Collective Bargaining after Deregulation: Do the Teamsters Still Count?

Abstract

Using data from the American Trucking Associations and a 1991 telephone survey of 223 major firms in the general freight segment of the trucking industry (SIC 4213), the author describes the restructuring of the trucking industry that occurred following economic deregulation that began in 1977 and examines how that restructuring affected industrial relations outcomes such as wages and union strength. He finds that both market concentration and competition increased after 1977. He also concludes that regulatory restructuring led the general freight industry to divide into two sectors, one handling full truckload shipments (shipments of 10,000 pounds or more) and one handling less-than-truckload shipments. The Teamsters Union lost bargaining power in the truckload sector, but it retained much of its bargaining power within the less-than-truckload sector.