TOWARD IDENTIFYING THE DETERMINANTS OF PUBLIC-EMPLOYEE UNIONS INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICAL ACTIVITIES

Public-employee unions' political activities directly affect collectiv e bargaining outcomes, yet we know little about the determinants of su ch activities. In this paper, we present a model that specifies public -employee unions' political activities to be a function of organizatio nal characteristics of cities, institutional features of labor-managem ent relations, and Various environmental factors. We tested the model using municipal-level data collected by the International City Managem ent Association. The findings support several conclusions regarding pu blic-employee unions' political activities. First, factors that determ ine unions' involvement in electoral politics differ from those that d etermine unions' involvement in legislative politics. Second, electora l political activities appear to be used as a complement to collective bargaining. Third, who serves as chief negotiator for a city signific antly affects unions' participation in political activities.