British Unions in Decline: An Examination of the 1980s Fall in Trade Union Recognition

Richard Disney, Amanda Gosling and Stephen Machin

No 4733, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The authors analyze establishment-level data from the three Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys of 1980, 1984 and 1990 to document and explain the sharp decline in unionization that occurred in Britain over the 1980s. Between 1980 and 1990 the proportion of British establishments which recognised manual or non-manual trade unions for collective bargaining over pay and conditions fell by almost 20 percent (from 0.67 to 0.54). The evidence reported demonstrates the importance of the interaction between the labour market, the product market, employer behaviour and the legislative framework in determining union recognition status in new establishments. The sharp fall in trade union recognition appears to be largely driven by a failure to achieve recognition status in establishments set up in the 1980s. These results, when taken in conjunction with recent changes in the nature of employment in the British labour market, seem to paint a bleak picture for unions and there appears to be no reason why the decline in union activity should not continue into the 1990s.

JEL-codes: J5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994-05
Note: LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published as "British Unions in Decline: Determinants of the 1980's Fallin Union Recognition", Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 48, no. 3 (1995): 403-419. Published as "What Has Happened to Union Recognition in Britain?",
Published as Economica, Vol. 63, no. 249 (February 1996): 1-18.

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