Do Unions Shape Political Ideologies at Work?

Johannes Matzat and Aiko Schmei{\ss}er

Papers from arXiv.org

Abstract: Labor unions influence economic outcomes not only through bargaining with employers over work contracts but also via political activities that can profoundly shape political systems. In unionized workplaces, they may mobilize and change the ideological positions of both unionizing workers and their non-unionizing management. In this paper, we analyze the workplace-level impact of unionization on workers' and managers' political campaign contributions in the United States from 1980 to 2016. To do so, we link establishment-level union election data with transaction-level campaign contributions to federal and local candidates. Using a difference-in-differences design, validated through regression discontinuity tests and a novel instrumental variable approach, we find that unionization leads to a leftward shift of campaign contributions. Unionization increases the support for Democrats relative to Republicans not only among workers but also among managers, suggesting that it fosters political alignment between the two groups. Our findings are not driven by compositional changes of the workforce and are stronger in establishments where, after union certification, the employer and union agree on a collective bargaining agreement.

Date: 2022-09, Revised 2024-11
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