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Who joins the union? Determinants of trade union membership in West Germany 1976-1984
Abstract
This paper reports some of the central findings of a cross-sectional analysis of determinants of trade union membership in West Germany. Representative surveys are available for the periods 1976 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984. The results of a logistic regression model are presented separately for each period. Size of firm, union membership of works councillors, and employment in public service were found to be important ‘context variable’ which influence an individual's propensity to join the union. Other variables such as sex, education, and politicalpartisanship (Green Party) also have a significant influence on trade union membership and are discussed here in detail
... This variable is essentially an environmental factor that reflects on social support to employees, such as communications and relations with managers (Farber and Saks, 1980;DeCotiis and LeLouran, 1981), or degree of consideration expressed by supervisors/managers (Iverson and Kuruvilla, 1995). According to Windolf and Haas (1989), large organisations where workers are guided by impersonal bureaucratic rules, which prevent close interaction between management and workers, display greater union density. Attitudes towards and interest in unions have been found to be influenced by the forms of communication used by employers and employees' perceptions of management (Maxey and Mohrman, 1981;Farber, 1990), bureaucratic rules vis-a`-vis work alienation Do cultural groups differ in their attitudes towards unions? ...
... Attitudes towards and interest in unions have been found to be influenced by the forms of communication used by employers and employees' perceptions of management (Maxey and Mohrman, 1981;Farber, 1990), bureaucratic rules vis-a`-vis work alienation Do cultural groups differ in their attitudes towards unions? (Windolf and Haas, 1989) and relations with supervisors/managers (Newton and Shore, 1992). This environmental factor was found to be strongly correlated with union attitude and was hence included in the main design of this study. ...
... there is comparatively little research connecting them with union attitude. As pointed out by Windolf and Haas (1989), conformity to internalised norms such as value orientation is often considered a strong motive for joining unions. They noted that in communities with strong working-class traditions, workers feel obliged to become union members regardless of the economic costs or benefits. ...
We assess the impact of national cultural differences at individual level and job-related factors on employees’ attitudes towards unions, drawn from a survey of full-time employees in large and mid-sized organisations in India and Taiwan. Preliminary analyses showed attitudinal differences in perceived work stress, work-situation dissatisfaction and leadership style of managers, whereas perceived job autonomy was found to be a distant cause of (un)favourable attitudes of both samples towards unions. We based our predictions about the attitudes of Indian and Taiwanese employees on their respective classifications as horizontal and vertical collectivists. Our analysis showed that, independent of cultural background, horizontal and vertical individualism–collectivisms influence employee attitudes and are significant and positive predictors of attitudes of both Indian and Taiwanese employees. This implies that collectivist ideological beliefs and feelings play a profound role in creating favourable attitudes towards unions among employees in both nations. However, we found differences concerning the role of individualism in predicting such attitudes: Indian employees with pro-union attitudes were more concerned about achievement (vertical individualist), whereas Taiwanese employees’ greater need for independence (horizontal individualist) were more associated with pro-union attitudes. To conclude, the results of our study confirm cross-national variation in employees’ attitudes towards unions.
... 10 9 In a different setting, Jones and McKenna (1994) show that in case a union is able to offer greater employment protection for its members, employed workers join the union if the marginal benefit of protection is at least as great as union dues, and their dynamic model permits a variety of relationships between employment and membership in the adjustment to steady state. 10 Examples of psychological and socio-political approaches to unionization can be found, inter alia, in Crouch (1982), Klandermans (1984Klandermans ( , 1986, Guest and Dewe (1988), Wallerstein (1989), Windolf and Haas (1989), Western (1997), Rij and Daalder (1997) and Visser (2002). ...
... associated with a higher probability of membership (cf. Windolf and Haas, 1989). Similarly, empirical evidence supports the instrumentality proposition that an employee's decision to unionise is based on his perception of the capacity of the union to produce the desired results (see Guest and Dewe, 1988) 32 , whereas class consciousness does not seem to play an important role (cf. ...
... Furthermore, the higher union density in the industry or perceived density in the workplace, the higher is individuals' probability of union membership. Union presence and strength at the workplace (or the existence of a works council, as found by Windolf and Haas, 1989) thus seem to be important for increasing and stabilising membership. These findings are consistent with a social custom interpretation of union membership. ...
A large number of potential determinants of union membership, which often can be interpreted in terms of costs and benefits, have been incorporated into economists' traditional supply and demand framework or into new models of an individual's decision to unionise (such as social custom theory). A review of the international empirical evidence shows that business cycle factors and structural developments are important macro-determinants, whereas micro-determinants include personal, occupational and firm characteristics, earnings, attitudes and social variables. In addition, institutional determinants such as a union-affiliated unemployment insurance play a role. What is often missing, however, are attempts to integrate macro- and micro-level findings and cyclical, structural and institutional explanations of unionisation. Viele potenzielle Einflussfaktoren der gewerkschaftlichen Mitgliedschaft, die oft im Sinne von Kosten und Nutzen interpretiert werden können, lassen sich im Rahmen von Angebot und Nachfrage darstellen oder in neuen Modelle des individuellen Gewerkschaftsbeitritts (wie z.B. social custom-Theorien) berücksichtigen. Ein Überblick über die internationale empirische Evidenz zeigt, dass konjunkturelle und strukturelle Entwicklungen wichtige Makro-Determinanten sind, während persönliche, berufliche und Firmen-Merkmale, Verdienste, Einstellungen und soziale Variablen zu den Mikro-Determinanten zählen. Darüber hinaus spielen institutionelle Faktoren wie eine von Gewerkschaften verwaltete Arbeitslosenversicherung eine Rolle. Allerdings fehlt es an Ansätzen, die Makround Mikro-Erkenntnisse sowie die konjunkturellen, strukturellen und institutionellen Erklärungsansätze zur gewerkschaftlichen Mitgliedschaft zu integrieren.
... Vertical individualistic people not only want to do their own thing but also strive to be the very best. In terms of Herzberg's classification (Herzberg, 1966), a vertical individualist person will have greater concern for "motivator" factors, such as personal growth, achievement, interesting work, and recognition as compared with 7 Windolf and Haas (1989) in an attempt to understand whether the influence of variables that actually do explain the propensity of a worker to join a trade union (cross-sectional) has changed over time within a sample has found that in communities with strong working class traditions, workers feel obliged to become union members regardless of the economic costs or benefits and as social origin point to the early socialization process in the family, a white-collar worker who grew up in a working class environment is assumed to be positively oriented toward unions. ...
... It is also suggested that the organization's use of specific HRM practices to promote its person-environment fit is largely influenced by the institutional and cultural contexts (Sekiguchi, 2006). Windolf and Haas (1989) cite studies in which individual characteristics are interpreted as indicators of the socio-economic situation of workers, which influence their propensity to join a union. However, individuals with similar characteristics placed in different environments may behave in different ways (Windolf & Haas, 1989) due to "context effects" (Blau, 1961). ...
... Windolf and Haas (1989) cite studies in which individual characteristics are interpreted as indicators of the socio-economic situation of workers, which influence their propensity to join a union. However, individuals with similar characteristics placed in different environments may behave in different ways (Windolf & Haas, 1989) due to "context effects" (Blau, 1961). Bakke (1945) identified individual goals, which when unfulfilled may lead to unionization. ...
Drawing on data from a survey of 342 employees from three BPO organizations in Mumbai (India), this study examined whether
cultural variables of individual cultural orientation and organizational culture, and their interaction were predictive of
employees’ attitudes toward union membership in BPO organizations in India where unionization has hitherto not taken place.
Using regression analysis, the researcher found that over and above the effects of demographic and job-related variable, and
work stress and job satisfaction, horizontal individualism could predict union attitudes significantly and negatively whereas
vertical individualism and collectivism could predict the attitudes significantly and positively. Similarly, organizational
collectivism could predict employees’ attitudes toward union membership significantly and negatively. Using the univariate
analysis of variance, the researcher found that the contrast between personal value and organizational culture of an individualist
working in a collectivistic organizational culture or collectivist working in an individualistic culture are found to have
stronger influence on union attitudes compared to the congruence of an individualist working in an individualistic culture
or collectivist working in a collectivistic culture. The results and implications of findings are discussed in the paper with
reference to the literature on role of cultural and attitudinal variables in relation to organizational outcomes like union
membership.
... It was concluded that the important part of the gap between men and women in terms of unionisation remained unexplained and this was evaluated as reflecting discrimination or simply unmeasured determinants. Furthermore, Windolf and Haas (1989) observed the determinants of union membership in West Germany. Size of the firm, union membership of works councillors and employment in public service were found to be important variables, which influence an individual's propensity to join the union. ...
... Besides, in all of the countries, the probabilities of being a previous member are higher in the private sector while the probability differences are statistically significant in nine countries at α = 0.05. Similar to this article, Antos, Chandler, andMellow (1980), Visser (2002, p. 417), and Windolf and Haas (1989) found that union membership is more likely for employees in the public sector than the ones in the private sector (as cited in Schnabel, 2002). Resembling the establishment size, higher current membership and lower previous membership inclination in the public sector might be associated with the higher tendency of union recruitment along with easier and less costly retention in large, homogeneous organisations with a bureaucratic nature and a low turnover rate (Schnabel, 2002, p. 19). ...
This article aimed to explore the individual-level determinants of current and previous trade union memberships and to question if certain patterns are prevalent among European countries. Accordingly, repeated logit models across 15 European countries are applied drawing on the ninth round of the European Social Survey data. Variables are selected primarily considering the supply–demand theory, which explains the union membership based on the idea that employees are seeking to maximise the utility through cost and benefit analysis. In this context, this article offers a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of trade union membership with findings suggesting that personal, occupational and workplace characteristics affect current membership while occupational and workplace characteristics have effects with inverse directions on current membership and previous membership.
... Over 50 years ago, Etzioni (1961) argued that organizations can be described in relation to their strategies for establishing compliance and integration of their members; he distinguished between normative, remunerative and coercive motivations. Windolf and Haas (1989) have elaborated this analysis as follows: the normative organization tries to attract members by offering normative orientations, belief systems, and a solidary community (e.g. churches). ...
... (p. 149) Etzioni described trade unions as 'mixed types' of organizations that use all three types of strategies when recruiting members (Windolf and Haas, 1989). Which strategy dominates depends, among a number of factors, on the overall position of the trade union in the society and on the system of industrial relations. ...
Do political attitudes influence the likelihood of employees being members of a trade union, and to what extent is this the case in the Nordic countries with their high aggregate levels of membership? In this article, I address these questions using European Social Survey data from 2012. The results show that left-wing political attitudes have the most impact on the likelihood of trade union membership in Sweden and to a lesser extent in Denmark. In Norway and Finland, there is no statistically significant impact. I argue that the impact of left-wing political attitudes on unionization in Sweden and Denmark reflects a conception among employees that trade unions are normative organizations.
... Additionally, we will introduce a host of other theoretically relevant controls. Windolf & Haas (1989) indicate that there is a positive relationship between firm size, unionization, and union strength. I will use a raw measure of the number of workers at the location to control for this. ...
... Job security and worker seniority have both been positively linked with unionization, and negatively linked with female workers, so a measure of mean worker seniority in the workgroup will be included. We will also introduce dichotomous measures indicating whether there is a strict gender division of labor & paternalistic management (Windolf & Haas, 1989;Sutton, 1980). These measures are intended to control for what would be considered more overt adherence to traditional gender norms. ...
... In addition, some scholars have found empirical evidence for the 'dissatisfaction' thesis: employees join a union if they are not satisfied with the way things are handled at the workplace (Guest and Dewe, 1988;Schnabel and Wagner, 2005). Other attitudes positively correlated with union membership are trust in trade unions (Windolf and Haas, 1989) and the subjective perception of their capacity to produce the desired goods (Guest and Dewe, 1988). ...
... Our previous analysis shows that in all European countries, union members are more often organized in non-union associations . Other studies have stressed the impact of 'significant others' such as partners, friends and relatives (Goerke and Pannenberg, 1998;Ingham, 1995;Windolf and Haas, 1989), indicating the importance of social networks. These findings seem to confirm social custom and social capital theory, indicating that union members tend to be more community-oriented and better embedded in social networks. ...
Union density still varies considerably across Europe. This cross-national diversity has inspired multiple explanations ranging from institutional to workplace or socio-demographic factors. In this comparative multilevel analysis, we combine personal, workplace and macro-institutional explanations of union membership using the European Social Survey. By controlling for individual factors, we test the cross-national effect of meso- and macro-level variables, in particular workplace representation, establishment size, Ghent unemployment insurance and a society’s social capital. We conclude that all these institutional and social contextual factors matter in explaining differences in union membership.
... According to Voos (1989), cooperative labour-management relations have associated with ''particular managerial attitudes'' toward industrial relations practices. Union attitude and interest in union were found to have been influenced by employees' perceptions of management, forms of communication used by employers (see Farber, 1990;Maxey & Mohrman, 1981), judgments about the fairness of communications and relations with supervisors (Newton & Shore, 1992), size of organization and bureaucratic rules vis-à -vis work alienation (Cooke, 1983;Windolf & Haas, 1989). ...
... While there is a substantial body of research examining these variables in cultural and psychological studies (Earley & Gibson, 1998;Triandis, 2001), there is a relatively little research integrating them with industrial relations and union behaviour. Conformity to internalized norms (like ''value orientation'' [Windolf & Haas, 1989] formed in early socialization process in the family) is often considered a strong motive for joining a union. Gordon et al. (1980) suggested that the primary means of influence of stability of union commitment would seem to be pro-union socialization (pre-or post-entry). ...
Drawing on data from a survey of 252 unionized full-time employees from large Indian organizations, this study examined whether individual level job related variables and individual cultural value dimensions of individualism–collectivism (I–C) were predictive of employees’ attitudes toward union membership. Using regression analysis, the author found that over and above the effects of demographic and job-related variables, work situation dissatisfaction and perceived work stress were able to predict union attitudes significantly and positively for the sample. The relationship of union attitude was highly significant and negative with a consultative managerial style. Collectivism was able to predict the union attitudes positively, whereas individualism was negatively related to the union attitudes. The interaction between employees’ perceived work stress and work situation dissatisfaction are found to have a positive influence on their union attitudes. The results and implications of findings are discussed in the paper with reference to the literature on role of cultural dimensions (I–C) and job related factors in relation to organizational outcomes like union membership.
... Eine mögliche Erklärung für die Veränderung von aggregierten Organisationsgraden liegt somit in den Veränderungen der Beschäftigtenstruktur (Armingeon 1988a;Brandt et al. 1982;Fiorito/Greer 1982;Galenson 1994;Freeman 1990;Hancké 1993;Müller-Jentsch 1987;Waddington 1992;Visser 1989 So kann der unterschiedliche Organisationsgrad zwischen Arbeitern und Angestellten entweder mit den unterschiedlichen Beschäftigungsbedingungen in großen oder kleinen Unternehmen oder mit einem stärkeren Klassenbewußtsein der Arbeiter oder Standesbewußtsein der Angestellten erklärt werden (Armingeon 1988a). Frauen und Teilzeitbeschäftigten wird eine geringere Erwerbsarbeitsorientierung unterstellt (Müller-Jentsch 1987) und zumeist auch eine distanzierte Einstellung zu Gewerkschaften aufgrund der traditionell eher diskriminierenden Vertretungspolitik der Gewerkschaften, die auf den männlichen Vollzeitarbeiter zugeschnitten war (Windolf/Haas 1989). ...
... Zudem argumentieren sie, daß die Differenz in der Organisationsneigung zwischen Männern und Frauen, die nicht auf Arbeitsplatzfaktoren zurückzuführen ist, eher der frauenfeindlichen Gewerkschaftspolitik geschuldet ist als einer gewerkschaftsfernen Haltung der Frauen. Nach ihrer Argumentation stehen Frauen Gewerkschaften genauso positiv gegenüber wie Männer, treten jedoch nicht ein, weil sich das Kosten/Nutzen/Verhältnis für sie -noch -nicht lohnt(Windolf/Haas 1989). Empirisch sind daher pauschale Annahmen über die Organisationsneigung einzelner sozialer Gruppen aufgrund individueller Merkmale wie Geschlecht und Status kaum haltbar. ...
... Some studies indeed suggest that left-wing ideology is associated with engagement with labor unions (Riley, 1997;Windolf & Haas, 1989). This association has been observed in countries such as Denmark (Toubøl & Jensen, 2014) and the UK (Trentini, 2022). ...
Research on political ideology and labor activism is limited to data from Western countries, used general operationalization of ideology, and focused predominantly on union membership as the outcome variable. In contrast, present studies examined the relationship between several dimensions of ideology (general, economic, and cultural) and various aspects of labor activism in countries representing diverse contexts. Using data from three multi-country surveys (N = 60,414), Study 1 found that ideology predicted union membership within the European context but showed no significant association in the global or U.S. context. In Studies 2a (N = 1,620) and 2b (N = 2,351) using data from the U.S., Poland and India, left economic ideology emerged as the most consistent predictor of labor activism, as well as positive attitudes toward unions in the U.S. and Poland, but not in India. These findings highlight the importance of extending research to non-WEIRD countries to better understand labor activism.
... Unionizing and demands for collective agreements have limited employers' access to labour (Streeck and Hassel, 2003). That workers have tended to be members of trade unions has usually also been explained with reference to their 'culture of solidarity' (Windolf and Haas, 1989) or 'social customs' (Visser, 2011). However, not all segments of the working class have been members of trade unions to an equal extent. ...
How far does social class position influence the likelihood that employees will be members of a trade union? I use European Social Survey data to compare trade union membership of ‘working-class’ and ‘middle- and upper class’ employees in different European countries. Although the former dominate the trade unions in absolute numbers in most (but not all) countries, the likelihood that the latter will be members of a trade union is higher in most of the countries analysed.
... This variable is essentially an environmental factor, which reflects on the social support accessible to employees like the degree of consideration expressed by supervisors ( Iverson and Kuruvilla, 1995), or communications and relations with managers ( DeCotiis and lelouarn, 1981;Faber and saks, 1980). according to Windolf and Haas (1989), the large organisations wherein workers are guided by impersonal bureaucratic rules, which prevent close interactions between the management and workers, lead to greater union density. However, one of the integral components of the impersonal bureaucratic rules remains as the leadership style of supervisors and managers at work. ...
This study examines the union attitudes of employees and its determinants by using data drawn from a survey of 207 and 369 employees from organisations in India and Taiwan, respectively. The authors found that the difference in union attitudes across the participants' work stress, work situation dissatisfaction, and leadership style of managers (supervision) were highly significant in the samples of both the nations and that such a difference across the job autonomy of the participants was significant only in the Taiwanese sample. Finally, the results show that the nation was able to moderate the relation between the jobs-related predictor variables and union attitudes.
... Con respecto a la afiliación y el nivel educativo, en general los estudios han observado la existencia de una relación inversa entre ambas variables: al incrementarse el nivel educativo disminuye la propensión a afiliarse, pero con diferencias según se trate del sector público o privado, y de hombres o mujeres (Windolph y Haas 1989). ...
The phenomena of the decline in the union density have led to various interpretations, which can be grouped into two main currents. The first one attributes the causes of the decline in affiliation to the contextual factors of the unions, linked to economic and political transformations. The second one, emphasizes the internal factors of the organized labor, linked to organizational forms of union. Among the first were reported changes related to the economic structure, the individual characteristics of the workers and the social and labor factors as determinants of affiliation. In this context, the objective of this paper is to analyze the union density in its linkage with different contextual variables among Argentine workers, establishing the extent to which they approach to the traditional assumptions about the crisis of union representation.
