Unionization structure, licensing and innovation

We show the effects of the unionization structure (viz., decentralized and centralized unions) on a firm's incentive for technology licensing and innovation. The incentive for technology licensing is stronger under decentralized unions. We identify circumstances under which the benefit from licensing creates a stronger incentive for innovation under decentralized unions. If the union's preference for employment is high, the benefit from licensing may create higher incentive for innovation under decentralized unions. However, if the union's preference for wage is high enough, the incentive for innovation is higher under a centralized union irrespective of licensing ex-post innovation. If the centralized union decides whether or not to supply workers to all firms, the possibility of higher innovation under decentralized unions increases. We further show that perfectly substitutable workers can be better off under decentralized unions if the labor productivity depends on the unionization structure, which occurs in our analysis when, e.g., licensing after innovation occurs only under decentralized unions or innovation (with no licensing) occurs only under a centralized union.     

Unionization,Compensation, and Voice Effects on Quits and Retention

This study explores the relationships among unionization, compensation practices, and employee attachment (quit rates and tenure) among trucking companies to assess the applicability of Freeman and Medoff's exit/voice argument. Unionization was associated with lower quit rates, higher tenure, a better compensation package, and stronger voice mechanisms. The relationship of unionization to quit rates and tenure becomes nonsignificant after accounting for compensation (pay and benefits), and voice mechanisms do not add explanatory variance.     

Plant Closures and Unionization in British Establishments

This paper examines whether there is a link between establishment closure and union presence using data from the 1984–90 panel sample of establishments of the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. It considers whether the notion that unions damage long term performance and ultimately force uncompetitive establishments to shut down is a reasonable one.
I can find no evidence whatsoever for this hypothesis. There is no evidence that establishment closure and union presence are positively correlated. The relationship is usually negative and sometimes significantly so.
These results are important for at least two reasons: (i) it does not seem that unions have detrimental effects that force establishments to close down in the long run; (ii) the idea that union establishments have been dying at a faster rate forms no part of the explanation of the sharp union decline observed in the 1980s.     

Environment Pressures,Managerial Industrial Relations Ideologies and Unionization in Chinese Enterprises

Based on extensive field research in China during 2005–2010, this article aims to explore the determinants of unionization in the Chinese context. We find that managerial strategies toward union organizing and functioning have been critical in determining unionization outcomes in Chinese enterprises. While various environment pressures may impose critical constraints on these strategies, managerial industrial relations ideologies are central in shaping these strategies when environment pressures barely exist or are bearable by management. Our study makes the first effort in exploring industrial relations ideologies in China and contributes to better understanding of unionization in the Chinese workplace.     

Unionization and Job Design Under Programmable Automation

New findings from an original national survey indicate that machining jobs include major computer programming responsibilities far more commonly than received labor process theory would lead us to expect or predict. In unionized plants, workers are less likely to program their machines, perhaps because of management's desire to avoid the constraints imposed by collective bargaining agreements. Among recent adopters of the technology, informal bargaining through joint labor-management problem-solving committees neutralizes this negative union effect.     

Does Unionization Increase Faculty Retention?

Although there has been a large amount of research on the unionnonunion salary differential in higher education, little empirical work has been done on the possible nonsalary effects of faculty unions. This paper, using data from the AAUP and other sources, investigates unionization's impact on faculty retention rates. It is found that, holding salary, benefits, and other factors constant, unions increase a school's faculty retention rate for associate and full professors (although not for assistant professors). The impact of unionization, however, is not felt until a number of years after a representation election.     

Immigration, Race, and Labor: Unionization and Wages in the Canadian Labor Market

In Canada, most racial minorities have lower rates of unionization than do members of the majority workforce. Data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics ( N = 32,634) show that racial minority immigrants assimilate into unionization over time. However, unionization reduces net minority wage disadvantages only slightly. Union race relations policies should place more emphasis on collective bargaining as well as on unionization.     

