What Businesses Attract Unions? Unionization over the Life‐Cycle of U.S. Establishments
Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Forthcoming
74 Pages Posted: 22 Feb 2014 Last revised: 22 Mar 2016
There are 4 versions of this paper
What Businesses Attract Unions? Unionization over the Life‐Cycle of U.S. Establishments
Who Do Unions Target? Unionization Over the Life-Cycle of U.S. Businesses
Who Do Unions Target? Unionization Over the Life-Cycle of U.S. Businesses
Who Do Unions Target? Unionization Over the Life-Cycle of U.S. Businesses
Date Written: March 21, 2016
Abstract
What type of businesses attract unions? A theory of union learning and organizing is developed to provide an answer to this question. A union monitors establishments in an industry to learn about their productivity and decides which ones to organize. An establishment becomes unionized if the union wins a certification election, the outcome of which can be influenced by costly actions taken by the two parties. The model offers predictions on the nature of union selection, which are examined empirically. Data on union certification elections, matched with data on establishment characteristics, is used to explore where union activity is concentrated.
Keywords: Unionization, Union Organizing, Union Selection, Union Certification Election, Diffusion of Unionization, Employer Resistance to Unionization, Bayesian Learning
JEL Classification: J5, J50, J51, L11, L23, L25, L6, D24, D21
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation