New evidence on unions and plant closings : Britain in the 1990s
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Southern Economic Journal
Publication Date
4-1-2003
Volume
69
Issue
4
First Page
822
Last Page
841
Abstract
In this paper, we exploit the longitudinal element of the 1990 and 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Surveys for Britain to investigate the effect of unionism on establishment closings. Contrary to both recent U.S. research and long-standing British work, we find a strong positive association between two measures of unionism-union recognition for collective bargaining purposes and union coverage-and plant closings. This association is robust to the inclusion of highly detailed industry controls but is driven by plants that are parts of multiestablishment entities. No such relationship obtains in the case of single-plant enterprises. In explaining our findings, we address their consistency with the widely perceived reduction in the "disadvantages of (British) unionism" in recent years.
DOI
10.2307/1061653
Print ISSN
00384038
E-ISSN
23258012
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2003 Southern Economic Association
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Addison, J. T., Heywood, J. S., & Wei, X. (2003). New evidence on unions and plant closings: Britain in the 1990s. Southern Economic Journal, 69(4), 822-841. doi: 10.2307/1061653