The Impact of Union Corruption on Union Membership

Coombs, Christopher and Cebula, Richard (2009): The Impact of Union Corruption on Union Membership. Published in: Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy & Society , Vol. 50, No. 1 (30 January 2011): pp. 131-148.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between union corruption actions and union membership. State-level data from the Office of Labor-Management Standards, and other sources, are utilized over two study periods (1974-2000 and 2001- 2008) to test three hypotheses, including the union corruption hypothesis, as pos­sible explanations for the decline in union membership in the United States over time. Although our initial findings suggest a negative relationship exists between union corruption and membership, after removing the possibility of simultaneous equations bias, we find that changes in corruption do not influence changes in union membership in our sample.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: union membership. union corruption; decline in union membership
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J47 - Coercive Labor Markets; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J51 - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J58 - Public Policy; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J59 - Other

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