STRATEGIC INTEGRATION, CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION, AND COMPREHENSIVE CONTRACT CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVENESS: A CASE STUDY OF THE CULINARY WORKERS UNION, HERE LOCAL 226'S 2002 COMPREHENSIVE CONTRACT CAMPAIGN

Abstract

? 2006 Paul Everett Hayes ABSTRACT This thesis is a case study of the comprehensive contract campaign that the Culinary Union, HERE Local 226 utilized in its 2002 round of negotiations with casino operators in Las Vegas. The focus of this study is on how the comprehensive contract campaign strategy used by the Culinary Union increased the local?s bargaining power in the negotiations. This case study links the success of the 2002 comprehensive contract campaign to the local?s prior practices, long-term strategies, as well as its organizational structure and culture. This case study also examines how the political, social, and economic context of Las Vegas?s casino industry influenced the Culinary Union?s comprehensive contract campaign. It describes the interactive relationship between these external contextual factors, the local?s strategic choices, and industrial relations outcomes in Las Vegas?s casino industry. This case study describes how the Culinary Union, by using the organizing model of contract administration, created an organizational culture and structure that lead to increases in the quality and quantity of rank-and-file participation in the union, and how this benefited the union in its 2002 comprehensive contract campaign. In addition to citing specific examples from the 2002 contract campaign itself, this case study uses the industrial relations literature relating to union commitment and participation, in order to support this argument.