Abstract
This study uses data from the recent Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey to test the union voice hypothesis that unions reduce quits. Unlike the U.S., however, it is argued that union voice may not be directly correlated with union membership as a result of the protections afforded trade unions by the unique Australian industrial relations system. It is found that, while unions are inversely associated with quit rates, this effect is strongest where union membership is supplemented with a more direct indicator of what unions actually do in the workplace.
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The authors thank the Australian Commonwealth Department of Industrial Relations for the data used herein, Robert Drago, Bruce Chapman, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments and advice, and attendees at the Australian Labour Market Research Workshop, February 1993, Perth, at which an earlier version of this paper was presented.
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Wooden, M., Baker, M. Trade unions and quits: Australian evidence. Journal of Labor Research 15, 403–418 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685706
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685706