Heterogeneity and union membership determination

Article Abstract:

This paper formalizes theoretical and empirical analyses of the determination of union membership. It is argued that an important (and usually ignored) consideration affecting the union status of workers is the externalities between (potential) union members: The gain a worker derives from unionization is affected by the characteristics of the workers who already belong to the union, and the gain union members derive from admitting an additional worker to membership depends on the worker's characteristics. Thus, two conditions must hold if a worker is to join a union: (1) unionization should increase his wage, and (2) union members must benefit from adding him. The main implication of this analysis is that in a given industry/occupation a union is more likely to form among workers with lower rents. To test this proposition, I present an empirical analysis using data from the May 1979 Current Population Survey (CPS) Public Use Sample. A procedure for measuring worker's rent is discussed and certain relationships between rent and union membership are identified. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Employment

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Union membership, economic rents, and migration behavior

Article Abstract:

This study represents an extension of the human capital paradigm as it relates to an individual's decision to migrate. It differs from previous studies by incorporating union membership, a labor market variable, into the model. In effect, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 granted a monopoly bargaining position to unions. The theoretical implication of a union's monopoly bargaining position is that union wage levels will increase relative to nonunion wages. The increase of relative wages results in union membership granting a property right that possesses positive net present value and hence reduces an employed union member's probability of migrating. Additionally, the supra-competitive remuneration of union members results in a surplus of labor supplied to union firms. Employers respond by using quality screening to hire workers from the larger labor pool. As a result, unemployed union members will on average possess higher levels of human capital, which will increase their probability of migrating above that of their unemployed nonunion cohorts. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Analysis, Interpretation and construction, Labor economics, Labor law, Labor mobility, Human capital

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A longitudinal examination of the membership patterns of minorities and women in referral unions

Article Abstract:

In an examination of the membership patterns of minorities and women in building and nonbuilding trade referral unions between 1969 and 1979, results reveal that variations in referral union membership can be substantially accounted for by race and sex. Longitudinally, no meaningful changes in the racial composition of referral unions exist, while the sexual composition within building and trade union categories change significantly over time. More importantly, however, male-female representation patterns across both referral union categories over the ten-year period remain fairly constant relative to one another. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Working class, Minorities in labor unions

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