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Losing control? Unions' Representativeness, "Pirate" Collective Agreements and Wages

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  • Claudio Lucifora

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
    Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

  • Daria Vigani

Abstract

This paper documents the evolution of sector-level collective agreements in Italy and estimates the wage effects of the diffusion of non-representative agreements, often signed by unknown organisations - i.e. "pirate" agreements. Using employer-employee data from Social Security Archives, we nd evidence of a signicant dumping effect on wages associated with different types of non-representative agreements (-15% with respect to regular collective agreements). We show that half of the wage differential associated with "pirate" agreements is due to selection effects. Also, heterogeneous effects are found across rm size and industry aliation. Finally, we show that rms with non-representative agreements are also less likely to comply with negotiate.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudio Lucifora & Daria Vigani, 2020. "Losing control? Unions' Representativeness, "Pirate" Collective Agreements and Wages," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def087, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie1:def087
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    13. Bavaro, Michele & Raitano, Michele, 2024. "Is working enough to escape poverty? Evidence on low-paid workers in Italy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 495-511.
    14. Fanfani, Bernardo, 2022. "Tastes for discrimination in monopsonistic labour markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    15. Fanfani, Bernardo, 2023. "The employment effects of collective wage bargaining," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    16. Brändle, Tobias, 2024. "Unions and Collective Bargaining: The Influence on Wages, Employment and Firm Survival," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1457, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Francesco Devicienti & Bernardo Fanfani, 2025. "Firms' margins of adjustment to wage growth: the case of Italian collective bargaining," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 92(365), pages 107-149, January.
    18. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Villanueva, Ernesto, 2022. "Wage determination and the bite of collective contracts in Italy and Spain," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    19. Russell Davidson & Andrea Monticini, 2023. "Bootstrap Performance with Heteroskedasticity," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def130, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    collective bargaining; collective agreements; representativeness; wage dierentials.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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