Union effects on employee relations in Britain

Abstract

I estimate the effects of trade unions on employee and employer perceptions of workplace management-employee relations in Britain using linked employer-employee data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey. Associations between these relations and unionization vary with institutional arrangements in relation to bargaining and lay representation. There is support for McCarthy’s view that union lay representatives can act as a ‘lubricant’ assisting with employment relations, but this is apparent from an employer perspective, not an employee perspective. The only union effect common across employers and employees is poorer perceptions of employment relations where union coverage is at the level known to generate a union wage premium.