TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Addison, John T.
AU  - Belfield, Clive R.
        TI  - Unions and Establishment Performance: Evidence from the British Workplace Industrial/Employee Relations Surveys
        PY  - 2002/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 455
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp455
        AB  - An interesting aspect of British research on unions based on the Workplace Industrial/
Employment Relations Surveys has been the apparent shift in union impact on establishment
performance in the decade of the 1990s compared with the 1980s – and the recent scramble
to explain the phenomenon. In this contribution, we chart these changes along the
dimensions of financial performance, labor productivity, employment, quits, absenteeism,
industrial relations climate, and plant closings. Using the most recent workplace survey, we
also investigate the controversial notion that union influence is positive where unions are
strong and is negative where unions are weak. This notion, encountered in recent research in
Britain (and Germany), emphasizes the benefits of the collective voice of unions, arguing that
this voice is only 'heard' when the union is strong or a credible agent. We examine this
contention for a fuller array of definitions of union influence and workplace performance
measures. Overall, our discussion reveals some evidence that is consistent with reduced
bargaining power in the wake of anti-union reform measures and heightened product market
competition. On the other hand, there is little support for the recherché notion that stronger
unions have a beneficial impact, yet weaker ones do not.
        KW  - plant closings
KW  - Union strength
KW  - hierarchy of effects
KW  - financial performance
KW  - labor productivity
KW  - employment change
KW  - quits
KW  - absenteeism
KW  - employee attitudes
        ER  -