Nonunion Sector Research Articles

A fragmented and heavily privatized dispute resolution system: The United States

AbstractThe United States possesses a highly fragmented and decentralized set of mechanisms addressing work‐related conflicts and disputes. There are consequential differences in how workplace conflicts are resolved across the following settings—union and nonunion or collective and individual, public and private sectors, traditional and nonstandard employment models, and public and private forums. An important trend is the growing influence in the nonunion sector of ‘private justice’ provided in employment arbitration and conflict management systems as a replacement for ‘public justice’, and in the union sector, private neutrals also play a key role.

Tipping the Scales for Labour in Ireland? Collective Bargaining and the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015

Abstract Trade union density in Ireland has followed a similar pattern of decline to that of other Anglo-Saxon economies in recent decades. However, two factors make Ireland distinctive within this classification of countries, firstly the system of national social partnership that prevailed from 1987 to 2008, and secondly, the absence of a statutory route to union recognition. In this paper, we examine the extent to which a new piece of legislation, the Industrial Relations Amendment Act 2015, provides unions with a route to securing bargaining rights for workers and extends collective bargaining rights generally. We conclude that the Act represents a missed opportunity to offer mechanisms to secure rights for unions and their members capable of delivering collective bargaining to the non-union sector. We situate the paper within debates concerning the role of labour law in supporting workers rights to collective bargaining.

Did partnership in Ireland deliver for all workers? Unions and earnings

PurposeAfter 20 years of social partnership in Ireland the purpose of this paper is to use a national survey of firms and employees to examine the extent of the wage gap between union and non-union workers in the private sector and compare the degree of wage inequality in union and non-union firms and among union and non-union employees.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis in the paper is based on the National Employment Survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office in October 2008. Approximately 9,000 enterprises were sampled and almost 5,000 enterprises responded – a response rate of over 50 per cent while almost 100,000 employees were sampled and 65,535 completed the questionnaire – a response rate of over 60 per cent. In total 22 per cent (14,619) of respondents worked in the public sector and 78 per cent (50,916) in the private sector.FindingsIt appears that over time the earnings premium enjoyed by unionised workers has declined. This may reflect a long term decline in union bargaining power in the private sector as union density levels have declined. Even so unionised employees enjoy a wage premium over non-union employees and collective coverage appears to reduce levels of income inequality. However, the overall union wage gap is relatively modest – being generally below 10 per cent possibly due to the harmonising effects associated with the period of social partnership supported by government trade unions and employers.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional nature of the data means that the factors associated with variations in employee earnings over time cannot be identified.Practical implicationsThere is substantial evidence of a considerable spill-over effect as nationally agreed rates of pay percolated from the union to the non-union sector. It may also be the case that social partnership has acted to reduce wage inequality in non-union as well as union establishments. It appears that partnership type arrangements have the capacity to deliver for all workers in the private sector.Originality/valueA unique aspect of the national survey data used here is the availability of employer/employee matched data from a robust national level survey with measures of union membership, earnings, individual and employment characteristics.

270 Health and safety experience of commercial janitors

Commercial janitors are an important group of low wage, largely immigrant workers who face significant potential risks at work, and yet have only been minimally studied for occupational injury and...

Unionization and Labour-market Discrimination: A Closer Look at Non-unionized Workers

This paper introduces a model that examines the effects of unions on pay and hiring gaps between non-unionized men and women in the context of imperfect competition. Although the model does not question the advantages unions obtain for their members, it does show that (1) unions increase wage and occupational discrimination for non-unionized workers; (2) the non-unionized sector does not constitute a good comparison group for use in analysing the impact of unions on gender discrimination; and (3) public policies targeting gender differences in occupational sorting can also have a positive impact on gender wage differentials.