Unionization and Productivity: Evidence from Charter Schools

This paper studies the relationship between teacher unionization and student achievement. Generally stable patterns of teacher unionization since the 1970s have historically presented challenges in measuring the effects of unionization on educational production. However, the blossoming of the charter school sector in recent decades provides fertile ground for study because while most charters are nonunion, teachers at some charters have unionized. Using a generalized difference‐in‐difference approach combining California union certification data with student achievement data from 2003–2012, we find that, aside from a one‐year dip in achievement associated with the unionization process itself, unionization does not affect student achievement.     

Globalization and Declining Unionization in the United States

For decades, the private‐sector unionization rate in the United States has been falling. At the same time, the integration of the United States into the world economy has been rising. Many anecdotes suggest the latter has played a role in that decline, with unions feeling pressured to reduce employment and/or compensation demands in the face of rising cross‐border activity of employers. To investigate this possibility econometrically, in this paper I assembled a panel of U.S. manufacturing industries that matches union‐coverage rates with measures of global engagement such as exports, imports, tariffs, transportation costs, and foreign direct investment. The main finding is a statistically and economically significant correlation between falling union coverage and greater numbers of inward FDI transactions. Possible interpretations of this finding are then discussed. Because U.S. affiliates of foreign multinationals have higher unionization rates than U.S.‐based firms do, this correlation does not reflect just a compositional shift toward these affiliates. Instead, it may reflect pressure of international capital mobility on U.S.‐based companies, consistent with research on how rising capital mobility raises labor‐demand elasticities and alters bargaining power.     

Comparing Youth and Adult Desire for Unionization in Canada

Survey data for Canada indicates that youths have a stronger preference than adults for unionization. We show that most of that difference reflects the stronger desire of youths to have unions deal with workplace issues rather than a greater exposure of youths to these issues. In particular, youth preferences for unionization are influenced to a greater degree than for adults by social capital (e.g, familial union status and peer–group attitudes). The possible role of progressive HRM practices and legislative protection in substituting for unionization is also highlighted. Finally, implications of the findings for the future of unionization and organizing youth are discussed.     

Works Councils and Unionization: Lessons from South Korea

This study analyzes the impact of effective works councils and unions in large South Korean firms. Following a brief review of economic theory on works councils and the institutional environment of Korean industrial relations, we describe the unique data set used to analyze Korean firm-level labor relations and economic performance. The results of the multivariate analysis show that both effective works councils and unions enhance employee voice on several key personnel practices. In addition, the estimates show that unionization increases wages and reduces turnover, but effective works councils are associated with higher levels of employee satisfaction and somewhat higher productivity. These estimates are consistent with theoretical models that find that carefully designed works councils can enhance employee voice and may increase productivity.     

城镇化、收入分配与进口贸易

城镇化是中国经济持续发展的重要战略平台,影响着个人收入水平的变动及收入分配差距的变化,从而对进口贸易规模及结构产生影响。本文通过VAR模型的构建、Granger因果检验和脉冲图,对城镇化发展影响个人收入分配差距、个人收入分配差距影响中国进口贸易进行分析。研究结果表明：城镇化发展对个人收入分配差距具有长期、相互的影响作用,个人收入分配差距变化对进口贸易增长具有正态效应。应采取相应措施,通过个人收入分配媒介,发挥城镇化对进口贸易的刺激效能。     

The Effects of Mechanisms of Managerial Control on Unionization

This study, utilizing data from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey, finds important differences in the way labor is managed among unionized and nonunion workers, as well as among unorganized workers who are willing to vote for unionization and those who are not. Furthermore, components of "bureaucratic control" are found to inhibit unionization and the desire to unionize. The effect of these labor management mechanisms persists even in a structural model of the determinants of unionization.     

Do Immigrants Have Lower Unionization Propensities than Natives?

Using a unique source of data-the April 1983 Current Population Survey-this paper examines unionization behavior by nativity. The results indicate that the unionization propensity of immigrants is similar to that of natives, even when controlling for individual, regional, and industrial characteristics. The explanation lies in the lower unionization propensity of all recent entrants to the U.S. labor force, whether immigrant or native.