THE CALCULATION OF THE DEGREE OF UNIONIZATION*
| Author | B. BURKITT |
| Published date | 01 November 1973 |
| Date | 01 November 1973 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1973.tb00879.x |
RESEARCH NOTE
THE CALCULATION
OF
THE DEGREE
OF
UNIONIZATION*
B. BURKITT~
The recently published
Historical
Abstract
of
British Labour
Statistics1
is a useful
compendium of data, most of which first appeared in the Employment and Pro-
ductivity Gazette and its predecessors. Although several tables are included from
other sources and new ones have been compiled to fill gaps, voids still exist-
particularly in the area of trade union membership. Whilst it is not quite true to
say that we have Hamlet without the Prince
of
Denmark, there is only a fleeting
appearance in Table 196, which contains the summarized returns of the Registrar
of Friendly Socicties of total membership (subdivided by sex) and the number
of
unions between 1892 and 1968. This is especially regrettable since there is
available a considerable volume of data on the industrial distribution of union
membership, which is of interest
to
all students of the labour market and the
trade union movement.
These data shed light on the development of the labour market generally and
the comparative organization of workers in different industries; they also pro-
vide what many consider to be a measure of an important dimension of union
power. The estimation of the degree
of
unionization in an industry (i.e. the
proportion of the workforce belonging to a union) and the interpretation of the
meaning of such estimates is more than usually fraught with problems. Never-
theless it is conceivable that their analysis may improve our understanding of
the operation of the labour market in general and the determination of wages
in particular. Thus the purpose of the present article is to make good this
deficiency by providing series on union membership and unionization from
1924
to 1938 and to discuss some of the problems of interpretation which arise.
SO
u
R
c
E
s
In Britain it is impossible to obtain an accurate division of trade union
membership by industry due to the overlapping structure of organization. The
general unions have members in a wide variety of trades, whilst many craft
unions recruit from several industries. Even the membership of an industrial
union is determined by historical influences; e.g. the National Union of
Railwaymen recruited road passenger workers because the railway companies
had financial interests in bus firms. Thus in the absence of detailed industrial
classifications of members by individual trade unions, any general division is
bound to be arbitrary.
*
I
am indebted
to
Mr
R.
K.
Wilkinson for his helpful comments on an earlier draft
of
this
t
Lecturer in Economics, University
of
Bradford
1
Department
of
Employment and Productivity,
British Labour Statistics
:
Histotical Abstract
paper.
1886-1968,
H.M.S.O.,
London,
1971
449
To continue reading
Request your trial