International Trade Effects And The Decline In The Union Sector

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Since the 1960s, U.S. manufacturing has undergone tremendous changes due to international trade and technological convergence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Not all industry sectors have fared equally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>High-tech sectors (e.g., aircraft and computers) have maintained a high degree of international competitiveness as evidenced by an increasing export share.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Common technology sectors (e.g., autos and steel), conversely, have not as they have experienced a declining export share and increasing import competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>High-tech industries typically employ highly skilled, human capital intensive workers while common technology industries are characterized by unskilled labor with lower levels of human capital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>International trade theory suggests that the more skilled high-tech labor force should receive relatively higher wages than the relatively less skilled common-tech sector under international competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Secondly, the level of unionization in a given industry may or may not have adverse impacts on international competitiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Also, unions tend to oppose adoption of new technologies, drive highly educated workers into the nonunion sector, and may adopt end game strategies to maximize current wages at the expense of future economic viability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Consequently, international trade and high-tech industries may have a negative effect on union participation rates.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The issues addressed include the effect of international trade and technological comparative advantage on union and nonunion wage levels, and the indirect effect of trade and technology on union participation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This study uses the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) panel data set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The empirical results suggest that international trade effects wage levels, and high-tech industries appear to have a higher wage distribution after controlling for labor market, product market, and individual characteristics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Furthermore, trade and technology appear to be negatively related to the degree of union density.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The secondary effect tends to lower union and nonunion wages, primarily for less-skilled workers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It also may partially explain the trend of increasing income inequality for less-skilled workers and the opposition of unions to free-trade policies.(<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">JEL</span> J3, J5)</span></span></p>

Post-Retirement Adjustments in Defined Benefit Pensions

Few private defined benefit pension plans commit to indexing benefits after a worker begins receiving them. Previous (now dated) research found that most plans did, nonetheless, make voluntary adjustments, which compensated for roughly 40 percent of the price increases experienced since retirement. In analyzing changes in pension benefits reported by HRS respondents between 1994 and 2008, I find annual increases that are about one third of the increase in the CPI. The increases are concentrated among respondents who report that their benefits are adjusted for inflation. They are larger for workers in public administration than in other industries; perhaps surprisingly, they are not larger in jobs covered by union contracts than those in the non-union sector. The HRS data also show that benefits paid out of defined contribution plans increased, again by roughly one third of the increase in consumer prices.

The effect of unions on the distribution of wages of hospital-employed registered nurses in the United States.

We estimate the impact of unionisation on the wage structure of hospital-employed registered nurses in the USA. We examine whether unions have an effect on wage differences associated with race, gender, immigration status, education and experience, as well as whether there is less unexplained wage variation among unionised nurses. In the past decade, there has been resurgence in union activity in the health care industry in the USA, particularly in hospitals. Numerous studies have found that unions are associated with higher wages. Unions may also affect the structure of wages paid to workers, by compressing the wage structure and reducing unexplained variation in wages. Cross-sectional analysis of pooled secondary data from the United States Current Population Survey, 2003-2006. Multivariate regression analysis of factors that predict wages, with models derived from labour economics. There are no wage differences associated with gender, race or immigration status among unionised nurses, but there are wage penalties for black and immigrant nurses in the non-union sector. For the most part, the pay structures of the union and non-union sectors do not significantly differ. The wage penalty associated with diploma education for non-union nurses disappears among unionised nurses. Unionised nurses receive a lower return to experience, although the difference is not statistically significant. There is no evidence that unexplained variation in wages is lower among unionised nurses. While in theory unions may rationalise wage-setting and reduce wage dispersion, we found no evidence to support this hypothesis. The primary effect of hospital unions is to raise wages. Unionisation does not appear to have other important wage effects among hospital-employed nurses.

Unions and the Gender Wage Gap in South Africa

Studies of the wage effects of unions in South Africa have been concerned largely with the impact of union membership on the wages of African and white male workers. Consistent with findings in the international literature, these studies have concluded that unions compress the distribution of wages in South Africa, and more specifically, that racial inequality is lower in the union sector than in the non-union sector. In this paper, we explore whether unions in South Africa are associated with comparable gender wage effects among African workers, using data collected in the nationally representative Labour Force Surveys. Contrary to initial expectations, we find that when wage estimations control for broad occupational sorting by gender in union and non-union employment, then the gender wage gap is larger in the union sector than in the non-union sector. We also consider how possible selection into union status affects our estimates, and demonstrate the difficulty of addressing this problem in the South African context by evaluating a variety of selection models.

Effect of Multiemployer Collective Bargaining on Employer-Provided Health Insurance in the Construction Industry

Research on employer provided health insurance has shown that worker characteristics, wages and unionization influence the prevalence of health insurance. Using the SIPP, this research confirms that these factors are also important in the construction industry. However, in this volatile industry populated by small firms, the institution of collectively bargained multiemployer health trust funds provides an additional impetus for the delivery of health insurance by exploiting cross-firm economies of scale in the purchase of health insurance services and reducing the barriers to health insurance created by firm-labor turnover through the creation of cross-employer portable health benefits that do not require multiple probation periods and tolerate spells of unemployment. Additionally, while there is a countercyclical pattern of health coverage in the nonunion sector associated with the shedding of marginal workers and contractors in the downturn, this countercyclical pattern is not present in unionized construction. The greater insurance coverage of marginal unionized workers facilitated by multiemployer trust-fund efficiencies means that the shedding of marginal workers in the downturn does not disproportionately shed workers who are not covered by insurance.

