The potential of a union default to influence the preferences and choices of non-union workers in unionised workplaces

Mark Harcourt, Gregor Gall, Margaret Wilson and Korey Rubenstein
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Mark Harcourt: University of Waikato, New Zealand
Gregor Gall: University of Leeds, UK
Margaret Wilson: University of Waikato, New Zealand
Korey Rubenstein: University of Waikato, New Zealand

Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2022, vol. 43, issue 4, 1817-1841

Abstract: This article questions the perception of non-union workers as rather rigid and out-of-reach non-unionists by using research conducted in New Zealand. It explores whether, under new institutional architecture, non-unionists would continue to exhibit the same preferences and exercise the same choices as before. This was done by testing their responses to a union default scenario. The significance of this study concerns how this particular group of workers, contra non-union workers in non-union workplaces, would react to a union default where a union is already available to them. By contrast, non-union workers in non-union workplaces not only at present have effectively no choice for gaining union representation but are also bereft of any experience of it in their workplace. The results suggest 44% of these employees would join as a result of a union default with union density consequently rising in New Zealand from 17–18% to 26–27%.

Keywords: Employee choice; employment relations; union membership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:43:y:2022:i:4:p:1817-1841

DOI: 10.1177/0143831X211030346

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