Characteristics and Determinants of French Strikes: A Study of Industrial Conflict, 1946--1976

157 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1980.This dissertation studies the characteristics and the determinants of French strikes in the post-World War II period. Strikes are but one of many forms of conflict. Strikes are collective and overt in nature.First, strikes are analyzed in the context of a generalized theory of conflict which stresses the interrelationship between different manifestations of conflict. The unifying concept for the diverse forms of conflict surrounding the employment relationship is that of socio-economic exchange. Socio-economic exchange involves cooperation and conflict. Since cooperation and conflict are inherent to the employment relationship, the generalized theory of conflict suggests that forms of conflict complement each other as well as substitute for each other, depending on the confronting parties' strategies.Second, this dissertation focusses on one particular form of industrial conflict, namely strikes. French strike data are fitted to a theoretical bargaining - strike model which has been tested empirically in a number of Anglo-Saxon countries with some degree of success. The method of analysis is multiple regression. The model is modified to reflect the French industrial relations setting and the degree to which strikes interact with other forms of conflict, i.e.: collective bargaining, political action, and the ideology of the confronting parties. The model is also used to analyze characteristics of French strikes and the extent to which they are influenced by economic and political factors. The findings of the model shed some light on the strike behavior of French workers.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD