ANALYSIS: Rosy Employer Union Outlook May Have Wilted in 2020

Unionized employers conveyed high hopes and expectations for their 2020 bargaining sessions...in late 2019.

Almost all labor relations directors responding to Bloomberg Law’s annual Employer Bargaining Objectives survey indicated they were either “very confident” or “fairly confident” about achieving their bargaining goals this year. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of responding employers reported a “favorable” financial outlook for the upcoming year.

A note of caution is in order, though. This year’s newly released report—marking the 35^th consecutive year of the survey—is based on the responses from 130 participating employers who were asked in fourth-quarter 2019 about their union contracts that ...