R. Disney et al., BRITISH UNIONS IN DECLINE - DETERMINANTS OF THE 1980S FALL IN UNION RECOGNITION, Industrial & labor relations review, 48(3), 1995, pp. 403-419
This examination of establishment-level data from the Workplace Indust
rial Relations Surveys of 1980, 1984, and 1990 shows that the proporti
on of British establishments (that is, workplaces in both the private
and public sector) that recognized unions for collective bargaining ov
er pay and working conditions fell by almost 20% between 1980 and 1990
. Largely accountable for this decline was a much lower rate of union
recognition in establishments founded in the 1980s than in previous ye
ars, particularly in the private sector. Citing these findings, as wel
l as recent structural changes in employment in the British labor mark
et (such as the shift from manufacturing to services, from manual to n
on-manual employment, and from full-time to part-time work) and a gove
rnment that continues to enact anti-union legislation, the authors for
esee no reversal of unions' decline in the 1990s.