Journal Facts

Journal
Journal of Collective Negotiations
ISSN
2167-7816 (print) 2167-7824 (electronic)
Volume
29
Issue
1
Date
3/1/2000

Article Facts

Title
Labor Party Support and Teachers Salaries in Alberta
DOI
10.2190/38P4-Y28H-RDLB-DG0B
Author
Alex Z. Kondra and Ian Stewart
Pages
11-28
Online Date
05/09/2002

Article Links

Labor Party Support and Teachers Salaries in Alberta

Alex Z. Kondra and Ian Stewart

DOI: 10.2190/38P4-Y28H-RDLB-DG0B

Abstract

There has been little debate in Canada over whether labor parties and their supporters support public sector workers more than right-wing parties or whether support for labor parties translates into higher wages for public sector workers, particularly at the municipal level. Yet there is a strong belief that there are political aspects to public sector bargaining outcomes even though the mechanism for translating the political environment into bargaining outcomes has been left unclear. We tested the hypothesis that support for labor parties in provincial elections results in higher pay for public sector workers. More specifically, we analyzed the relationship between support for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in provincial elections and wage rates for public sector teachers in the Province of Alberta. Our findings show that local NDP support translates into higher wages and wage compression for teachers in Alberta.

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