The Economics of Trade Unions

The Economics of Trade Unions
Author: Hristos Doucouliagos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2017-02-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317498283

Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff’s now classic 1984 book What Do Unions Do? stimulated an enormous theoretical and empirical literature on the economic impact of trade unions. Trade unions continue to be a significant feature of many labor markets, particularly in developing countries, and issues of labor market regulations and labor institutions remain critically important to researchers and policy makers. The relations between unions and management can range between cooperation and conflict; unions have powerful offsetting wage and non-wage effects that economists and other social scientists have long debated. Do the benefits of unionism exceed the costs to the economy and society writ large, or do the costs exceed the benefits? The Economics of Trade Unions offers the first comprehensive review, analysis and evaluation of the empirical literature on the microeconomic effects of trade unions using the tools of meta-regression analysis to identify and quantify the economic impact of trade unions, as well as to correct research design faults, the effects of selection bias and model misspecification. This volume makes use of a unique dataset of hundreds of empirical studies and their reported estimates of the microeconomic impact of trade unions. Written by three authors who have been at the forefront of this research field (including the co-author of the original volume, What Do Unions Do?), this book offers an overview of a subject that is of huge importance to scholars of labor economics, industrial and employee relations, and human resource management, as well as those with an interest in meta-analysis.

Trade Union Growth, Structure and Policy

Trade Union Growth, Structure and Policy
Author: H. A. Turner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2022-04-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000580180

First published in 1962, Trade Union Growth, Structure and Policy starts with the long history of the textile unions and their remarkable structures and techniques. By comparing these unions to each other and to other key unions, Professor Turner explores those major problems in the development and contemporary position of trade unionism which are of public interest. He reappraises the general theory of the labour movement’s evolution and is able to show that, what are essentially modern unions have existed longer than has been realized and also that ‘unofficial’ movements often repeat the pattern of very early unionism. A detailed comparison and contrast of modern unions reveals that they fall into a greater number of different types and are subject to a greater diversity of influences than is generally supposed both in formal government and in effective democracy. The author assesses the factors which have in the past have brought about a major change in trade unions and the likelihood of major changes in the future. This book is an important historical document for scholars and researchers of labour movement, labour economics and political economy.

Unions and Collective Bargaining

Unions and Collective Bargaining
Author: Toke Aidt
Publisher: Directions in Development
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2002
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This book offers an extensive survey and synthesis of the economic literature on trade unions and collective bargaining and their impact on micro-and macro-economic outcomes. The authors demonstrate the effects of collective bargaining in different country settings and time periods. A comprehensive reference, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of labor policy as well as to policy makers and anyone with an interest in the economic consequences of unionism.

Trade Unions and the Economy: 1870–2000

Trade Unions and the Economy: 1870–2000
Author: Derek H. Aldcroft
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351878352

What do unions do and why do they do it? Do they seek to maximise profit for their members, or to obtain better working conditions that benefit society as a whole? Derek H. Aldcroft and Michael J. Oliver here provide one of the first sustained studies of the effects of union activities in terms of economic performance and the impact on the business world. From the rise of the British mass trade union movement in the 1870s to the present day, the book examines the main trends in union development and structure, and the core strategies unions have used to achieve their objectives: the use of strikes, work rules and restrictive practices; workers’ attitudes to innovation; the wage bargaining process. Important assessments are made of the influence of these strategies on investment, innovation, economic growth, and the cost of structure and competitiveness of the UK economy.

Organizing Matters

Organizing Matters
Author: Guy Mundlak
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2020-05-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1839104031

Organizing Matters demonstrates the interplay between two distinct logics of labour’s collective action: on the one hand, workers coming together, usually at their place of work, entrusting the union to represent their interests and, on the other hand, social bargaining in which the trade union constructs labour’s interests from the top down. The book investigates the tensions and potential complementarities between the two logics through the combination of a strong theoretical framework and an extensive qualitative case study of trade union organizing and recruitment in four countries – Austria, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands. These countries still utilize social-wide bargaining but find it necessary to draw and develop strategies transposed from Anglo-American countries in response to continuously declining membership.

The Future of Trade Unionism

The Future of Trade Unionism
Author: Magnus Sverke
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2019-05-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0429788649

First published in 1997, this volume discusses the conditions for contemporary and future unionism in the light of recent economic, political and managerial changes. It presents theoretical and empirical research from Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and the United States. Part 2 provides a rich international description of threats and challenges to contemporary and future unionism. Part 3 focuses on union strategical and structural change. Part 4 is concerned with the consequences of the changing union environment for member-union relations. Magnus Sverke and the contributors here present research addressing how the changing environmental conditions affect unions and their members and demonstrate the importance of applying an international and multi-disciplinary perspective on the analysis of these issues.

Trade Union Powers

Trade Union Powers
Author: Elísio Estanque
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1527561399

This book analyses trade unions’ capacities of resistance following the period of austerity and “bailout crisis” in Portugal (2011-2015). Considering the destructive impacts of those policies on the working class and their unions, it explores three case studies in three productive sectors: the metal sector (Autoeuropa/VW); the telecommunications sector (PT-Telecom/Altice); and the transport sector (TAP – Air Portugal). In order to gather empirical information, the study uses qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews and focus groups. The book shows that social dumping, brutal unemployment growth, increasing poverty levels, spreading precariousness, wage cuts and labour rights suppression were some of the consequences of this period on the working class and trade unions. Drawing on the “power resources” theoretical approach, it shows how trade unions were able to react and “reinvent” themselves in terms of certain forms of power, while others “imploded” or were relegated to a marginal role.

Who Rules America Now?

Who Rules America Now?
Author: G. William Domhoff
Publisher: Touchstone
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1986
Genre: History
ISBN:

The author is convinced that there is a ruling class in America today. He examines the American power structure as it has developed in the 1980s. He presents systematic, empirical evidence that a fixed group of privileged people dominates the American economy and government. The book demonstrates that an upper class comprising only one-half of one percent of the population occupies key positions within the corporate community. It shows how leaders within this "power elite" reach government and dominate it through processes of special-interest lobbying, policy planning and candidate selection. It is written not to promote any political ideology, but to analyze our society with accuracy.