Diversity in trade union membership: a typology based on the study of a Spanish trade union

Abstract

While existing literature on the changing nature of trade union membership concentrates on unidimensional differences between members, this article proposes a multidimensional typology, which considers demographic characteristics as well as labour market position and length of union membership. Our results allow the identification of different member profiles; these are significantly associated to differences in employment conditions, work participation, job satisfaction and union activism. In the last section of the article, we discuss the practical implications that these different member profiles may have for union policy and organisation.

Membership duration in a Spanish union: A survival analysis

“…In contrast, workers in sectors with a tradition of unionism, like industrial sectors, or where the influence of the union emerged more recently (mainly the public service sectors), and those in regional units where the union is particularly strong have memberships which appear to be longer and the probability of leaving is much lower. The pluralization of memberships is additionally confirmed by testing the typology of CCOO union members by Alós et al (2009), where the extreme vulnerability of the membership of the youth (peripherals-in-transition) contrasts with the more stable memberships of traditional industrial workers (traditional-core).…”

“…First, multiple correspondence analysis was applied to reduce personal, work, and firmrelated information of a random sample of union members into a few consistent dimensions. These dimensions were used in a cluster analysis to calculate distances across sample cases that were ultimately used to classify individuals into groups, which were internally homogeneous and as different as possible from each other (see Alós et al, 2009). 9.…”

“…The dataset, unfortunately, does not allow us to construct the groups as in Alós et al (2009). However, we present proxies with the available data.…”

“…Finally, we present predictions of the hazard rates and the survival curves adjusting for characteristics of the four groups which Alós et al (2009) worked out, mirroring traits of segmentation of the Spanish labor market also in the union membership. The dataset, unfortunately, does not allow us to construct the groups as in Alós et al (2009).…”

“…To test for pluralization of membership trajectories and to observe nuances of segmentation theory, we assume a further alternative: the membership typology of Alós et al (2009). This typology features four status-consistent groups reflecting the multidimensional aspects behind diverse groups of members and delineates the segmented Spanish labor market.…”