! """#$%$&'## ( ) * + $"' , - ' ' ' ' . / ' 0.$/ ."/ .&/ '1 $22# 3 4 5 ' '6 ' ' ' ' ' ' '7 ' "#$% 055 ''5 8 9 0 000 $:;;<& =>(2%?2$%<:2??"? =>(2%?2$%<:2??&; =(#:2$#??; $#<2$ THERE IS POWER IN A UNION Johanna Palm There is power in a union Trade union organization, union membership and union activity in Sweden Johanna Palm ©Johanna Palm, Stockholm University 2017 ISBN print 978-91-7649-882-8 ISBN PDF 978-91-7649-883-5 ISSN 0491-0885 Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2017 Distributor: Department of Sociology, Stockholm University To my mother and father who have inspired my interest in the social in general, and in issues related to class in particular Contents List of studies ................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... v Sammanfattning ............................................................................................ vii 1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 2. What is a trade union? ........................................................................... 3 2.1 Trade unions as revolutionary class actors? The Marxist tradition ...................... 3 2.2 Trade unions as monopolistic, economic actors: The neoclassical tradition ....... 6 2.3 Trade unions as differentiated actors: Ideal types, mixed purposes and goals ... 7 2.3.1 Business unionism ................................................................................... 8 2.3.2 Class struggle unionism ......................................................................... 10 2.3.3 Trade unions as social partners ............................................................. 13 2.3.4 The diversity of trade unionism .............................................................. 14 3. The Swedish context: Swedish trade unionism ................................... 17 3.1 The early years: from class struggle unionism to the wake of reformist ideals .. 17 3.2 The Swedish model, industrial peace and increased equality: the corporatist era ......................................................................................................................... 19 3.3 The rise of conflicts and the break from collective bargaining: the radicalization of the trade union movement and employer opposition ............................................... 21 3.4 Challenging times: increased fragmentation, increased income inequality, and union density decline. .................................................................................................. 23 4. What are trade unions good for? ......................................................... 25 4.1 Unions’ impact on wages and wage inequality ................................................. 25 4.2 Unions’ impact on social policy and macro-economics ..................................... 27 5. Explaining union density and union membership ................................ 31 5.1 Institutionalist perspectives ............................................................................... 31 5.1.1 Empirical evidence of the impact of institutions on trade union organization ........................................................................................................... 33 5.2 Structural perspectives ..................................................................................... 35 5.2.1 Empirical evidence of the impact of structural changes in the labour market on union density ......................................................................................... 35 5.2.2 Empirical evidence of the impact of economic cycles on union density .. 37 5.3 Explaining individual propensity to be organized in a trade union and union activity ......................................................................................................................... 38 5.3.1 The Olsonian logic of collective action: a discussion and a critique ....... 38 5.3.2 Social movement theory: theorizing collective mobilization among subordinated groups .............................................................................................. 40 5.3.3 Empirical evidence for theories on collective action and mobilization: a discussion about merits and limitations .................................................................. 43 5.4 Modelling (changing) trade union density, membership and activity ................. 45 6. Methodology ........................................................................................ 49 6.1 Concepts, data and analytical methods ............................................................ 49 6.1.1 Definition and operationalization of key concepts .................................. 49 6.1.2 Data and methods ................................................................................. 54 6.2 Ethical considerations....................................................................................... 56 7. Overview of the studies ....................................................................... 57 7.1 Study I (published) ........................................................................................... 57 7.2 Study II (submitted) .......................................................................................... 57 7.3 Study III (submitted) ......................................................................................... 58 8. Concluding remarks ............................................................................. 59 8.1 Discussion: Explaining union membership changes in Sweden and the implications of density decline ..................................................................................... 59 9. References ........................................................................................... 63 List of studies 1. Palm, Johanna (2017). “The declining influence of class and ideolo- gy in union membership. Consistent but divergent trends among Swedish employees.” Economic and Industrial Democracy, 1-21. DOI: 10.1177/0143831X17707823 2. Palm, Johanna (2017). “Understanding union density growth and decline in Sweden. The role of structural change” (submitted manu- script). 3. Palm, Johanna (2017). “Militant attitudes among Swedish employ- ees. The role of class and social identification” (submitted manu- script). Acknowledgements And so here it is – the end. The end of five plus years working on a disserta- tion and to some extent the end of an era. The work with this dissertation has not only brought me new insights and new knowledge, but also to a new city, a new home and new people. For all of this, I am very grateful. First of all, I want to thank my supervisor Magnus Bygren for guiding me through this, at times, very confusing process. In the beginning, when I had no clue of what I was doing, Magnus pushed me through and gave this dis- sertation a direction. At the end, Magnus has been tremendously helpful in guiding me to the finish line. Thank you also to Michael Tåhlin, my assistant supervisor. Michael’s perspectives, comments and suggestions have been of great help to me in the process of writing this dissertation. Thank you to Charlotta Magnusson, who commented on my manuscript at my final semi- nar and helped me find the focus I needed to finish all of this. To Hernan, my roommate. You are very aware of all the things you have done for me, I hope. But I want to thank you once again, officially. In partic- ular, you have saved me from many frustrating hours spent in front of the computer trying to figure out mistakes in my STATA codes, or finding the right codes. But more than that, you have been a friend, and you have always encouraged me. This journey would have been more difficult and lonelier without you. To all other colleagues at the department and at SOFI, where I spent some time during this process: thank you! Last but not least, thank you to my family for your love and support. To my mother and father, and to my dear sister Karolina.To my grandfather who have taken such an interest in this journey. To all of my friends, in Gothenburg and in Stockholm. And to Erik. Most of all, to you. You have made this all possible. You give me strength, and most of all you keep me calm. Thank you. Johanna Palm Stockholm, August 2017 ´ Sammanfattning Syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar facklig organisering, och i viss mån facklig aktivitet, i ljuset av sjunkande facklig organisationsgrad i en majoritet av s.k. västliga länder. Detta är en fråga som många forskare har ägnat tid åt att förstå, men trots det kvarstår flera frågetecken. Den fackliga strukturen har delvis förändrats genom att både kvinnor och tjänstemän numer utgör en mer stabil del av den fackliga medlemsbasen medan organisationsgraden bland arbetare går nedåt. Samti- digt minskar betydelsen av tidigare starka determinanter för medlemskap, exempelvis arbetsplatsorganisation, till följd av ökad flexibilitet och osäkra anställningsformer på arbetsmarknaden. Utgångspunkten för