Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/20114 
Year of Publication: 
2003
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 869
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper provides a case study of the effect of labor relations on product quality. We consider whether a long, contentious strike and the hiring of replacement workers at Bridgestone/Firestone?s Decatur plant in the mid-1990s contributed to the production of defective tires. Using several independent data sources, and looking before and after the strike and across plants, we find that labor strife at the Decatur plant closely coincided with lower product quality. Monthly data suggest that defects were particularly high around the time concessions were demanded and when large numbers of replacement workers and returning strikers worked side by side.
Subjects: 
labor relations
product quality
Bridgestone/Firestone
strike
JEL: 
M5
J5
M1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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