Changes in fall prevention training for apprentice carpenters based on a comprehensive needs assessment

Problem Falls from heights in residential construction are common, especially among inexperienced workers. Methods We conducted a comprehensive needs assessment to determine gaps in the school-based apprentice carpenters' fall prevention training. A team of carpenter instructors and researchers revised the fall prevention training to fill these gaps. Apprentice evaluation and feedback guided ongoing curricular improvements. Results Most apprentice carpenters performed work tasks at heights prior to training and fall protection techniques were not commonly used at residential construction sites. Priorities of the revised school-based training included safe ladder habits, truss setting, scaffold use, guarding floor openings, and using personal fall arrest systems. New apprentices were targeted to ensure training prior to exposure at the workplace. We used adult learning principles to emphasize hands-on experiences. A framed portion of a residential construction site was fabricated to practice fall protection behaviors in a realistic setting. The revised curriculum has been delivered consistently and apprentice feedback has been very favorable. Conclusions Integration of needs assessment results was invaluable in revising the school-based carpenters apprentice fall prevention curriculum. Working closely with the instructors to tailor learning experiences has provided preliminary positive results. Impact on Industry The fall safety of the residential construction industry continues to lag behind commercial construction and industrial settings. The National Occupational Research Agenda includes a Strategic Goal to strengthen and extend the reach of quality training and education in the construction industry via mechanisms such as construction safety and health training needs assessments. This study demonstrates how a structured process can be used to identify and remedy gaps and improve training effectiveness. We encourage others to take steps to assess and increase the impact of training efforts directed at all residential construction professionals; including both union and non-union workers. The implications are even greater in the non-union sector where most U.S. residential work is done.

Continued progress in the prevention of nail gun injuries among apprentice carpenters: What will it take to see wider spread injury reductions?

Problem Nail guns are a common source of acute, and potentially serious, injury in residential construction. Method Data on nail gun injuries, hours worked and hours of tool use were collected in 2008 from union apprentice carpenters (n = 464) through classroom surveys; this completed four years of serial cross-sectional data collection from apprentices. A predictive model of injury risk was constructed using Poisson regression. Results Injury rates declined 55% from baseline measures in 2005 with early training and increased use of tools with sequential actuation. Injury rates declined among users of tools with both actuation systems, but the rates of injury were consistently twice as high among those using tools with contact trip triggers. Discussion and impact Nail gun injuries can be reduced markedly through early training and use of tools with sequential actuation. These successful efforts need to be diffused broadly, including to the non-union sector.

Wage Dispersion in a Partially Unionized Labor Force

Taking as our point of departure a model proposed by David Card (2001), we suggest new methods for analyzing wage dispersion in a partially unionized labor market. Card's method disaggregates the labor population into skill categories, which procedure entails some loss of information. Accordingly, we develop a model in which each worker individually is assigned a union-membership probability and predicted union and nonunion wages. The model yields a natural three-way decomposition of variance. The decomposition permits counterfactual analysis, using concepts and techniques from the theory of factorial experimental design. We examine causes of the increase in U.K. wage dispersion between 1983 and 1995. Of the factors initially considered, the most influential was a change in the structure of remuneration inside both the union and nonunion sectors. Next in importance was the decrease in union membership. Finally, exogenous changes in labor force characteristics had, for most groups considered, only a small negative effect. We supplement this preliminary three-factorial analysis with a five-factorial analysis that allows us to examine effects from the wage-equation parameters in greater detail.

Employee representation and partnership in the non-union sector: a paradox of intention?

Non-union forms of employee representation have become increasingly prominent in UK workplaces in the last 15 years. In addition, partnership working has been encouraged by New Labour, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Confederation of British Industry and the TUC as a route to higher commitment and higher individual and organisational performance. These trends have been further encouraged by recent European Union legislation. This article seeks to examine the implied linkages between non-union employee representative mechanisms and partnership working and their influence on the effectiveness of employee voice as a conduit of high performance. The article is based on a case study organisation from within the UK finance sector, and data are drawn from semi-structured interviews with managers and staff and a survey of employee attitudes. The article concludes that employers’ attempts to utilise a non-union partnership framework for organisational gain are severely constrained by structural limitations on effective employee voice.

