Trade Unions and the Economy PDF
Preview Trade Unions and the Economy
TRADE UNIONS AND THE ECONOMY MACMILLAN NEW STUDIES IN ECONOMICS Published Brian Burkitt and David Bowers TRADE UNIONS AND THE ECONOMY Keith Cuthbertson MACROECONOMIC POLICY: THE NEW CAMBRIDGE, KEYNESIAN AND MONETARIST CONTROVERSIES M. C. Howard MODERN THEORIES OF INCOME DISTRIBUTION Homa Katouzian IDEOLOGY AND METHOD IN ECONOMICS In preparation Sanjaya Lall TRANS NATION ALS AND THE LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES TRADE UNIONS AND THEECONOMY Brian Burkitt and David Bowers M © Brian Burkitt and David Bowers 1979 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 1979 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in Delhi Dublin Hong Kong lohannesburg Lagos Melboume New York Singapore and Tokyo British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Burkitt, Brian Trade unions and the economy. - (Macmillan new studies in economics). 1. Trade unions - Great Britain 2. Great Britain - Economic conditions - 1945- I. TitIe 11. Bowers, David 331.880'941 HD6664 ISBN 978-0-333-25994-8 ISBN 978-1-349-16206-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16206-2 This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement. The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition inc\uding this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Für Brenda and Eve CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix 1 Introduction 1 The book's approach 1 Synopsis of the succeeding chapters 4 2 An Economic Analysis of Trade-Union Development 6 Introduction 6 The factors promoting inequality of bargaining power in unorganised labour markets 7 The demand for trade-union services 9 The trend towards centralisation 15 The degree of unionisation 16 Conclusion 19 Appendix: the degree of unionisation in the rest of the world 20 3 Trade Unions and Wage Differentials 23 Introduction 23 A theory of the trade-union impact on wage differentials 23 Problems of measuring the relative wage impact of trade unions 26 The evidence 28 The effect of trade unions upon the allocation of resources 34 Conclusion 36 4 Trade Unions and Wage Inflation 37 Introduction 37 Demand-pull inflation 38 Monetarism 39 Cost-push inflation 43 viii TRADE UNIONS AND THE ECONOMY The prices--incomes spiral 45 The sources of cost-push inflation in the labour market 46 The empirical evidence 54 Are trade unions to blame for inflation? 55 Conclusion 56 5 Trade Unions and the Distribution ofIncome 57 Introduction 57 The potential scope for trade-union action to alter the distribution of income 57 A review of the evidence 60 Periods of stability 64 Periods of displacement 65 Conclusion 71 6 Trade Unions and the Process of Production 73 Introduction 73 The relationship between capital and labour 73 Managerial autonomy 74 Collective bargaining 76 Participation 80 Workers' control and workers' self-management 81 The political role of unions 84 Conclusion 86 7 Trade Unions and the State 88 Introduction 88 The traditional role of the state in the United Kingdom 88 The contemporary debate 92 The policy problem of cost-push inflation 93 The restriction of trade-union bargaining power 94 Prices and incomes policy 97 The problems of operating a prices and incomes policy 98 Conclusion 100 8 Conclusion 102 A summary of the argument 102 The future direction of trade-union analysis 104 Notes and References 109 Bibliography 113 Index 121 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors and publishers wish to thank the following, who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material: Australian Bureau of Statistics, for a table from Industry Informa tion Bulletin (January 1966) and a table from Official Year Book of Australia. Foreign Press Centre - Japan, for figures from Japan's Year Book of Labour Statistics (1977). Gower Press, for a table from Trade Unions in Europe (1974), by M. Stewart. The Minister of Supply and Services, Canada, for statistics from Canada Year Book and Union Growth in Canada (1970). National Bureau of Economic Research Inc., for a table from Trade Union Membership 1897-1962, by L. Troy. 1 Introduction THE BOOK'S APPROACH This book analyses the economic aspects of trade-union operations in a capitalist society.l lt assembles the results of previous research into the consequences of union actions and attempts to evaluate current controversies about their impact on the economy. Inevitably the conclusions that we draw are based in part upon subjective opinions and our political philosophy. Trade unions are so important and controversial a phenomenon that it would be impossible to find a neutralobserver to write a book of this kind. Moreover, discussion of their effects is complicated by the confusion of two distinct issues: the first, what their actual effects are; and the second, whether these are beneficial or harmful. We try to accumulate as broad a cross-section of professional research and opinion as the length of the book permits. We are aware, however, that like all writers on union affairs the degree of emphasis we accord to various topics and the manner in which we approach them are conditioned by our political perspective. We cannot eliminate this perspective, nor would we wish to, but feel it is essential that we should state explicity our fundamental value judge ments conceming union activity. We ho pe that readers keep these judgements continually in mind and conSUIt so me of the work we quote that embodies a contrasting approach to ours. Although we declare our philosophy in this introduction, we are aware that much of it is controversial, so that throughout the book we have kept in mind the importance of allowing readers to draw their own conclu sions from the material we present. We reject the currently fashionable view that trade unions are 'too powerful' which appears to be held by the mass media, many politi cians and a growing section of the public. We believe that unions are less powerful than employers, whose possession of the means of production enables them to command decision-making procedures.
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