Unions, worker voice, and management practices: Implications for a high-productivity, high-wage economy

Abstract

© 2019 Russell Sage Foundation. This article uses the metaphor of a social contract to review the evolution of American unions and their effects - especially in the variations in their quality - on firm employment strategies and performance, takes stock of the current state of unions and alternative forms of worker voice that have emerged in recent years, and discusses implications for the future of labor and employment policies. The key policy implication is that fundamental, not incremental, changes in labor policy will be needed if the range of worker voice and representation processes workers want and the economy needs are to grow to a scale large enough to close existing voice gaps and contribute to building a new productivity- and wage-enhancing social contract.