Union Presence, Union Service and Membership Participation

Much of the literature on the determinants of union activism has focused on biographical and attitudinal precursors or correlates of several measures of union participation. Although interactionist theory emphasizes the importance of social context, little attention has been paid to union presence. The argument of this paper is that union presence, defined by certain structural arrangements, and the quality of union service, influences measures of workplace and non-workplace union participation through the mediating influence of union orientation. The paper begins by reviewing the literature on union presence and participation, before presenting a model of the joint impact of union service and union presence on both on- and off-the job union participation. Data are drawn from a study of membership involvement within the Irish-based Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU). The main findings are that there are significant relationships between presence and service level variables and measures of union participation. In particular, service variables appear to affect workplace union participation largely through the mediating influence of union orientation. Presence variables, by contrast, have both direct and indirect influence on participation in union activities within and outside the workplace.     

Institutional Change and Union Membership: A Longitudinal Analysis of Union Membership Determinants in Israel

We examine the degree to which factors associated with workers' union membership decisions are sensitive to shifts in the institutional environment of unions. Comparative logit analyses of the relationship between potential determinants of membership and actual union membership over time suggestthat the factors associated with membership are elastic and may reflect shifts in the institutional context of unions.     

The Impact of Union Corruption on Union Membership

This paper examines the relationship between union corruption actions and union membership. State‐level data from the Office of Labor‐Management Standards, and other sources, are utilized over two study periods (1974–2000 and 2001–2008) to test three hypotheses, including the union corruption hypothesis, as possible explanations for the decline in union membership in the United States over time. Although our initial findings suggest a negative relationship exists between union corruption and membership, after removing the possibility of simultaneous equations bias, we find that changes in corruption do not influence changes in union membership in our sample.     

Things Unions Do, Job Attributes, and Union Membership

Implications of the governance and rent-seeking models of unionism for the job characteristics-union membership relationship are developed. Specific training and membership are found to be positively related, consistent with arguments that specific training governance. Membership is less likely on jobs requiring more general education—where incumbents typically see greater returns to individual mobility. Some support is found for job characteristics associated with efficiency gains to a collectivized employment relationship.     

International Patterns of Union Membership

This paper examines changes in unionization that have occurred over the last decade or so using individual level micro data on many countries, with particular emphasis on the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. I document an empirical regularity not hitherto identified, namely the probability of being unionized follows an inverted U‐shaped pattern in age, maximizing in the mid‐ to late 40s in 34 of the 38 countries I study. I consider the question of why union membership seems to follow a similar inverted U‐shape pattern in age across countries with such diverse industrial relations systems. I find evidence that this arises in part because of cohort effects, but even when cohort effects are removed a U‐shape remains.     

Workplace Flexibilities,Job Satisfaction and Union Membership in the US Workforce

Using individual‐level data from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, we quantify how workers' job satisfaction levels correlate with five schedule‐based workplace flexibilities. The data permit us to control for numerous variables that might otherwise explain variation in the probability of job satisfaction, including, but not limited to, income, benefits, stress, depression, job control and individual preferences over flexibilities. Conditional on this control set, we find that workplace flexibilities correlate with an 8.1 per cent increase in job satisfaction. The relationship between job satisfaction and workplace flexibilities prevails through several sensitivity analyses, bias assessments and a propensity score matching analysis. We also explore how job satisfaction, union membership and workplace flexibilities intermix; we find that workplace flexibilities may function as a partial substitute for union membership.     

Factors of Convergence and Divergence in Union Membership

This paper considers the extent to which union decline in Britain has been characterized by convergence or divergence in union membership rates for people with different personal and job characteristics. It compares individual union membership in 1975 and 2001 to identify some significant factors of convergence and divergence, which indicate temporal instability in the relationship between union membership and a number of its determinants. Identification of these factors of convergence and divergence should be useful to several parties, including industrial relations scholars and union organizers.     

Determinants of Trade Union Membership in Australia

This paper uses Australian cross-sectional data to examine the determinants of individual union membership. It analyses the separate effect of three groups of variables on the probability of unionisation: personal attributes, occupational and industry-related characteristics, and social and attitudinal factors. While the personal attributes of an employee were found to have little effect on union status, the other two groups of variables added significantly to the explained variance in union membership. An important finding of the study was that certain attitudes, ideologies and social values were clearly associated with variations in union status.     

