10.2190/CN.32.2.a 9862P2T2518433X1 1 Rational Self-Interest, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and Unionization Campaign Support 89 95 20080613 20080613 20080613 20080613 9862P2T2518433X1.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=9862P2T2518433X1 2 Victor G. Devinatz Illinois State University, Normal In his article, "The Rational Calculus of Union Organizing," Lawrence Haber argued that my "relative success" in collecting signed authorization cards from College of Business faculty members at Illinois State University during the 1999-2000 organizing drive should be attributed to "other emotional motives at work" as opposed "to faculty members' self-interest." While acknowledging the relevance of some of Haber's arguments, I defend the assertion outlined in my original article, arguing that the rational/calculation path based on a cost-benefit analysis is still appropriate to utilize for collecting authorization cards, while the emotional path must be invoked to obtain a union certification election victory. Furthermore, I contend that certain emotive issues can dramatically alter the rational calculus of union organizing. I conclude by arguing that Haber only considered cost-benefit analysis in the narrowest sense of representing individual rational self-interest as formulated by Olson. P. E. Oliver, Formal Models of Collective Action, <i>Annual Review of Sociology</i>, 19, pp. 271-300, 1993. V. G. Devinatz, <i>High-Tech Betrayal: Working and Organizing on the Shop Floor</i>, Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, 1999. V. G. Devinatz, The Fears of Resource Standardization and the Creation of an Adversarial Workplace Climate: The Struggle to Organize a Faculty Union at Illinois State University, <i>Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations</i>, 11, pp. 145-179, 2002. B. McClure, Tenure at the University of Minnesota: A Postmortem, <i>Thought & Action</i>, 15:2, pp. 97-104, 1999. S. Gillinson, <i>Why Cooperate? A Multi-Disciplinary Study of Collective Action</i>, Working Paper 234, Overseas Development Institute, London, February 2004. V. G. Devinatz, Reflections of a Rank-and-File Faculty Union Organizer at a Public University, <i>Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector</i>, 30:3, pp. 209-221, 2003. L. J. Haber, Note: The Rational Calculus of Union Organizing, <i>Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector</i>, 30:4, pp. 325-327, 2005. M. Olson, <i>The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups</i>, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1965.