THE NORTH‐SOUTH‘J DIVIDE IN TRADE UNION RECOGNITION IN BRITAIN: STILL HOLDING UP?
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1995.tb01145.x |
| Published date | 01 February 1995 |
| Author | P. B. Beaumont,R. I. D. Harris |
| Date | 01 February 1995 |
Scomsh
JourMf
of
Political
Economy.
Vol.
42,
No.
I,
February
1995
0
Scottish
Economic
Society
1995.
Published by
Blackwell
Publishers.
108
Cowley
Road.
Oxford
OX4
IF,
UK
and
238
Main
Scnet.
Cambridge. MAO2142.
USA
THE "NORTH-SOUTH'' DIVIDE IN TRADE
UNION RECOGNITION IN BRITAIN: STILL
HOLDING
UP?
P.
B. Beaumont. and
R.
I.
D.
Harris"
I
~TIRODUC~~ON
One of the leading, historical constants in the British industrial relations system
has been the fact that trade union organisation has for long been dispropor-
tionately concentrated in the northern part of the country. However, given the
sizeable and sustained fall in overall union membership and density levels that
has occurred in Britain throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s (Towers, 1992,
p.
30-7)
it is important to consider whether
this
spatial pattern still remains (as
powerfully) in place at the present time. Fortunately with the availability of the
three national Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys we have three nationally
representative data sets at three discrete points in time (i.e. 1980, 1984 and
1990) which can allow
us
to investigate
this
question.
This
is the prime purpose of the present paper. Accordingly in what follows
we estimate logit regression equations, for manual and non-manual employees
separately, for these three years in order to see whether the extent of the 'North-
South' divide in trade union organisation,
ceteris paribus,
has become weaker
(stronger) during
this
period of overall union decline in Britain. However,
before turning to present
our
empirical results, the next section of the paper
reviews the existing literature on the North-South divide in trade union
organisation in Britain.'
Il
THEEXISTINGL~ERA~
In their early study of trade unionism in Britain, the Webbs estimated that some
20% of adult male manual workers were trade union members in 1892 (Webb
and Webb, 1920, p.424-5). The economic and political significance
of
this
figure was largely attributed to the fact that membership was disproportionately
concentrated in particular areas (and industries) of the country. Specifically, the
Webbs indicated that union membership was very largely centred in (i) the
North of England (i.e. the seven counties north of the Humber and Dee), (ii)
South Wales (including Monmouthshire) and (iii) Scotland (in particular the
narrow industrial belt between the Clyde and the Forth). Furthermore,
this
'
This
literature review draws heavily
on
Beaumont and
Harris
(1992).
Department
of
Social and Economic Research, University
of
Glasgow
..
Department
of
Economics, University
of
Portsmouth
53
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