El fenómeno de la caída de la tasa de afiliación sindical ha suscitado diversas interpretaciones, las cuales pueden agruparse en dos grandes corrientes. La primera de ellas atribuye las causas de la baja en la afiliación a los factores contextuales de las organizaciones sindicales, vinculadas a las transformaciones económicas y políticas. La segunda pone la impronta en los factores internos al movimiento obrero organizado, vinculado a formas organizativas del sindicato. Entre los primeros se han señalado los cambios relativos a la estructura económica, las características individuales de los trabajadores y los factores sociolaborales como determinantes de la afiliación. En este contexto, el objetivo del presente artículo es analizar la afiliación sindical en su vinculación con diferentes variables de carácter contextual entre los trabajadores argentinos, estableciendo en qué medida se acercan a las hipótesis tradicionales sobre la crisis de representación sindical.
... Die Hypothesen werden weitgehend durch empirische Evidenz gestützt, die hier -mit all ihren Inkonsistenzen -nicht diskutiert werden kann. V gl.ArmbrusterlLeisner (1975); BrählerIWirth (1995);Hegner (1980: 78-92);Raschke (1978);Reigrotzki (1956);Sahner (1993: 66ff); Schmitt-Beck/Weins (1997); Scott (\ 957); VerbalSchlozmanlBrady (1995);Windolf/Haas (1989);Zimmer (1996: 102-107). ...
Die Individualisierungsthese von Ulrich Beck ist in ihren Facetten bislang nur unzureichend empirisch untersucht worden. Eine spezifische Dimension dieser These liegt in der Behauptung eines „neuen“Modus der sozialen Integration durch „neue soziale Formationen und Identitäten“(Beck 1983, 1986: 206). Diese Dimension der Individualisierungsthese steht im Mittelpunkt der hier vorgestellten empirischen Analysen. Als mögliche „neue“Form sozialer Integration werden dabei Lebensstilgruppen gesehen. Dieser Vorschlag wurde schon 1990 von Hörning und Michailow unterbreitet, doch ist bislang kaum die Erklärungskraft von Lebensstiltypologien hinsichtlich unterschiedlicher Bereiche sozialen Verhaltens empirisch untersucht worden. In diesem Zusammenhang verfolgt der vorliegende Beitrag zwei Ziele. Erstens soll die Erklärungsleistung einer Lebensstiltypologie mit der eines traditi o-nellen Sozialstrukturkonzeptes (soziale Klassen) im Hinblick auf eine abhängige Variable, und zwar Mitgliedschaften in verschiedenen freiwilligen Vereinigungen, verglichen werden. Die Arbeit schließt damit an eine andernorts vorgestellte Untersuchung (Otte 1997) an, in der die Erklärbarkeit von Parteipräferenzen durch L e-bensstile und durch soziale Klassen gegenübergestellt wurde. Da sich Lebensstile dabei zumindest teilweise als bedeutsamer Faktor erwiesen haben, würde eine Erklärungsleistung in Bezug auf andere soziale Phänomene das Potential von Lebensstilen als Konzept der Sozialstrukturanalyse untermauern.
... Con respecto a las probabilidades de sindicalización según nivel educativo, en general se constató que existe una relación inversa entre ambas variables (aunque con diferencias según se trate del 3 La mayoría de los estudios sobre las relaciones entre edad y afiliación sindical provienen de países como los Estados Unidos, el Reino Unido, Canadá y Australia, que comparten una tradición normativa, por lo que sus conclusiones podrían no aplicarse a otros contextos. 4 Waddington y Kerr (2002) vinculan las tasas de afiliación de los jóvenes también con el grado de resistencia empresaria a que sus trabajadores se sindicalicen. Se ha planteado la hipótesis de que los jóvenes tienden a tener actitudes más desfavorables a la afiliación sindical que los adultos porque en las últimas décadas las nuevas generaciones serían cada vez más individualistas, pero, según Haynes et al. (2005), esta noción se apoyaría en evidencias sólo anecdóticas; en cambio, para estos autores, la noción de que los jóvenes también adhieren a valores colectivos y tienen actitudes por lo menos igualmente positivas que los adultos hacia los sindicatos se sustentaría en resultados de encuestas más amplias, y las explicaciones basadas en el tipo de inserción laboral tendrían mucho mayor sustentación empírica, por lo menos en el contexto anglosajón. ...
... Conformity to internalised norms (like Windolf and Haas's (1989) concept of value orientation) is often considered a strong motive for joining a union. Gordon et al. (1980) suggested that the primary means of influence on stability of union commitment would seem to be pro-union socialisation. ...
This article adds to the literature on worker attitudes towards unions by investigating the impact of cultural attitudes and the call centre labour process on union attitudes among call centre workers in Britain and India. It is hypothesised that workers with egalitarian and collectivist cultural attitudes will be more likely to have pro-union attitudes than other workers, although if the impact of cultural attitudes is mediated by history and institutions, it might be expected that this relationship is stronger for British than Indian workers. Conversely, if union attitudes are largely a function of the call centre labour process, we would expect union attitudes to be similar among workers in both countries. Our results only partially support our hypotheses. Collectivist attitudes are only weakly related to union attitudes among the British sample but are more strongly related in the Indian sample. There are significant differences between union attitudes among our British and Indian samples. The article concludes that relationship between cultural attitudes and union attitudes are heavily dependent on institutional context. Cultural attitudes are unlikely to be either a constraint or a facilitator of union efforts to organise workers.
... En el sector público, además, una menor hostilidad a los sindicatos por parte del empleador (Haberfeld, 1995) y la usual garantía de estabilidad en el empleo favorecerían la sindicalización. Por su parte, algunas características que prevalecen en los establecimientos más grandes, como el tratamiento más impersonal y el control burocratizado que generan contextos más propicios para la valoración positiva de la representación colectiva de intereses, así como el mayor poder de negociación que tendrían los sindicatos en estas empresas, conforman estímulos a la afiliación (Windolph y Haas, 1989;Riley, 1997). Las diferencias interregionales en las estructuras del empleo en términos de actividades econó-micas y tamaño de los establecimientos (teniendo en cuenta que el límite entre grandes establecimientos y el resto varía de un contexto al otro) podrían traducirse en diferencias en las tasas de sindicalización comparativas entre áreas. ...
