Do Unions Influence the Diffusion of Technology?

Abstract

This study examines how unions affect the diffusion of manufacturing process technologies. Analyzing information from the 1983 Industry Wage Survey of the Nonelectrical Machinery Industry, which provides establishment-level data on union status and the use of seven advanced manufacturing process technologies, the author finds that unionized plants were more likely than nonunion plants to be using advanced technology. This pattern, however, apparently reflects not the effect of unionism, but of plant size and the use of shift work, both of which are related to unionism. Statistical tests reveal no direct union effect on the diffusion of the seven advanced manufacturing technologies.