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Union Presence and Labour Productivity in British Manufacturing Industry. A Reply to Nolan and Marginson
Author(s) -
Metcalf David
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb00366.x
Subject(s) - productivity , labour economics , manufacturing , work (physics) , economics , business , economic growth , engineering , marketing , mechanical engineering
Evidence on the association between union presence and labour productivity in British manufacturing industry is surveyed. The weight of the evidence suggests that around 1980 highly unionized organizations had a lower level of labour productivity than corresponding less highly unionized organizations, but that during the first half of the 1980s unionized work‐places, firms and industries had superior productivity growth to their less unionized counterparts. Various criticisms made by Nolan and Marginson of earlier studies on unions and productivity are evaluated.