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The Employment of Temporary Agency Workers in the UK: With or Against the Trade Unions?

Author

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  • Böheim, René

    (University of Linz)

  • Zweimüller, Martina

    (University of Linz)

Abstract

A firm's decision to employ agency workers may be perceived as a replacement of directly employed workers or as way to curb union power, which trade unions would oppose. Alternatively, trade unions may encourage the (temporary) employment of agency workers in a firm, if they manage to bargain higher wages for their members. We estimate the relationship between hiring agency workers and trade union activity at the workplace, in particular, the type of collective bargaining agreements. We use British data from the Workplace Employment Relations Surveys (WERS) of 1998 and 2004. The empirical association between the employment of agency workers and union strength is weak, but positive. Furthermore, workplaces with collective bargaining have lower wages in the presence of agency workers, suggesting that agency workers are hired against the unions.

Suggested Citation

  • Böheim, René & Zweimüller, Martina, 2009. "The Employment of Temporary Agency Workers in the UK: With or Against the Trade Unions?," IZA Discussion Papers 4492, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4492
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    Cited by:

    1. Salvatori, Andrea, 2012. "Union threat and non-union employment: A natural experiment on the use of temporary employment in British firms," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 944-956.
    2. Kristina Håkansson & Tommy Isidorsson, 2014. "The trade union response to agency labour in Sweden," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 22-38, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Workplace Employment Relations Survey; flexibility; collective bargaining; trade union; work agency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General

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