Product Market Competition and Trade Union Structure

Arbeitspapier

Trade unions tend to reduce the dispersion of wages among their members. Skilled workers may therefore have an incentive to separate from an encompassing union and organize into a separate craft union. In this paper, we examine a theoretical model to gain insight into the determinants of the number of trade unions at a firm. We show that imperfect competition in the product market may drive skilled and unskilled workers together, even though unskilled workers use their political power in the trade union to extract rents from the skilled workers. Additionally, we examine the influence of several features of production technology on trade union structure.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper ; No. 03-005/1

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
• Subject: product market competition ; trade union structure ; wage dispersion ; Gewerkschaftspolitik ; Lohnstruktur ; Qualifikation ; Theorie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Beniers, Klaas J. ; Dur, Robert A.J.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Tinbergen Institute
• (where): Amsterdam and Rotterdam
• (when): 2003

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/86076
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET