Linking Union Density and Union Effectiveness: The North American Experience

This study considers how union performance in terms of organizing, bargaining, and political activity are related to severely declining union density (the percentage of the workforce in unions) in the United States and the higher and stable union density in Canada. Canadian unions have remained active in recruiting new members and assign a high priority to organizing, while American unions have shown diminished organizing effort and ability. Canadian unions have demonstrated superior performance in collective bargaining as measured by resistance to concession bargaining and negotiated wage gains, among other factors. Finally, although Canadian unions experienced some political setbacks, they wielded more political influence than their American counterparts in promoting union-specific as well as broad social legislation. Density is examined as both a consequence and determinant of the divergence in union performance.     

No Panacea for Success: Member Activism, Organizing and Union Renewal

The precipitous decline in union density and influence around the world has spawned a growing body of scholarship on union renewal. While this literature evidences lively debates regarding the efficacy of different renewal strategies, many argue that the path to renewal is paved through increased member activism. In this article, we question that premise. We examine the importance of rank-and-file union member activism in 44 cases of organizing campaigns in the United States and in the UK. Our review of these cases reveals little support for the notion that member activism is indispensable to union renewal in general, and successful organizing campaigns in particular. Our findings provide additional insight into the debate over top-down and bottom-up strategies for renewal, and raise several questions for future research regarding when, under what conditions, and under what rules worker activism matters for labour union renewal.     

The Union Avoidance Industry in the United States

This paper analyses the development of the union avoidance industry in the United States during the past half‐century. Focusing on one leading example from each group, it examines the activities of the four main actors that constitute that industry: consultants, law firms, industry psychologists and strike management firms. Although these firms have experienced a fall in business as unions have declined in strength and numbers — a development that the union avoidance industry has contributed to — they continue to play an important role in the US system of industrial relations. Over three‐quarters of employers hire consultants when confronted by organizing campaigns, and large union avoidance firms are increasingly seeking export markets for their expertise.     

Interstate vs. Interprovincial Differences in Union Density

Union density in Canada is approximately twice that in the United States. The range of densities from high to low states/provinces is much smaller, however: 2:1 in Canada vs. 6:1 in the U.S. After adjusting for differences in industry distribution of employment, this study finds that the major source of interstate and interprovincial differences is private sector density. Most of the low union density states have right-to-work laws, while the greater the comprehensiveness of state bargaining laws, the higher the public sector density. In Canada, where all public and private sector employees have the right to bargain, there is a higher average level of public and private sector densities and a smaller range for both. The more supportive labor legislation in Canada may be associated with the existence of labor-oriented political parties at the provincial level.     

Do Labor Laws Matter? The Density Decline and Convergence Thesis Revisited

Under the density decline and convergence thesis, market forces are gradually eroding union density levels, leading to convergence with the U.S. level throughout the developed world. A key implication is that the U.S. decline has been unavoidable and that little, including labor law reforms, can be done to reverse it. Canada appears to refute this thesis, for it has stronger laws, and density is double that of the United States. Yet (1) Canada's higher public-sector density may mask private-sector declines, (2) any private-sector differences simply may reflect a tendency for Canada to lag the United States, and (3) labor law may not explain U.S.–Canada differences. This article explores these possibilities, finding little support for them. It concludes that a strong case can be made for Canadian-style labor law reforms but that such reforms may not be sufficient by themselves to revitalize the U.S. labor movement.     

Factors Influencing Organizational Performance in Gainsharing Programs

Using survey data from managers at 269 establishments in the United States and Canada, this article examines factors influencing outcomes of gainsharing. The ordered probit analyses generally indicated that these outcomes have significant associations with employee involvement, bonus payouts, employee bonus share, bonus group size, consultant involvement, the administration of employee votes, labor intensity, market situation, establishment's financial condition, the average seniority level of employees, union status, and union support.     

The Direction of Union Mergers in the United States: The Rise of Conglomerate Unionism

Trade union mergers have become common throughout the industrial world. In the United States, since the late 1970s, these have become increasingly multi-jurisdictional. Beginning in the 1990s, the trend has been dominated by five 'conglomerate' unions, who have embraced this as a strategy for growth and increased effectiveness. This article will examine the roots of this 'conglomerate' direction and quantitatively assess the claims for greater effectiveness in finances, organizing, and collective bargaining. The tentative conclusion is that while resources and policy matter, the conglomerate merger strategy of these unions has not improved any of these functions either over time or in comparison to other unions that have put less emphasis on multi-jurisdictional mergers.     

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.     

