Organized labor’s political scorecard

Masters, Marick F.; Delaney, John Thomas

doi:10.1007/s12122-005-1011-7

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Fiorito (1992) reported that measures reflecting a more altruistic view of unions (i.e., that unions help all workers and not just their members) provided a substantial contribution to conventional voting intent models in two independent samples of nonunion workers. This finding resonates with Masters and Delaney's (2005) critique of union political action, which they characterized as technologically sophisticated but uninspiring: "It simply does not inspire … [L]abor needs the passion of ideas … a cause that transcends divisions and projects a positive future" (2005: 387). Collectively, these studies illustrate that pragmatism is not enough.…”

Section: Union Voting and Pragmatismmentioning

confidence: 68%

General Feelings Toward Unions and Employers as Predictors of Union Voting Intent

Martinez

Fiorito

2008

J Labor Res

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Section: Union Voting and Pragmatismmentioning

confidence: 68%

General Feelings Toward Unions and Employers as Predictors of Union Voting Intent

Martinez

Fiorito

2008

J Labor Res

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“…The article contributes to the research on the political impact of unions, currently the only organized interest group representing the interests of the low skilled (Schlozman, Verba, and Brady 2012). Beyond the wellresearched traditional routes of influence, such as lobbying and investments in political action committees (PACs) (Facchini, Mayda, and Mishra 2011;Masters and Delaney 2005), we show that unions are also able to influence the views of their membership in a meaningful and theoretically predictable way. The study also speaks to the broader literature on organized interests (Baumgartner et al 2009;Gais and Walker 1991;Kollman 1998).…”

mentioning

confidence: 84%

Informed Preferences? The Impact of Unions on Workers' Policy Views

Kim

Margalit

2016

American J Political Sci

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Despite declining memberships, labor unions still represent large shares of electorates worldwide. Yet their political clout remains contested. To what extent, and in what way, do unions shape workers' political preferences? We address these questions by combining unique survey data of American workers and a set of inferential strategies that exploit two sources of variation: the legal choice that workers face in joining or opting out of unions and the over-time reversal of a union's policy position. Focusing on the issue of trade, we offer evidence that unions influence their members' policy preferences in a significant and theoretically predictable manner. In contrast, we find that self-selection into membership accounts at most for a quarter of the observed "union effect." The study illuminates the impact of unions in cohering workers' voice and provides insight on the role of information provision in shaping how citizens form policy preferences.

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“… 24 Importantly, a third way in which labor unions can potentially promote greater political equality is by employing an ‘insider approach’ of lobbying elected officials and urging them to implement public policies that are supported by organized labor (Facchini, Mayda, and Mishra 2011; Masters and Delaney 2005). Unfortunately, there currently exists no comprehensive database of lobbying activity or expenditures by sector in every state that would allow for empirical testing of this potential mechanism.…”

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confidence: 99%

Labor Union Strength and the Equality of Political Representation

Flavin¹

2016

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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Amid growing evidence of ‘unequal democracy’ in the United States, labor unions can play a potentially important role by ensuring that low-income citizens’ opinions receive more equal consideration when elected officials make policy decisions. To investigate this possibility, this article evaluates the relationship between labor union strength and representational equality across states and finds evidence that states with higher levels of union membership weigh citizens’ opinions more equally in the policy-making process. In contrast, there is no relationship between the volume of labor union contributions to political campaigns in a state and the equality of its political representation. These findings suggest that labor unions promote greater political equality primarily by mobilizing their working-class members to political action and, more broadly, underscore the important role that organized labor continues to play in shaping the distribution of political power across American society.

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Organized labor’s political scorecard

Cited by 16 publications

References 57 publications

General Feelings Toward Unions and Employers as Predictors of Union Voting Intent

General Feelings Toward Unions and Employers as Predictors of Union Voting Intent

Informed Preferences? The Impact of Unions on Workers' Policy Views

Labor Union Strength and the Equality of Political Representation

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