En este artículo se analizan los determinantes del nivel de sindicalización en la Argentina a través de un estudio interprovincial. Los resultados del análisis de regresión indican que los tres factores explicativos considerados -situación en el mercado de trabajo, dimensiones socio-demográficas y económicas de la estructura del empleo y orientación política- tienen impacto sobre las tasas de afiliación sindical. El nivel de desempleo, la extensión de la precariedad, la incidencia en el empleo del sector privado, la administracion publica y los microestablecimientos, entre otros, definen diferencias entre provincias en los niveles de sindicalización de los asalariados ocupados. Además, la tasa de afiliación es más alta en las provincias con predominio del voto pro justicialista en las elecciones provinciates, reconfirmando la profunda vinculación entre sindicalización y peronismo ya señalada en la literatura desde una perspectiva diferente. En cambio, el alcance de la sindicalización no depende de diferencias en la presencia en el empleo de mujeres, jóvenes, profesionales o personas con bajos niveles educativos. Se deriva de estos resultados que centrar recursos en incentivar la sindicalizacidn de jdvenes o mujeres, como muchas veces se ha planteado, no sería tan conducente como concentrar esfuerzos en difundir y fortalecer la presencia sindical en la empresa y en combatir el empleo precario. /// In this article the determinants of the unionization rate in Argentina are analyzed through an inter-regional study. Results from multivariate regression analysis show that the three explanatory factors considered -the labour market situation, social-demographic and economic dimensions of the employment structure, and political orientation- do affect unionization levels. The rate of unemployment, the magnitude of precarious employment, the employment shares of the private sector, public administration and micro firms, among others, contribute to explain differences across provinces in the level of unionization of employed wage earners. In addition, unionization rates are higher in those provinces with pre dominance of Justicialista vote in provincial elections, reconfirming the profound imbrication between Peronism and unionization that was already noted in the literature but from a different perspective. By contrast, the level affiliation is not associated with differences in the employment shares of women, young workers, professionals or persons with low education. These results suggest that centering resources in the promotion of youth and women affiliation, as was often posited, would not be so effective as concentrating efforts in strengthening and extending trade union presence at the enterprise and in combating precarious employment.
... Access to the workplace has become particularly important for unions with the disappearance of working-class neighbourhoods and the replacement of local dues collection by centralized administrative procedures (Streeck, 1981;Windolf and Haas, 1989). Thus union representation in the workplace has become the only direct means of contact between members and their union (except where unions administer social security or provide insurance). ...
During the early post-war period, Western trade-union movements grew in membership and achieved an institutionalized role in industrial relations and politics. However, during the last decades, many trade unions have seen their membership decline as they came increasingly under pressure due to social, economic, and political changes. This article reviews the main structural, cyclical, and institutional factors explaining union growth and decline. Concentrating on Western Europe, the empirical analysis compares cross-national union density data for 13 countries over the first period (1950-1975) and for 16 countries over the second, 'crisis' period (1975-1995). The quantitative correlation and regression analysis indicates that structural and cyclical factors fail to explain the level and changes in unionization across Western Europe, while institutional variables fare better. In a second, qualitative comparative analysis, the authors stress the need to explain cross-national differences in the level or trend of unionization by a set of institutional arrangements: the access of unions to representation in the workplace; the availability of a selective incentive in the form of a union-administered unemployment scheme; recognition of employers through nationwide and sectoral corporatist institutions; and closed-shop arrangements for forced membership. Such institutional configurations support membership recruitment and membership retention, and define the conditions for the strategic choice of trade unions in responding to structural social-economic, political, and cultural changes.
... Downsizing, technological progress and upskilling reduced the size of unions' traditional blue collar clientele and eroded, at the same time, unions' long-established recruitment model in manufacturing. Notably in the engineering industry, unions had traditionally depended on works councillors and Vertrauensleute (union confidants) to recruit new members, comparable to IG Metall in Germany ( Windolf and Haas 1989: 155). However, in the wake of production automation and educational upgrading, seats on works councils were increasingly taken by white-collar employees who showed less allegiance to unions. ...
This article enquires into the causes of union growth and decline by analysing flows in and out of membership at the level of 70 Swiss union locals over 2006-2008. Gross flows in union membership are much larger than the resulting net changes: annual membership turnover of 10 per cent is a surprisingly constant feature across unions. Net changes in membership are primarily determined by inflows: successful and languishing union locals differ in their entry rates, whereas exit rates are similar. Variance in union locals’ entry rates is not usefully explained by the labour market context, but by differences in union strategy.
... In the early 1990s, massive de-industrialization and crisis in construction had crudely exposed how narrow Swiss unions' membership basis had become. Besides their fragmentary organization in private services, unions were also confronted with the slow breakdown of their traditional recruitment strategy in manufacturing, notably in the machine industry: in this key sector, they had traditionally depended – comparable to unions in Germany (Windolf and Haas 1989: 155) – on works councillors to affiliate new members. Yet in the wake of production automation and educational upgrading, seats in works councils were more and more taken over by whitecollar employees who showed less allegiance to unions. ...
Switzerland's system of industrial relations was for a long time synonymous for stability. Once the system of collective bargaining had been put into place at the beginning of the 1950s, Swiss trade unions settled into their role as subordinate partners in decentralized and consensual industrial relations. Stability came to an abrupt end in the 1990s, a decade that confronted trade unions with three major challenges. The first and foremost challenge arose from the unusually long recession of the early 1990s, which dealt a severe blow to membership in the traditional union strongholds. A second challenge was raised by the neoliberal turn in business organizations, which caught trade unions on the wrong foot. Thirdly, trade unions were challenged, at the end of the 1990s, by the imminent opening up of Switzerland’s labour market to the European Union. The liberalization of labour migration was threatening to undermine unions’ influence on wage-setting. These challenges – notably declining membership and the questioning of collective bargaining – put unions under pressure to initiate revitalization efforts. They took place on three different fronts. First, Swiss unions responded to the harsher economic context by investing more resources into political action, using direct democratic instruments to block neoliberal reforms. In parallel, they began to adopt new means of recruitment, targeting hitherto almost union-free private services, and resorted more frequently to strikes. Finally, the European wave of union mergers also seized the Swiss labour movement. Starting in the mid-1990s and gaining pace after 2000, a series of union mergers led to a profound restructuring of organized labour in Switzerland.
... Downsizing, technological progress and upskilling reduced the size of unions' traditional blue collar clientele and eroded, at the same time, unions' long-established recruitment model in manufacturing. Notably in the engineering industry, Unions had – comparable to IG Metall in Germany (Windolf and Haas 1989: 155) – traditionally depended on works councillors and Vertrauensleute (union confidants) to recruit new members. In the wake of production automation and educational upgrading, however, seats on works councils were increasingly taken by white-collar employees who showed less allegiance to unions. ...
