AN ANALYSIS OF THE SIZE OF TRADE UNIONS*
| Author | D. H. Simpson |
| Published date | 01 November 1972 |
| Date | 01 November 1972 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1972.tb00594.x |
AN
ANALYSIS
OF
THE SIZE
OF
TRADE
UNIONS*
D.
H.
SIMPSON7
THE
size distribution of trade unions according to membership is known
to be skewed, with
a
high percentage of members belonging to
a
small
percentage of total uni0ns.l The reasons for the growth of trade unions,
and consequently the causes
of
increased concentration
of
members in
fewer and fewer unions, is scarcely documented.2 Apart from concen-
tration
ratio^,^
easily calculable for a few unions, the last comprehensive
study of this size distribution was in 1957.* The present study brings that
survey up to date, and includes further suggestions on the causes of growth
of
trade unions.
Along with the increase in concentration there has been
a
progression
in the average size of
a
trade union from
255
members in
1906,
to
764
in 1956, and 951 in
1969.
Analysis here will answer questions suggested by
Alan BirchY6 as to the optimum size
of
a trade union, with the membership
being large enough to provide adequate revenue and sufficient administra-
tion in executing necessary services.
This increase in concentration and average size has led
to
certain
misconceptions over the cause
of
growth
as
implied
by
G.
D.
H.
Cole,
‘Every-one of the largest unions connected with the
T.U.C.
is an amalga-
mation
of
a
number
of
unions into one’e; and Alan Birch, ‘Concurrently
with the increase in aggregate membership there has been a substantial
reduction in the numbers of separate unions, This has been brought
about by amalgamation and ab~orption’.~ As in the previous study, this
*
A revised version
of
a
dissertation submitted
for
part
of
Master
of
Science Degree, London
School
of
Economics, September 1971.
Tutorial Fellow, Department
of
Industrial Relations, University College, Cardiff
In
1969,
the
largest
six
unions
had
a
membership
of
4.68 million
out
of
a
total membership
of
10.13 million.
a
A
recent non-statistical assessment
of
rowth
pattern and amalgamation movements is
given
in
J.
Hughes,
Trade
Union
Structure
anf
Government,
Research Paper
No.
5 part
1,
Royal
Commission on Trade Unions and the Employers’ Associations, 1967, pp.
6-30.
A
typical statement
of
such ratios
is
as
follows:
In 1951 the number
of
unions was 704, with a total membership
of
9.84 million,
but
only fifteen of
these unions each with
100,OOO
or
more members, accounted
for
about
two-thirds
of
the
total,
and
these
unions together with twenty-eight others, each with membership
of
25,000
or more covered
about
85
per cent
of
the
whole
members..
.
.’
leaving
‘.
.
.661
unions with
only
about
15
per
cent
of
the membership, and
of
these two-thirds had
less
than
1,000
members and covered under
2
per
cent
of
the
total’.
J.
H.
Richardson,
An Introduction
to
the
Stu&
of
Industrial
Relaths,
George Allen and Unwin,
1954,
p.
181
Z.
H.
Phelps
Brown
and
P.
E.
Hart,
‘A
Study in the Laws
of
Aggregation’,
Economic
Journal,
Vol. 67, March 1957
Alan Birch,
Structurt
of
British
Trade
Union
Movement,
Manchester Statistical Society, 1957
G.
D.
H.
Cole,
An
Introduction
to
Trade
Unionism,
George
Allen
and
Unwin,
1962,
p.
88
+I
Birch,
op.
cit.,
p.
5
382
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