Author:
Co-Authors ⁄ Presenters: Serena Yu, Sally Wright
The determinants of union membership: A longitudinal analysis
The determinants of union membership: A longitudinal analysis
Serena Yu, Sally Wright and John Buchanan
The issue investigated. Which workers join and leave unions? This paper will investigate the determinants of union membership status.
How investigated. This study will draw on the first four waves of the Australia at work study. This project is tracking the evolution of the labour contract and labour market transitions of 8,300 workers. Using multivariate modelling techniques, the dependent variable of union membership and several independent variables (including personal, job and industry characteristics) are explored.
Key findings. The research explores the following hypotheses:
o Continuity of union membership is related to job tenure.
o Workers who move to new positions in workplaces with an existing union presence are more likely to be union members than those who move to workplaces with no union presence;
o Sex differences in union membership can largely explained by gendered differences in occupational and industrial status;
o Worker perceptions about whether their managers are opposed to unions influence their decisions about whether to join a union
Contribution to the field of knowledge. Studies of union membership have often had to rely on summary (usually cross-sectional) information on either workers’ characteristics and union membership and/or data collected from employers in workplace surveys. This study is based on comprehensive information gathered longitudinally from workers about their employment contracts and labour market transitions. In conducting analysis the key concern of interest is not simply whether workers are members or non-members. Instead analysis is built around six levels of union engagement:
- satisfied non-members
o never been members
o were previously members
- latent members (i.e. non-members but interested in joining)
- reluctant members
- satisfied members
- workplace delegates.
In addition the usual labour force measures of workers and jobs, data on workers’ subjective perceptions and the nature of workplace IR also informs the analysis. Attitudinal data informing the analysis includes: perceived job security, workplace safety, trust and management fairness as well as control over hours of work. Data on workplace IR include: level of union presence in the workplace, nature of industrial agreements governing wages and employment conditions, workers reported ability to negotiate both individually and collectively at work as well as level of employer aggression to unionism.
Most importantly of all, because this study is longitudinal in nature it explores how workers move between different levels of union engagement and what factors are associated with changes of this nature.
In drawing out the wider analytical and strategic implications of the study, the paper will build on ongoing debate about international trends in union membership (e.g. Freeman and Medoff 1984, Freeman and Rogers 1999, Peetz 1998 and Kersley et al 2006).