This paper enquires into the causes of union growth and decline by analysing flows in and out of membership. It does so at the level of 70 Swiss union locals over the period 2006-08. Gross flows in union membership are found to be much larger than the resulting net changes: turnover of annually 10 per cent thus is a surprisingly constant feature across unions. Net changes in membership are primarily determined by inflows: successful union locals differ from languishing ones with respect to their entry rates, whereas exit rates are similar. There is large variance in union locals’ entry rates that is not accounted for by the labour market context. Rather, it seems attributable to differences in union organization and strategy.
... Second, in addition to economic incentives, the social dimension of a membership decision is deemed important. Social custom, reputation benefits, prestige, philosophy of life, and conformity to internalized norms may also be motives for joining a union (Corneo, 1995;Goerke and Pannenberg, 1998;Windolf and Haas, 1989). Under certain circumstances social coercion, in particular in 'traditional' unionized industries such as mining and steelmaking, might be sufficient to move workers into a union. ...
Despite the apparent stability of the wage bargaining institutions in West Germany, aggregate union membership has been declining dramatically since the early 90's. However, aggregate gross membership numbers do not distinguish by employment status and it is impossible to disaggregate these sufficiently. This paper uses four waves of the German Socioeconomic Panel in 1985, 1989, 1993, and 1998 to perform a panel analysis of net union membership among employees. We estimate a correlated random effects probit model suggested in Chamberlain (1984) to take proper account of individual specfic effects. Our results suggest that at the individual level the propensity to be a union member has not changed considerably over time. Thus, the aggregate decline in membership is due to composition effects. We also use the estimates to predict net union density at the industry level based on the IAB employment subsample for the time period 1985 to 1997.
We hypothesize that incomplete integration into the workplace and society implies that immigrants are less likely to be union members than natives. Incomplete integration makes the usual mechanism for overcoming the collective action problem less effective. Our empirical analysis with data from the Socio‐Economic Panel confirms a unionization gap for first‐generation immigrants in Germany. Importantly, using the presence of a works council as an indicator of workplace integration and contacts with Germans as an indicator of integration into society, the analysis shows that the immigrant‐native gap in union membership is heterogeneous. The gap is smaller for immigrants working in firms with a works council and having social contacts with Germans. Our analysis also confirms that the gap is decreasing in the years since arrival in Germany.
This study uses surveys from the past 60 years to study union membership in Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We first revisit aggregate union densities finding that, for France and Italy, they were at times under‐ and overestimated, respectively. Second, we document the evolution of the composition of union membership in terms of gender, occupation, education, and sector. Different stylized facts emerge for different groups of countries. These facts do not lend support to the composition‐based theory that attributes deunionization to deindustrialization, nor to the technological theory that predicts the exit of the high‐skilled from unions.
From a theoretical viewpoint the relationship between foreign ownership and unionization is ambiguous. On the one hand, foreign owners have better opportunities to undermine workers’ unionization. On the other hand, workers of foreign-owned firms have an increased demand for the protection provided by unions. Which of the two opposing influences dominates can vary according to moderating circumstances. This study shows that firm size and industry-level bargaining play a moderating role. The relationship between foreign ownership and unionization is negative in larger firms whereas it is positive in smaller firms. Coverage by industry-level collective bargaining makes a positive relationship both stronger and more likely.
Die deutschen Gewerkschaften kommen zunehmend unter existentiellen Druck: Der vereinigungsbedingte Boom von vier Millionen Mitgliedern im Osten ist innerhalb eines Jahrzehntes zerronnen und im Westen setzt sich die – seit den 1980er Jahren herrschende – Erosion der Mitgliederbasis fort. Heute sind weniger Arbeitnehmer gewerkschaftlich organisiert als je zuvor in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik. Der Tiefstand der Weimarer Republik ist bereits unterschritten: Nur jeder sechste Arbeitnehmer, der noch nicht im (Vor-)Ruhestand ist, zahlt einen Gewerkschaftsbeitrag, während die große Mehrheit der Nichtmitglieder auch von Tarifverträgen profitieren, die von den Gewerkschaften mit den Arbeitgebern ausgehandelt werden.
Zusammenfassung
Die Protestforschung konnte feststellen, dass die soziale Mobilisierung und Organisierung von Bevölkerungsgruppen durch die Existenz horizontaler, sozialer Netzwerke innerhalb dieser Gruppen gefördert wird. Der Artikel untersucht die Frage, ob es makrosoziologische, strukturelle Bedingungen gibt, die die Entwicklung horizontaler, sozialer Netzwerke und damit auch die Organisierung und Mobilisierung spezifischer Bevölkerungsgruppen bedingen am Beispiel von Gewerkschaften und Streiks der amerikanischen Kohlenbergarbeiter im 19. Jahrhundert. Im Anschluss an Überlegungen von Marx und Engels sowie an die Streik- und Gewerkschaftsforschung werden vor allem fünf Größen untersucht: räumliche Konzentration und räumliche Isolation der Bergarbeiter, die Urbanisierung, die Betriebsgröße sowie die Existenz von strukturellen Differenzierungen (Ethnie, Hautfarbe, Einbindung in ländliche Produktionssysteme) innerhalb der Bergarbeiterschaft. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die räumliche Konzentration und Isolation, die Herauslösung aus ländlichen Produktionssystemen sowie die Urbanisierung positive Effekte auf die Mobilisierung haben, während strukturelle Differenzierungen nach Ethnie und Hautfarbe die Mobilisierungschancen senken.
Ein zentraler Aspekt des Strukturwandels, in dem sich die fortgeschrittenen westlichen Gesellschaften seit Mitte der 70er Jahre befinden, ist die Krise der Beschäftigung. Aus westeuropäischer Sicht gilt dies in besonderer Weise. Waren die meisten Länder Westeuropas in den 50er und 60er Jahre noch durch Vollbeschäftigung und niedrigere Raten der Arbeitslosigkeit gekennzeichnet als die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, so hat sich dieses Verhältnis Mitte der 70er Jahre umgekehrt. 1982 hat das Niveau der Arbeitslosigkeit in Westeuropa erstmals das der Vereinigten Staaten überschritten. Entwicklungen dieser Art sind es, welche wissenschaftliche und politische Beobachter in den 80er Jahren von einem beginnenden Abstieg („The Decline of Europe“, Newsweek, 9.4.1994), von einer zunehmenden Verkrustung Westeuropas („Eurosklerose“) sprechen ließen (Kohmeier 1987).
