The Anatomy of Union Membership Decline in Great Britain 1980–1998

Abstract

The aim of the thesis was to investigate the causes of union membership decline in Britain between 1980 and 1998. It sought to answer two key questions. First, to what extent was union membership decline the result of structural factors (that is, economic, political, legal, attitudinal, and compositional changes) compared to the failure of unions to cope with a changing environment? Second, if structural determinants were important, what was the relative importance of each in accounting for membership decline? The methodology chosen to answer these questions was analysis of micro data from workplaces and individuals, using a modification of the stocks and flows model proposed by Freeman (1988). For reasons of expediency and convenience, the period was split into three time periods: 1980 to 1984, 1984 to 1990, and 1990 to 1998, and the workplace-level processes of decline were investigated for each period in turn. Finally, the individual-level processes of decline were analyzed over the period 1991 to 1997. By investigating the individual- and workplace-level processes of decline, I hoped to make more informed judgements about the causes of membership decline. The results and analysis were firmly rooted in the context provided by the existing rich quantitative and qualitative literature on union decline.