Unions and Establishment Performance: Evidence from the British Workplace Industrial/Employee Relations Surveys

40 Pages Posted: 9 Apr 2002 Last revised: 8 May 2025

See all articles by John T. Addison

John T. Addison

University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Clive R. Belfield

Columbia University Teachers' College - National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education

Abstract

An interesting aspect of British research on unions based on the Workplace Industrial/Employment Relations Surveys has been the apparent shift in union impact on establishmentperformance in the decade of the 1990s compared with the 1980s – and the recent scrambleto explain the phenomenon. In this contribution, we chart these changes along thedimensions of financial performance, labor productivity, employment, quits, absenteeism,industrial relations climate, and plant closings. Using the most recent workplace survey, wealso investigate the controversial notion that union influence is positive where unions arestrong and is negative where unions are weak. This notion, encountered in recent research inBritain (and Germany), emphasizes the benefits of the collective voice of unions, arguing thatthis voice is only 'heard' when the union is strong or a credible agent. We examine thiscontention for a fuller array of definitions of union influence and workplace performancemeasures. Overall, our discussion reveals some evidence that is consistent with reducedbargaining power in the wake of anti-union reform measures and heightened product marketcompetition. On the other hand, there is little support for the recherché notion that strongerunions have a beneficial impact, yet weaker ones do not.

Keywords: plant closings, Union strength, hierarchy of effects, financial performance, labor productivity, employment change, quits, absenteeism, employee attitudes

JEL Classification: J24, J51, J53, J58, J63, J65

Suggested Citation

Addison, John T. and Belfield, Clive R., Unions and Establishment Performance: Evidence from the British Workplace Industrial/Employee Relations Surveys. IZA Discussion Paper No. 455, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=306288

John T. Addison (Contact Author)

University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business - Department of Economics ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://mooreschool.sc.edu/moore/economics/profiles/addison.htm

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Clive R. Belfield

Columbia University Teachers' College - National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education ( email )

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New York, NY 10027
United States

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