On occasion bargaining orders are invoked as a means of instructing employers to bargain with unions. The scientific question which arises is whether imposed orders to bargain have a meaningful impact on the viability and life course of unions when these unions have evolved not through having been elected but as a result of concerns about unfair labor practices. Drs. Bethel and Melfi's study investigates the bargaining order empirically and aims to assess how it effects subsequent collective bargaining relationships. In so doing, their work will contribute systematic empirical data and measurable insights leading to a broader understanding of the impact of law in the area of labor relations. Specifically, Drs. Bethel and Melfi study all unions that achieved recognition by bargaining orders over fiscal years 1979-82 and examine and compare them to a sample of unions that obtained recognition through elections. Their research addresses questions pertaining to the durability of the status of unions, changes in amount of employee support for them, and concessions won by them.