A Theory of Trade Union Membership Retention

The retention rate of unemployed members can vary substantially between trade unions and may not particularly reflect the structure of the labour market within which a union operates. This raises the issue of whether retention of these members is due to supply-side factors characterised by individuals or to the policy of trade unions towards their unemployed members.     

Trade Union Membership Concentration, 1892-1987: Development and Causation

Existing studies of British trade union membership concentration have used the variance of logs and concentration ratio measures to show a tendency towards increasing concentration. This paper proposes the Herfindahl index as a more appropriate measure. The annual variation in concentration is analysed by means of the Herfindahl index and shows some fluctuation, particularly prior to 1947. Divergent trends are also shown for manual and white-collar membership concentration. An explanation of the aggregate trend and of these different occupational trends is advanced in terms of bargaining structure and the development of general unionism.     

Raising Trade Union Membership Concentration, 1892–1987: The Relative Effects of Mergers and Membership Change

A number of recent studies measure trade union membership concentration using the Herfindahl index. This study uses the same measure to examine the relative effects of the different factors that influenced the level of British union membership concentration between 1892 and 1987. Five factors are identified as influencing this development: mergers, formations, dissolutions, breakaways, and membership change. Marked occupational differences in the relative effect of these factors are shown. In aggregate terms, mergers and membership change tend to be complementary in effect until 1946 and counteractive thereafter.     

Recruitment,Retention and Exit from Union Membership. An Analysis of Member Flows in Swiss Union Locals

This article enquires into the causes of union growth and decline by analysing flows in and out of membership at the level of 70 Swiss union locals over 2006–2008. Gross flows in union membership are much larger than the resulting net changes: annual membership turnover of 10 per cent is a surprisingly constant feature across unions. Net changes in membership are primarily determined by inflows: successful and languishing union locals differ in their entry rates, whereas exit rates are similar. Variance in union locals' entry rates is not usefully explained by the labour market context, but by differences in union strategy.     

The Intergenerational Transmission of Automobile Brand Preferences

We document a strong correlation in the brand of automobile chosen by parents and their adult children, using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. This correlation could represent transmission of brand preferences across generations, or it could result from correlation in family characteristics that determine brand choice. We present a variety of empirical specifications that lend support to the former interpretation and to a mechanism that relies at least in part on state dependence. We then discuss implications of intergenerational brand preference transmission for automakers’ product‐line strategies and for the strategic pricing of vehicles to different age groups.     

The Relationship Between Union Membership and Net Fiscal Impact

This paper develops the first evidence on how individuals’ union membership status affects their net fiscal impact, the difference between taxes they pay and cost of public benefits they receive, enriching our understanding of how labor relations interacts with public economics. Current Population Survey data between 1994 and 2015 in pooled cross‐sections and individual first‐difference models yield evidence that union membership has a positive net fiscal impact through the worker‐level channels studied.     

Union Membership and Job‐Related Training: Incidence,Transferability, and Efficacy

This study examines the relationship between union membership and (i) the incidence of training, (ii) the degree to which training is transferable to firms other than the one providing the training and (iii) the degree to which workers perceive that training improves job performance. Using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, I find that union members are more likely to receive employer‐sponsored training than their non‐union counterparts. I also find that male union members are more likely than non‐members to report that training improved job performance. Union membership was not related to transferability of skills between employers.     

Erosion of the Ghent System and Union Membership Decline: Lessons from Finland

Union density declined in Finland by more than 10 percentage points in less than 10 years. This paper analyses the reasons behind the decline, using micro data from the 1990s. According to our results, the changes in the composition of the labour force and the changes in the labour market explain only about a quarter of this decline. The main reason for the decline appears to be the erosion of the Ghent system, due to the emergence of an independent unemployment insurance fund that provides unemployment insurance without requiring union membership. We also find that the decline in the union density can be attributed to the declining inclination of the cohorts born after the early 1960s to become union members.