Reading the Zoom Room

One adaptation required by the covid-19 pandemic was a shift to virtual meetings. Collective bargaining has traditionally been conducted in person, but covid forced union and employer negotiators to adopt virtual forms of bargaining. This article examines union negotiators' experiences with virtual bargaining in this period - first, to document the nature of the adaptations made during a historical public health event, and second, to determine whether either the shift to virtual bargaining or other covid restrictions undermined union bargaining power. It finds that the technical aspects of virtual bargaining did not significantly impact bargaining power, but broader challenges caused by covid did negatively impact union bargaining power at and away from the table

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Political science · Reading (process · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Zoom · Engineering · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Virology