TY  - JOUR
AU  - Disney,Richard
AU  - Gosling,Amanda
AU  - Machin,Stephen
TI  - British Unions in Decline: An Examination of the 1980s Fall in Trade    Union Recognition
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4733
PY  - 1994
Y2  - May 1994
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4733
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4733.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Richard Disney
University of Nottingham
Dept. of Economics
University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RD  ENGLAND
E-Mail: richard.disney@nottingham.ac.uk

Amanda Gosling

Stephen Machin
London School of Economics
Centre for Economic Performance
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
ENGLAND
E-Mail: s.machin@ucl.ac.uk
AB  - 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.
ER  -