IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v5y1987i4p12-27.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Contemporary Decline Of Union Strength

Author

Listed:
  • JACK FIORITO
  • CHERYL L. MARANTO

Abstract

This paper reviews six explanations for the contemporary decline in United States union strength. The authors, after reviewing the conceptual basis and available evidence for each of these explanations, conclude that–for the present–each explanation has some merit. In other words, the contemporary decline in union strength results from the combined impact of various forces. However, employer suppression activities (e.g., illegal discharges for union activities) apparently represent the single most powerful explanation for union decline. Attempts by unions or policymakers to reverse this decline are more likely to be effective if the multiple causes of union decline are better understood.

Suggested Citation

  • Jack Fiorito & Cheryl L. Maranto, 1987. "The Contemporary Decline Of Union Strength," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 5(4), pages 12-27, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:5:y:1987:i:4:p:12-27
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1987.tb00269.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1987.tb00269.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1987.tb00269.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James A. Gross, 1985. "Conflicting Statutory Purposes: Another Look at Fifty Years of NLRB Law Making," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 39(1), pages 7-18, October.
    2. Neumann, George R & Rissman, Ellen R, 1984. "Where Have All the Union Members Gone?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(2), pages 175-192, April.
    3. Farber, Henry S & Saks, Daniel H, 1980. "Why Workers Want Unions: The Role of Relative Wages and Job Characteristics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 349-369, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John Godard & Carola Frege, 2013. "Labor Unions, Alternative Forms of Representation, and the Exercise of Authority Relations in U.S. Workplaces," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(1), pages 142-168, January.
    2. Donna Sockell & John Thomas Delany, 1987. "Union Organizing And The Reagan Nlrb," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 5(4), pages 28-45, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Blanchflower, D. & Crouchley, R. & Estrin, S. & Oswald, A., 1990. "Unemployment And The Demand For Unions," Papers 372, London School of Economics - Centre for Labour Economics.
    2. Richard B. Freeman, 1987. "Contraction and Expansion: The Divergence of Private Sector and Public Sector Unionism in tht U.S," NBER Working Papers 2399, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Schnabel, Claus, 2002. "Determinants of trade union membership," Discussion Papers 15, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    4. G L Clark & K Johnston, 1987. "The Geography of US Union Elections 1: The Crisis of US Unions and a Critical Review of the Literature," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 19(1), pages 33-57, January.
    5. Franklin G. Mixon & Rand W. Ressler, 1993. "Union Influence and Right‐to‐Work Law Passage," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 183-192, April.
    6. Behroz Baraghoshi & Cihan Bilginsoy, 2013. "Interstate Variations in Private Sector Union Density in the U.S," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 180-202, June.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:1039-1089 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Johan Stennek, 2020. "Why Unions Reduce Wage Inequality: A Theory of Domino Effects," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(3), pages 1045-1072, July.
    9. C Green & J S Heywood, 2010. "Unions, Dissatisfied Workers and Sorting," Working Papers 615292, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    10. Jonathan E. Booth & John W. Budd & Kristen M. Munday, 2010. "Never Say Never? Uncovering the Never‐Unionized in the United States," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 26-52, March.
    11. Richard Murphy, 2020. "Why Unions Survive: Understanding How Unions Overcome the Free-Rider Problem," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(4), pages 1141-1188.
    12. repec:lan:wpaper:3161 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Andrew E. Clark & Nicolai Kristensen & Niels Westergård‐Nielsen, 2009. "Job Satisfaction and Co‐worker Wages: Status or Signal?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(536), pages 430-447, March.
    14. Alejandro Donado & Klaus Wälde, 2008. "Trade Unions go global!," Working Papers 2008_22, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow, revised Aug 2008.
    15. Lacroix, Robert & Montmarquette, Claude & Mahseredjian, Sophie & Froment, Nicole, 1991. "Disparités interindustrielles dans les taux de départs volontaires : une étude empirique," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 67(4), pages 458-481, décembre.
    16. Henry S. Farber, 1984. "The Analysis of Union Behavior," NBER Working Papers 1502, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. G L Clark & K Johnston, 1987. "The Geography of US Union Elections 5: Reconceptualizing the Theory of Industrial Unionism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 19(6), pages 719-734, June.
    18. Christopher K. Coombs & Richard Cebula, 2011. "The Impact of Union Corruption on Union Membership," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 131-148, January.
    19. Barry T. Hirsch & Edward J. Schumacher, 2001. "Private Sector Union Density and the Wage Premium: Past, Present, and Future ," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 22(3), pages 487-518, July.
    20. King, Robert P. & Park, Timothy A., 2004. "Modeling Productivity In Supermarket Operations: Incorporating The Impacts Of Store Characteristics And Information Technologies," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 35(2), pages 1-14, July.
    21. King, Robert P. & Park, Timothy A., 2002. "Modeling Scale Economies In Supermarket Operations: Incorporating The Impacts Of Store Characteristics And Information Technologies," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19881, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    22. Alejandro Donado & Klaus Wa¨lde, 2012. "How trade unions increase welfare," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(563), pages 990-1009, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:5:y:1987:i:4:p:12-27. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.