Does Employee Ownership Weaken Trade Unions? Recent Evidence from the UK Bus Industry

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of employee ownership on trade unions and collective bargaining in firms adopting the ESOP form of collective ownership. The paper addresses the proposition found in earlier literature on employee ownership that union functions will be undermined by a combination of attitudinal change and by the introduction of new forms of representation and participation. Focusing especially on the latter issue the paper reports the findings of research into employee ownership in the UK bus industry. It is found that union membership and functions survive intact, and that in some respects the union role may have been widened and strengthened by employee ownership.