Judith Stepan-Norris Jasmine Kerrissey University of California, Irvine
How can the labor movement reverse the decline in union density? Some labor activists suggest that mergers may help to slow, if not reverse, the decline. Mergers, they argue, streamline unions, enabling them to organize and bargain more effectively. Merger critics disagree; if implemented incorrectly, mergers could decrease the rights of members and locals and ultimately weaken unions. This dissertation uses archival data to examine the determinants and outcomes of mergers. Three types of data inform this project: 1) data on union characteristics for each union from 1886-2000; 2) each merger agreement and constitutional clauses for each union before and after each merger; and 3) case study analysis of two unions as they merge over time. The project has several theoretical objectives. First, it links literature in labor studies and organization theory by extending theory that is typically applied to firms to democratic organizations. Second, it evaluates the relationship between mergers and the decline/growth of unions. Finally, it assesses how mergers have impacted the leadership roles of women and minorities. The broader impacts of this project are to provide an analysis of the consequences of mergers, in terms of the size, rank and file participation, and diversity among leaders. By making this research publicly available, labor activists will have empirical, historical evidence on which to inform their decisions. Moreover, the depth, breadth, and longitudinal quality of this dataset will provide scholars with a new dataset, thus contributing to future studies.
