TRADE-UNION RECOGNITION AND EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTION BRITAIN, 1980-1984

Information contained in the two work‐place industrial relations surveys reveals that the proportion of employees, both manual and non‐manual, in private sector establishments which recognised trade unions declined in the period 1980‐84. The various pieces of analysis undertaken in this paper reveal that establishment closures and employment reduction concentrated among relatively large sized establishments were a major source of the observed decline in union organisation. © 1991 Blackwell Publishing Ltd / London School of Economics