Labour-management partnership in the non-union retail sector

Analysts and policy advocates have argued that a meaningful labour-management partnership can be established in the absence of trade unions. In this paper we have examined employee outcomes of partnership in a medium-sized non-union retail firm, regarded as one of the ‘best practice’ cases of non-union partnership by the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA) of the UK. We have also compared the employee outcomes from our case study firm with those from a representative sample of retail sector workers from unionized and non-union retail firms in the UK. Findings indicate that compared to employees in other retail-sector firms, workers in the ‘best practice’ partnership firm were significantly disadvantaged with respect to their influence over workplace and policy decisions with little evidence of ‘mutual gains’ as claimed by partnership advocates.

Unionization, Union Involvement, and the Performance of Gainsharing Programs

This study empirically examines the relationships between union status, union involvement, and the performance of gain sharing programs. Using survey data from 217 establishments in the U.S.A. and Canada, the authors evaluate the predictions ofvarious competing theoretical perspectives: the agency/transaction cost approach, the monopoly model, the institutional voice model and a "two faces" model of labour organization. Ordered-probit and OLS regression results show that gain sharing programs with union involvement in program administration resulted in better perceived performance than average programs in the nonunion sector. However, gain sharing programs in the union sector without union involvement had worse outcomes than those in the nonunion sector. These two divergent situations resulted in union status itself having an insignificant relationship with program performance. These results are most compatible with the "two faces" model.

Human Resource Management as a Substitute for Trade Unions in British Workplaces

The authors use British workplace data for 1980–98 to examine whether increased human resource management (HRM) practices coincided with union decline, consistent with the hypothesis that such practices act as a substitute for unionization. Two initial analyses show no important differences between union and non-union sectors or between newer workplaces (which are likelier to be non-union) and older ones in the pattern of HRM practices over time; and the study's longitudinal analysis picks up no evidence of faster union decline in workplaces or industries that adopted HRM practices than in those that did not. Not only is the hypothesized substitution effect thus not supported, but the authors even uncover some evidence of a complementarity between unions and HRM practices. The authors conclude that increased use of HRM practices is probably not an important factor underpinning union decline in Britain.

Seniority Profiles in Unionised Workplaces: Do Unions Still Have the Edge?

This paper, using data from the British Household Panel; Survey, explores how institutional arrangements influence employees' wages. Particularly, it distinguishes the different paths seniority-earnings profiles follow depending on whether the individual is employed in a workplace where trade unions and collective bargaining are present, or not. Within this framework, two propositions are set. It is argued that in the union sector seniority should be an important determinant of wages, while in the less structured non-union sector true productivity, proxied by the more competitive accumulated skills and professional expertise, should have a key role on earnings profiles. Indeed the empirical analysis on male employees verifies both propositions. Seniority-earnings profiles appear to be steeper in the union-sector, while occupational expertise is estimated to have a more significant role in non-union jobs.

Unions, wage differential and indeterminacy

In this paper, we are interested in the influence of labor market structure and wage differential on the occurrence of endogenous fluctuations. For this purpose, we introduce a dual labor market in an overlapping generations model. In the first sector, the wage comes from bargaining between producers and unions, whereas the wage is perfectly competitive in the other sector. In this framework, we compare the conditions for indeterminacy with respect to two different bargaining processes: the right-to-manage model and the efficiency bargaining model. We show that not only the labor market structure and the union bargaining power have an influence on local indeterminacy, but also the technological features. Indeed, when the capital share is greater in the non-unionized sector, indeterminacy always occurs whatever the bargaining process. On the contrary, when the capital share is greater in the unionized sector, indeterminacy emerges only in the efficiency bargaining model with a high enough union bargaining power.

Paying to queue: a theory of locational differences in nonunion wages

Traditional theories of the effect unions have on nonunion wages are difficult to reconcile with firm and worker mobility. We show how differences in nonunion wages can persist in a two-city search model. Nonunion wage differences across cities are driven by transition rates into the union sector. Should union queues form in the nonunion sector, union power decreases nonunion wages as workers are willing to take lower wages to line up for union jobs. However, if queues are formed in the unemployed sector, union power increases nonunion wages as nonunion firms pay premiums to induce workers to leave the queue.