Research on protest activity has shown that horizontal social networks between the members of social groups are conducive to the social mobilization and organization of these groups. This article examines whether certain macrosociological structural conditions determine the development of horizontal social networks and therefore the mobilization and organization of certain social groups. The development of unions and strikes in American coal mining in the 19th century is used as example. Following some considerations made by Marx and Engels as well as research on strikes and unions five variables are analyzed: geographical concentration, the isolation of miners, urbanization, plant size, and the existence of structural differentiation of the mining population (ethnicity, race, embedding in rural production systems). It turns out that geographical concentration and isolation, the loss of embedding in rural production systems as well as urbanization have positive effects on mobilization, whereas structural differentiation along ethnic and racial lines weakens the chances for mobilization.
Abstract Why do some workers join trade unions and others do not? This article attempts to shed new light on this question by considering how certain behavioural and attitudinal differences among workers shape their propensities to join trade unions. In particular, it is hypothesized that variations in civic and political engagement, as well political and cultural values, are important but overlooked determinants of trade union membership. This hypothesis is tested with data on 12 affluent democracies from the World Value Survey. Results from binary logistic regression models indicate that individual-level variation in trade union participation positively correlates with civic and political participation, with left-leaning political views, but not with post-materialist values. The article concludes by discussing the research’s limitations and its implications for issues surrounding organized labour’s changing fortunes.
Analysing annual data on union membership, the authors examine the short- and long-term determinants of union growth and decline in post-war Western Europe. Using fixed effect estimates of an error correction model on a panel of 14 countries, structural, cyclical and institutional determinants are incorporated in a 'social customs' framework of union membership. The results show that union decline during the 1980s and 1990s is largely endogenous to labour market changes, the impact of which is mediated by a specific set of labour market institutions. Union density rates declined because unemployment increased, newcomers in the labour force were recruited or sorted into jobs and workplaces less covered by unions, inflation decreased, indexation clauses were dismantled and replacement rates lowered, public employment shrank and strike activity declined.
Reviews the literature on trade union membership in OECD countries.
After considering the ways in which trade union membership is measured,
trends in both membership and density since 1970 are examined. When
cross-sectional determinants are considered, density is found to be
unrelated to size of employment in the manufacturing sector and the
share of female employment, but it is related to the level of collective
bargaining and the size of the public sector. An examination of
individual and job-related characteristics finds membership is higher
among males, those with family responsibilities, those with lower
occupational status and those with low educational achievements and that
job dissatisfaction and left-wing views are also important. Time-series
studies find that while union growth and decline are linked to the
business cycle, with wages, prices and unemployment affecting
membership, economic factors are not the sole explanation. Concludes by
surveying the causes of union decline since 1980, together with recent
error-correction and cointegration approaches to modelling trade union
membership.
Although trade unions are given an important economic and political role in the German system of corporatism, an empirical analysis based on the ALLBUS social survey shows that in 2004 only about 12 percent of the population and around 20 percent of employees in Germany were union members. Moreover, union density fell substantially in western Germany from 1980 to 2004 and in eastern Germany from 1992 to 2004. Such a negative trend can be observed for men and women and for different groups of the workforce. Regression estimates indicate that the probability of union membership is related to a number of personal and occupational variables such as age, public sector employment and being a blue collar worker (significant in western Germany only). A decomposition analysis shows that differences in union density over time and between eastern and western Germany to a large degree cannot be explained by differences in the characteristics of employees. Contrary to wide-spread perceptions, changes in the composition of the workforce seem to have played a minor role in the fall in union density in western and eastern Germany. While it has proved more and more difficult to identify union-friendly groups in the workforce that are easy to recruit, it is high time for the German unions to stop the erosion of membership and density that in the long term could threaten their existence.
We examine the degree to which factors associated with workers' union membership decisions are sensitive to shifts in the institutional environment of unions. Comparative logit analyses of the relationship between potential determinants of membership and actual union membership over time suggest that the factors associated with membership are elastic and may reflect shifts in the institutional context of unions.
Das Thema dieser Studie sind die politischen Einstellungen von ge-werkschaftlich organisierten Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmern in der Schweiz. Anhand von Daten einer reprsentativen Befragung von Mitgliedern von drei schweizerischen Gewerkschaften (GBI, SMUV, VPOD) und eines Angestelltenverbandes (VSAM) wird im folgenden dokumentiert, dass die "traditionelle" Arbeiterschicht, die "sozialkulturellen Spezialisten" sowie die "Technokraten" und "Manager" jeweils unterschiedliche politische Orientierungen vertreten. Whrend die Arbeiter für "klassisch" linke, sozialdemokratische und eher materialistische politische Positionen einstehen, sind die gewerkschaftlich organisierten "sozialkulturellen Spezialisten" in der Mittelschicht deutlich linker und postmaterialistischer und die ebenfalls der Mittelschicht zuzurechnenden "Technokraten" und "Manager" eher bürgerlich und materialistischer eingestellt. Insgesamt lassen sich weder für die These einer Entpolitisierung noch für die These einer Konvergenz der politischen Orientierungen eindeutige Hinweise finden. Vielmehr ist die gewerkschaftlich organisierte Arbeitnehmerschaft in der Schweiz politisch heterogen. Diese Heterogenitt wiederum reduziert die Macht und Einflusschancen der schweizerischen Gewerkschaftsbewegung.
Event-history analysis is used to model the time dependency of two decisions: the decision to join a trade union, and the decision to leave a trade union. We formulate two hypotheses with regard to these two decisions and parametric regression models are used to investigate these hypotheses. The process of joining a trade union can be described by a decreasing rate, using a Weibull. For the process of leaving a trade union, we suggest an increasing rate that decreases after several years, a process best described by a log-logistic model.
Gewerkschaften sind, speziell in Deutschland, ein Gegenstand intensiver öffentlicher Debatten, aber auch der akademischen Forschung, die diese Debatten zu fundieren hilft. Die letzte systematische Bestandsaufnahme der akademischen Forschung hat im Frühjahr 2001 stattgefunden. Angesichts der recht dramatischen Krisenerscheinungen in den deutschen Gewerkschaften ist es an der Zeit, die neueren Forschungsergebnisse aufzuarbeiten. Der vorliegende Beitrag widmet sich dieser Aufgabe vor dem Hintergrund einer systematischen Literaturrecherche. Aus den insgesamt 79 als relevant eingestuften Forschungsbeiträgen werden drei Themenkreise herausdestilliert und ausführlich diskutiert: (1) die Mitgliedschaft in den deutschen Gewerkschaften, (2) die Gewerkschaften im deutschen System der Arbeitsbeziehungen und (3) die Erneuerung der deutschen Gewerkschaften. Die konstatierten Krisenerscheinungen werden durch die Studien eindrücklich belegt und erklärt; es zeigen sich aber auch Defizite bei einzelnen Forschungsfragen und der Erarbeitung von Handlungsempfehlungen für die Gewerkschaften.
