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The De-Collectivisation of Pay Setting in Britain 1990-1998: Incidence, Determinants and Impact

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Author Info
A Charlwood
Abstract

Overall, collective bargaining coverage has dropped by around fourteen percentage points. This paperinvestigates the causes and consequences of the decline in collective bargaining in Britain between 1990 and1998. One in three workplaces that practiced collective bargaining in 1990 had abandoned it by 1998 and theincidence and coverage of collective bargaining in newer workplaces was lower than in the workplaces theyreplaced. The abandonment of collective bargaining was not associated with an increase in individualisedpayment mechanisms or with the use of 'high involvement' HRM practices. Workplaces that abandonedbargaining reported less impressive productivity gains than other workplaces. Male wage inequality rose as aresult of the decline of bargaining coverage and of weaker unions where collective bargaining remained. Higherlevels of job creation in workplaces that abandoned collective bargaining balance these negative outcomes.

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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number dp0705.

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Date of creation: Oct 2005
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Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0705

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Related research
Keywords: Collective bargaining; de-collectivisation; wage dispersion;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J5 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining
M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executive Compensation

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. David Card & Thomas Lemieux & W. Craig Riddell, 2003. "Unionization and Wage Inequality: A Comparative Study of the U.S, the U.K., and Canada," NBER Working Papers 9473, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. David Metcalf, 2001. "British Unions: Dissolution or Resurgence Revisited," CEP Discussion Papers dp0493, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  3. Addison, John T. & Bailey, Ralph & Siebert, W. Stanley, 2003. "The Impact of Deunionisation on Earnings Dispersion Revisited," IZA Discussion Papers 724, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. John Forth & Neil Millward, 2000. "The Determinants of Pay Levels and fringe Benefit Privision in Britain," NIESR Discussion Papers 171, National Institute of Economic and Social Research. [Downloadable!]
  5. Pencavel, John, 2003. "The Surprising Retreat of Union Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 818, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  6. Alex Bryson, 2002. "The Union Membership Wage Premium: An Analysis Using Propensity Score Matching," CEP Discussion Papers dp0530, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  7. Richard B. Freeman, 1980. "Unionism and the dispersion of wages," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 34(1), pages 3-23, October.
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  8. Machin, Stephen, 1997. "The decline of labour market institutions and the rise in wage inequality in Britain," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 647-657, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Richard B. Freeman, 1991. "How Much Has De-Unionisation Contributed to the Rise in Male Earnings Inequality?," NBER Working Papers 3826, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Stewart, Mark B, 1983. "On Least Squares Estimation When the Dependent Variable Is Grouped," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(4), pages 737-53, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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