less labor is offered than would otherwise 
be the case. The greater is the number who are thus organized, 
the more the supply curve will approach something of a plateau 
when the level of the union rate for which the unionists are striv- 
ing is reached. The nature of the change effected by trade-union 
organization may be illus- 
trated in Figure 15. Curve 
Aj is assumed to represent 
the supply schedule of 
labor before and Curve 
Bs after a sturdy organi- 
zation has been built up. 
The laborers from A to 
B are common to both 
situations, namely those 
who would work for little 
and who do not wish to 
join the union lest it im- 
pair their ability to secure 
work. Their bids, there- 
fore, are still low in the 
hope that they will be employed. The group from B to Bj 
represent those who do not join the union but who will ask for 
more than they otherwise would, because they know that the 
large group in the union will demand a still higher wage. The 
group from B; to B, are the union members who are sticking out 
for the wage of height B;. This may well be somewhat less than 
the minimum which they are ostensibly demanding of the 
employers. The units of labor offered from B; to Bs; may be 
regarded as the number of overtime hours which would be fur- 
nished by the workers at given prices. It will be noticed that 
it will take a larger price than formerly to induce an equal 
quantity to offer itself. This is because the basic wage is itself 
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