Ethical Consideration of Construction Union Strategies in Jurisdictional Disputes Based on an Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) and a Game Theory

Union-related conflicts, building trade unions jurisdictional disputes in particular, have a long history in the US construction industry since the establishment of the unions. Jurisdictional boundaries constantly change and craft jurisdictional privileges are occasionally encroached. The outcomes of these conflicts and confrontations are pricy because they affect local and regional construction markets negatively. Yet explanation of this phenomenon is not a trivial matter since trade unions, their members, and employers constantly interact and affect each other. Based on a recent jurisdictional dispute case, an agent-based model (ABM) is used in this paper to examine various strategic decisions by the unions to show jurisdictional fluctuation. The model focuses on emergent patterns of union interactions based on their chosen strategies, which shows how policies and strategies affect the jurisdictional boundary and why their decisions should be based on professional ethics.