The Effects of Labor Organizing on Worker Welfare and Service Quality

Last registered on July 01, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Effects of Labor Organizing on Worker Welfare and Service Quality
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007538
Initial registration date
June 30, 2021

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 01, 2021, 8:31 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

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Primary Investigator

Name
Suresh Naidu
Affiliation
Columbia University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2021-08-01
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Health, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We plan to evaluate the causal impact of labor organizing on worker welfare and service quality in the health care sector. Existing observational evidence suggests that unionization leads to increased staff retention and productivity among health care workers leading, in turn, to both an increase in the quality of care and an improvement in cost-efficiency. In partnership with a union, we plan to randomize ongoing efforts to unionize facilities and implement mixed-methods data collection around these efforts to obtain randomization-based causal effects of labor organizing on labor market outcomes, such as wages, hours, and benefits, and outcomes related to care quality.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Naidu, Suresh. 2021. "The Effects of Labor Organizing on Worker Welfare and Service Quality." AEA RCT Registry. July 01. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7538-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This project will randomize labor organizing efforts for a sample universe of healthcare facilities over a three-year period to measure its effects on worker welfare and service quality.
Intervention Start Date
2021-08-01
Intervention End Date
2024-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Facility-level: Contact between union and workers; Formation of union organizing committee or a union; Payroll; Employment; Separations; New hires; Index of care quality; Likelihood of survival; Operating margins

Worker-level: Hourly wage; Tenure/Quits
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our union partner will follow their best practices organizing strategy in initiating, coordinating and managing union campaigns at facilities tagged as treatment from the randomization. Facilities tagged as control will not be targeted for organizing until the conclusion of the experiment. The treatment will be implemented over a period of three years, and given this long duration, the randomization strategy incorporates an ordered list that the partner will follow to minimize operational discretion.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is done by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Facility
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
220 facilities
Sample size: planned number of observations
220 facilities and approximately 8,800 workers employed at the facilities
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
110 treatment, 110 control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Columbia University
IRB Approval Date
2021-02-24
IRB Approval Number
5217
Analysis Plan