IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/indrel/v53y2022i4p303-335.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The financial status of national unions

Author

Listed:
  • Marick F. Masters
  • Raymond F. Gibney
  • Robert Albright

Abstract

The longstanding concerted attacks on unions from multiple fronts in the United States have threatened to undermine labour's institutional security. Though much has been written on the nature and scope of labour's declining membership, less research exists on unions' financial state. We have addressed this void in several ways through an analysis of the finances of 53 major national unions in the United States over the years between 2006 and 2019. Our study has reported on the financial resources and performance of these 53 national unions on aggregated and disaggregated bases. Building from relevant theory, we have analysed an exploratory model to identify the determinants of variation in union financial resources and performance. We have shown that the unions' net worth over the 2006–2019 span deteriorated, though, in aggregation, their member‐based income grew. The unions have maintained high levels of liquidity and resilience in their capacity to fund their operating budgets. Business Income has fallen as a share of overall net revenues. Disaggregated data have shown vast variation in financial resources and performance across unions and over time. Multivariate analyses suggest differences correlated with selected organizational and environmental factors, such as union density, earnings and membership levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Marick F. Masters & Raymond F. Gibney & Robert Albright, 2022. "The financial status of national unions," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 303-335, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:indrel:v:53:y:2022:i:4:p:303-335
    DOI: 10.1111/irj.12374
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12374
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/irj.12374?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. Nathan Belfer, 1949. "Financial Resources of Trade-Unions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(2), pages 157-157.
    2. Philip Taft, 1946. "Dues and Initiation Fees in Labor Unions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 60(2), pages 219-232.
    3. Paul Willman & Alex Bryson & John Forth, 2020. "UK Unions, Collective Action and the Cost Disease," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 447-470, June.
    4. Paul Willman, 1990. "The Financial Status and Performance of British Trade Unions, 1950–1988," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 313-327, November.
    5. Ronald Ehrenberg & Steven Goldberg, 1977. "Officer Performance and Compensation in Local Building Trades Unions," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 30(2), pages 188-196, January.
    6. Sara Gamm, 1979. "The Election Base of National Union Executive Boards," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 32(3), pages 295-311, April.
    7. Paul Clark & Lois Gray, 2008. "Administrative Practices in American Unions: A Longitudinal Study," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 42-55, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2022. "Union Membership Peaks in Midlife," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(1), pages 124-151, March.
    2. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 2017. "Coauthors and Collaborations," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 62(1), pages 3-18, March.
    3. Rachel Aleks & Tina Saksida & Sam Kolahgar, 2021. "Practice What You Preach: The Gender Pay Gap in Labor Union Compensation," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 403-435, October.
    4. Nancy D. Ursel & Ligang Zhong, 2022. "Unionization and CEO turnover," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 53-70, January.
    5. Joseph S. Tracy, 1986. "Seniority Rules and the Gains from Union Organization," NBER Working Papers 2039, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Kevin F. Hallock & Felice B. Klein, 2016. "Executive Compensation in American Unions," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 219-234, April.
    7. Paul Willman & Timothy Morris, 1995. "Financial Management and Financial Performance in British Trade Unions," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 289-298, June.
    8. Thomas J. Holmes & James A. Schmitz, 2001. "Competition at work : railroads vs. monopoly in the U.S. shipping industry," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 25(Spr), pages 3-29.

    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:indrel:v:53:y:2022:i:4:p:303-335. 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: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0019-8692 .

    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.