Uncertainty and the Correlates of Union Voting Propensity: An Organizing Perspective

This paper argues that a barrier to union organizing is the identification of workplaces in which the union voting propensities of workers are sufficient to justify an organizing drive. It also argues that prior research into these propensities has been of limited value in this respect. It then draws on a unique telephone survey of Canadian workers to explore the implications of a variety of individual‐, work‐, and employment‐related variables for the propensity of non‐union workers to vote in favor of union representation. In so doing, it proceeds from a “union organizing” perspective, seeking not just to establish whether these variables appear to “cause” voting propensity, but also whether they are correlated with it, and hence serve as markers for union organizing, and if so, how and why they do. It also seeks to demonstrate the possible value of survey research and hence encourage a more scientific approach to union organizing choices. A wide array of variables is found to have potential implications for these choices.     

Information Technology, US Union Organizing and Union Effectiveness

This paper examines the effects of information technology (IT) on organizing and union effectiveness in US national unions. Original survey data and data from government and independent sources are combined to model outcomes including membership growth, success in representation elections, and union leaders' assessments of effectiveness as a product of environmental and organizational characteristics. The results suggest that the practical impact of IT use on organizing outcomes can be quite important. Evidence regarding the impact of IT on overall effectiveness (i.e. organizational or union effectiveness) is more mixed.     

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.     

Commitment to Company and Union: Evidence from Hong Kong

This article examines the pattern and antecedents of employee commitment to company and union in the Hong Kong context. Findings are consistent with those from the United States. In general, company and union commitment have different antecedents, although the perceived industrial relations climate is a common predictor. Dual commitment is in evidence. Union membership is a function of union commitment. The findings caution against attempts to explain the pattern of Hong Kong industrial relations purely in terms of culture.     

Why Are Some Union Organizing Campaigns More Successful Than Others?

This paper reports a study of two union organizing campaigns in the higher education sector. Using mobilization theory, we tried to explore why one campaign was more successful than the other as measured by membership growth and recruitment of activists. We found that in the more successful campaign, the union was perceived as more effective in voicing workers’ concerns, generated greater social cohesion and union identification amongst employees, was more successful in convincing employees that the university management was to blame for their problems and promoted amongst employees a stronger sense of union instrumentality.     

“Which side are you on?” A historical study of union membership composition in seven Western countries

This study uses surveys from the past 60 years to study union membership in Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We first revisit aggregate union densities finding that, for France and Italy, they were at times under- and overestimated, respectively. Second, we document the evolution of the composition of union membership in terms of gender, occupation, education, and sector. Different stylized facts emerge for different groups of countries. These facts do not lend support to the composition-based theory that attributes deunionization to deindustrialization, nor to the technological theory that predicts the exit of the high-skilled from unions.     

Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Declining Union Organization

New union members in the United States are typically gained through workplace elections. We find that the annual number of union elections fell by 50 per cent in the early 1980s. A formal model indicates that declining union election activity may be due to an unfavourable political climate which raises the costs of unionization, even though the union win–rate remains unaffected. We relate the timing of declining election activity to the air–traffic controllers' strike of 1981, and the appointment of the Reagan Labor Board in 1983. Empirical analysis shows that the fall in election activity preceded these developments.     

Correlates of Union Support in NLRB Elections

Bargaining unit, union, industry, and geographic correlates of union support in NLRB certification and decertification elections for the period 1977 to 1979 are analyzed using similar regression specifications. Several relationships are found to be significant; however, an examination of the magnitude of the estimated coefficients suggests only unit size and union organizing effort affect outcomes in more than a small percentage of all certification elections.     

Strategies and Tactics in Union Organizing Campaigns

This study assesses the effects of employer and union organizing tactics on union election wins versus losses, the percentage of votes, and the time between election and first contract signing. The data were obtained from the organizing staff of a large international union. The results showed that some tactics resulted in expected election outcomes, but others resulted in unexpected outcomes.     

Governors' Party Affiliation and Unions

Employing a regression discontinuity (RD) approach on gubernatorial elections in the United States over the last three decades, this paper investigates the causal effects of governors' party affiliation (Democrat versus Republican) on unionization of workers, and unionized workers' working hours and earnings. Surprisingly, we find no significant impact from the party affiliation of governors on union membership and union workers' labor‐market outcomes.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
'Research & Development Management' Alan Glasser
Industrial Innovation in the U. K., Canada and the United States Kerry Schott     

U.S. Union Membership in Future Decades: A Trade Unionist's Perspective

Slower workforce growth, more gradual industrial restructuring, a tighter labor market, and the gradual emergence of a more efficient organizing capability will help to stem the projected decline in private-sector union membership. A broad array of consumer benefits and the development of new form of union membership, such as those that do not necessarily result in exclusive recognition, should also help stem that decline