Private sector union decline and structural employment change, 1970–1988

Studies of the large decline in private sector unionism during the 1970s and 1980s focus on explanations particular to those decades and attribute an inconsequential role to the employment shift from goods-producing to service-producing industries. Using an adapted version of the Ashenfelter-Pencavel model, this research finds stable parameter estimates between the two decades and the earlier post-Wagner Act years. Not only are decade-specific explanations found to be unnecessary in understanding membership decline, but the pivotal relationship in the decline is the relative shift in the employment distribution away from the traditionally strongly unionized industries.     

The future of private sector unions in the U.S.

Conclusion As noted, the union movement’s significant decline during the last four decades is primarily a private sector phenomenon. Since the mid-1950s, the union density of private sector workers has dropped from more than a third to less than a tenth, in contrast to that found in government employment, which is now about 37 percent. We are indebted to the Donner Foundation for support and to Noah Meltz and Rafael Gomez for research and intellectual advice.     

Who joins unions in the public sector? The effects of individual characteristics and the law

Analysis of a large micro-data set shows that state public-sector bargaining laws significantly influence state and local government union membership in several ways. Membership probability is lowest where a right-to-work law is present; it is greatest when there are mandatory agency shop provisions. Compulsory arbitration leads to a significantly greater probability of membership than does the right-to-strike. Simulations based on model estimates indicate that policy changes along the lines of proposed national public bargaining laws could lead to major changes in public-sector union density. Among individual and demographic characteristics, membership probability is significantly affected by full-time/part-time status and the statewide extent of private-sector unionism. Although non-whites and males are more likely to be union members, race and gender membership differentials are shown to be relatively small. The author thanks Jack Fiorito, Paul Jarley, Joe Stone, and Rob Valletta for their helpful comments. Any remaining errors are his sole responsibility.     

Teachers’ unions and excellence in education: An analysis of the decline in SAT scores

Controversy surrounds the recent finding that college entrance exams are lower today than they were twenty years ago, but little empirical evidence has been offered in the debate. This paper uses cross-sectional regression analysis to examine the decline in SAT scores between 1972 and 1983. Three explanations are tested: the changing social environment, the financial resources devoted to education, and the emergence of militant teacher unions. The results show teacher unionism to be the most significant factor in the decline in scores. I wish to thank David Laband, Henry Butler, and Charles Baird for their helpful comments. I am also grateful to the Shearman Foundation for its financial support and to the College Board for making available its data. Of course, none of the above are responsible for any errors, nor do they necessarily agree with my methods or conclusions.     

Intensity of management resistance: understanding the decline of unionization in the private sector

IX. Conclusions Although Lipset and Katchanovski present many of the major societal and structural causes that have influenced the decline of private sector unions, they have unfortunately omitted a factor that can account for as much as 40 percent of the decline in private sector union membership, i.e., intensity of management opposition. The managerial incentives to stop unionization are formidable because unions raise wages and reduce profits. Economic reasons for American managers to stop unionization have grown as the wage between union and nonunion workers has widened over the past 40 years especially relative to EU nations. In addition, as managerial accountability to shareholders has risen and pay related to performance has grown, top executives have attempted to raise productivity through high-performance workplace practices or lowering real wages. Since many of these practices rely on top-level executives being able to make decisions on personnel quickly without challenges from employees or due process, they have fought unions more vigorously in order to maintain this discretion over workplace decisions. Although this behavior by management may result in a more efficient allocation of resources from both a micro-and macroeconomic perspective, the losses to society occur in terms of greater income inequality and less employee voice at the workplace and in the political arena.     

Information technology: The threat to unions

Conclusions Although seldom recognized in the flurry of enthusiastic support, information technology has a dark side for unions. The Internet and the Web, with its power and convenience magnified by wireless communication, will reduce the relevancy of the traditional workplace-centered appeals of organizing unions. With greater physical distance and less psychological attachment to their employer and workplace, professional, clerical, technical, and sales workers will believe that collective bargaining does not fit their situations. Organizing these workers will require that unions not only have to broaden their mode of representation, perhaps even reviving associate membership, but also compete against advocacy and identity organizations. To make matters even worse, when unions try to organize any group of workers regardless of whether or not their jobs have been transformed by information technology, and when unions try to maintain their influence in already organized workplaces, they will have to compete against employer-controlled intranets.     

Financial and political resources of nine major public sector unions in the 1980s

Current research offers two potentially competing perspectives on union strength: membership and financial/political resources. We update and broaden the research on the financial and political resources of nine major public sector unions in the U.S. by reporting these unions’ financial assets, net worth, revenues, and political action committee (PAC) receipts during the 1980s and the early 1990s. We find that unions may expand their financial and political resources even though membership levels stagnate or decline. Overall, the unions have amassed larger asset bases, even though some have actually lost members. On a per member basis, federal executive branch unions do not appear as financially weak as the level of their financial resources suggests. Postal unions as a group are clearly the strongest in terms of per member financial and political resources. Federal executive branch unions have experienced a striking reduction in their PAC activity, while the postal and the state and local union PACs have grown substantially. Our analysis indicates that union membership may not adequately measure union strength.     

Lottery winners: The myth and reality

This paper is based on a study of 576 lottery winners from 12 states. Respondents to a mailed questionnaire included winners of sums ranging from $50,000 to millions. The data indicate that popular myths and stereotypes about winners were inaccurate. Specifically, winners came from various education and employment backgrounds and they were clustered in the higher income categories than the general population indicating that lotteries might not be as regressive as popularly believed. Winners were older than the general population and more often male (60 versus 40%). There was significant association between the amount a person won and his or her work behavior. Individuals with psychologically and financially rewarding jobs continued working regardless of the amount they won, while people who worked in low paying semi-skilled and unskilled jobs were far more likely to quit the labor force. Contrary to popular beliefs, winners did not engage in lavish spending sprees and instead gave large amounts of their winnings to their children and their churches. The most common expenditures were for houses, automobiles and trips. It was found that overall, winners were well-adjusterd, secure and generally happy from the experience.This study was funded by a grant from the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies in White Plains, New York.     

Employee involvement programs: The noninvolvement of unions revisited

We employ a person-situation interaction approach to assess the consequences for unions of not getting involved in an employee involvement (EI) program. Our results demonstrate that unions experience negative selection and program effects when they remain aloof from the EI program. Our findings, in conjunction with prior research, indicate that union leaders should resolve their uncertainty about involvement in the EI process in favor of participation.     

The economic effects of faculty unions

The relationship between faculty salaries and unionism at Ph.D.-level universities is investigated. Unlike previous attempts at analyzing this topic, the model endogenizes the union-nonunion choice using appropriate techniques for analyzing limited dependent variables. These techniques allow computation of average salaries for all schools under the assumption that they are unionized and also under the assumption that they are not unionized. Subtraction of the predicted nonunion salary from the union salary provides an estimate of salary differences, which is corrected for selectivity bias.