Business Labor Relations Goals and Practices across OECD Countries

In this paper examine the evolution of unionism in developed countries in the 1980s and try to explain why unionism fared better in some countries than in others. I find:
1) Rates of unionisation diverged greatly among developed countries.
2) The primary reason for the divergence are differences in the in centives and opportunities different industrial relations systems give employers to oppose unions. Unions fared best in neo-corporatist settings and worst in settings where decentralized bargaining creates a strong profit incentive for managers to oppose unions and where management is relatively free to act on that incentive.
3) Differing rates of inflation also contributed to the divergence, with unions doing better in countries with high inflation. In addition, unemployment raised density in settings where unions disperse unemployment benefits.
4) The composition of union members shifted from private sector blue collar workers to public sector and white collar workers in all countries, producing increased divisions within union movements by category of worker.
5) Union organizations and modes of operating changed significantly in some countries with declining or endangered unionism but not in others.