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Union Membership and the Legal and Institutional Environment: Labour Market Policy in Australia and the United Kingdom

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  • Peter Kenyon
  • Philip E. T. Lewis

Abstract

This article examines how the political and institutional environment impinges upon unionisation. Changes in policy towards trade unions in two countries are contrasted: the United Kingdom under the Conservative government where the industrial relations legal environment shifted in a direction antithetical to unionism, and Australia under the Labor administration where the union movement was incorporated into the labour policy process through a corporatist, centralised wage‐fixing system—the Accord. How these changes in the legal and institutional environment in the two countries affect the propensity to unionise is examined. It is found that in both the United Kingdom and Australia union density has declined from what it otherwise would have been in the absence of these radically different policies. It is argued that the extremes of corporatist centralisation and laissez‐faire decentralisation, perhaps paradoxically, make it difficult for unions to increase their membership.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Kenyon & Philip E. T. Lewis, 1993. "Union Membership and the Legal and Institutional Environment: Labour Market Policy in Australia and the United Kingdom," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 26(2), pages 48-60, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:26:y:1993:i:2:p:48-60
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8462.1993.tb00783.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chapman, B.J. & Hanlan, A. & Lewis, P.E.T. & Mitchell, W.L. & Watts, M.J., 1991. "Analysing the Impact of Consensual Incomes Policy on Aggregate Wage Outcome: The 1980s Australian Experiment," CEPR Discussion Papers 253, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    2. Chapman, B.J. & Gruen, F., 1990. "An Analysis Of The Australian Consensual Incomes Policy: The Prices And Incomes Accord," CEPR Discussion Papers 221, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    3. Richard Freeman, 1990. "On the Divergence of Unionism among Developed Countries," International Economic Association Series, in: Renato Brunetta & Carlo Dell’Aringa (ed.), Labour Relations and Economic Performance, chapter 12, pages 304-322, Palgrave Macmillan.
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    Cited by:

    1. Trevor Stegman, 1999. "On the Role of Regulation in Union - Employer Bargaining," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 10(1), pages 92-106, June.

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