THE IMPACT OF UNION STATUS ON GENERAL EMPLOYEE MUNICIPAL PENSION PLANS IN FLORIDA

This article examines the relationship of union status and pension pla n coverage for general municipal employees in the State of Florida Stu dies have indicated a number of union effects on pay and benefits and there is reason to expect that unionized employees will be more likely to have pension plan coverage and that defined benefit plans will be more likely than defined contribution plans. Data from the State of Fl orida Division of Retirement and the Florida Public Employees Relation s Commission were merged and analyzed. Municipalities with unionized g eneral employees are more likely to provide pension plans and to have defined benefit pension plans than municipalities with nonunionized ge neral employees. There also appears to be a union spillover effect whe n general employees are nonunionized, but there is a police or fire un ion in the same municipality.