Der Mitgliederschwund sollte die deutschen Gewerkschaften alarmieren: nur noch jeder fünfte Arbeitnehmer der noch nicht im (Vor-)Ruhestand ist, zahlt heute einen Mitgliedschaftsbeitrag, während die anderen als Trittbrettfahrer von der Arbeit der Tarifverbände profitieren, ohne hierzu beizutragen. Die Probleme der Mitgliederwerbung und -bindung deutscher Gewerkschaften werden anhand der Analyse langfristiger sozioökonomischer Entwicklungen, aber auch der rapiden Veränderungen seit der Vereinigung analysiert und im internationalen Vergleich betrachtet. Die langfristige Mitgliederentwicklung kann zum Teil auf veränderte wirtschaftliche und politische Bedingungen zurückgeführt werden. Auch der Wandel zur Dienstleistungsgesellschaft schuf besondere Herausforderungen. Die deutschen Gewerkschaften haben im Vergleich zu nordischen Gewerkschaftsbewegungen jedoch versäumt, die neuen Arbeitnehmergruppen hinreichend zu werben. Der Verlust der neu gewonnenen 4 Millionen Mitglieder im Osten unmittelbar nach der Vereinigung wurde als Sonderfall und nicht als Untergrabung des Modells Deutschland gesehen. Nicht nur der Stellenabbau, auch die Aushöhlung der Mitbestimmungs- und Tarifinstitutionen haben die betriebliche Werbungsarbeit für die Gewerkschaften erschwert. The German unions face disturbing membership decline. Only every fifth employee who is not yet retired is willing to pay union dues, while the others free ride as they enjoy the advantages of collective bargaining practices but do not contribute to it. The problems of membership recruitment of German unions are placed in the context of social-economic changes and the rapid decline after unification. In addition, the paper provides a cross-national comparison. The long-term membership development is partly due to the changing economic and political conditions. The shift towards a service economy poses additional challenges. But in comparison to Nordic countries, the German trade unions have failed to recruit the new social groups. Many saw the loss of the four million members in the East short after German unification to be an exceptional case, but few as undermining the German model. Not only the downsizing of firms, but also the erosion of German labour relations - codetermination and collective bargaining - made plant level access and membership recruitment more difficult.
Given falling birth rates, ageing baby boomers approaching retirement age as well as a pension crisis in most advanced economies, understanding the characteristics of the labour supply function of the elderly have taken on a new significance. Even in developing countries, with labour surplus economies, this is a major issue as these poor countries try to build a pension scheme with at least a minimum amount of state provision for the elderly. What motivates retired people to enter or continue in the labour force is the focus of our analysis. We use panel data from Korea which is an interesting country since it transited from developing to developed economy status within the last few decades and therefore exhibits characteristics of both underdevelopment and economic advancement. The econometric methods include probit models of: pooled data; panel data with random effects; and 2SCML, to allow for possible endogeneity bias induced by the self-declared health status of the elderly. We stress the crucial importance of pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors in determining labour supply of the elderly. Contrary to expectations, non-pecuniary factors such as health status are crucial in the decision-making process of whether to work or not to work for the elderly.
War mit der Vereinigung Deutschlands ein starker Anstieg in der Mitgliederzahl der Gewerkschaften in Deutschland einhergegangen, erleben sie seit 1992 einen umso stärkeren Einbruch. Die von den Verbänden veröffentlichten Statistiken erlauben nur einen unzureichenden Rückschluss auf den Organisationsgrad der tatsächlich beschäftigten Arbeitnehmer. Diese Arbeit unternimmt erstmalig eine Panelanalyse der Mitgliedschaft in Gewerkschaften auf Basis des Sozio-ökonomischen Panels. Ziel ist es, zum einen die zeitliche Stabilität der Mitgliedschaftsfunktion zu untersuchen und zum anderen den Nettoorganisationsgrad der Beschäftigten in einzelnen Sektoren als Maß für die Verhandlungsstärke der Gewerkschaften zu schätzen. Wichtigstes Ergebnis der Untersuchung ist, dass sich die Mitgliedschaftsfunktion als zeitlich stabil erweist, d.h. Veränderungen in der Mitgliedschaft lassen sich nicht durch eine Veränderung in der Mitgliedschaftsneigung für gegebene sozio-ökonomische Charakteristika erklären, sondern müssen auf einer Veränderung in der Zusammensetzung der Arbeitnehmer beruhen. Die Schätzergebnisse werden dazu verwendet, den Organisationsgrad auf Sektorebene auf Basis der erst seit kurzem verfügbaren IAB{Beschäftigtenstichprobe hochzurechnen.
Research on protest activity has shown that horizontal social networks between the members of social groups are conducive to the social mobilization and organization of these groups. This article examines whether certain macrosociological structural conditions determine the development of horizontal social networks and therefore the mobilization and organization of certain social groups. The development of unions and strikes in American coal mining in the 19th century is used as example. Following some considerations made by Marx and Engels as well as research on strikes and existence of structural differentiation of the mining population (ethnicity, race, embedding in rural production systems). It turns out that geographical concentration and isolation, the loss of embedding in rural production systems as well as urbanization have positive effects on mobilization, whereas structural differentiation along ethnic and racial lines weakens the chances for mobilization.
Die deutschen Gewerkschaften kommen zunehmend unter existentiellen Druck: Der vereinigungsbedingte Boom von 4 Millionen Mitgliedern im Osten ist innerhalb eines Jahrzehntes zerronnen, und im Westen setzt sich die — seit den 80er-Jahren herrschende — Erosion der Mitgliederbasis fort. Heute sind weniger Arbeitnehmer gewerkschaftlich organisiert als je zuvor in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik. Der Tiefstand der Weimarer Republik ist bereits unterschritten: Nur jeder fünfte Arbeitnehmer, der noch nicht im (Vor) Ruhestand ist, zahlt einen Gewerkschaftsbeitrag, während auch Nichtmitglieder von Tarifverträgen profitieren, die von den Gewerkschaften mit den Arbeitgebern ausgehandelt werden.
An empirical analysis of various waves of the ALLBUS social survey shows that union density fell substantially in western Germany from 1980 to 2004 and in eastern Germany from 1992 to 2004. Such a negative trend can be observed for men and women and for different groups of the workforce. Regression estimates indicate that the probability of union membership is related to a number of personal and occupational variables such as age, public sector employment and being a blue collar worker (significant in western Germany only). A decomposition analysis shows that differences in union density over time and between eastern and western Germany to a large degree cannot be explained by differences in the characteristics of employees. Contrary to wide-spread perceptions, changes in the composition of the workforce seem to have played a minor role in the fall in union density in western and eastern Germany.
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