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Accounting for Collective Action: Resource Acquisition and Mobilization in British Unions

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  • Alex Bryson
  • P Willman

Abstract

The paper uses two data sources to map trends in resource availability for trade unions in Britain. Union resources exist on the one hand in the form of subscription income and accumulated assets shown in union accounts and, on the other, establishment level resources provided by employers and union members. The paper documents a substantial decline in both forms of resource across the period 1990 -2004 and attempts to explain both the reasons for this decline and its consequences for employee representation in Britain.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Bryson & P Willman, 2006. "Accounting for Collective Action: Resource Acquisition and Mobilization in British Unions," CEP Discussion Papers dp0768, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0768
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    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp0768.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John H. Pencavel, 1971. "The Demand for Union Services: An Exercise," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 24(2), pages 180-190, January.
    2. Martyn Wright, 1996. "The Collapse of Compulsory Unionism? Collective Organization in Highly Unionized British Companies, 1979–1991," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 497-513, December.
    3. Willman,Paul & Morris,Tim & Aston,Beverly, 1993. "Union Business," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521417259, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dr Alex Bryson, 2009. "Employee Voice and Private Sector Workplace Outcomes in Britain, 1980-2004," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 329, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    2. John T. Addison & Alex Bryson & Paulino Teixeira & André Pahnke & Lutz Bellmann, 2013. "The Extent of Collective Bargaining and Workplace Representation: Transitions between States and their Determinants. A Comparative Analysis of Germany and Great Britain," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(2), pages 182-209, May.
    3. John T. Addison & Alex Bryson & Paulino Teixeira & André Pahnke, 2011. "Slip Sliding Away: Further Union Decline In Germany And Britain," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(4), pages 490-518, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Union membership;

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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