Publisher's Synopsis
Across most of the developed economies in the world union representation is in decline. Although unions continue to bargain over pay through collective bargaining arrangements covering the majority of workers in large parts of Northern Europe, this system is not seen elsewhere in the world. Even in Northern Europe there has been a gradual 'hollowing out' of union influence due to a decline in sectoral bargaining in countries like Germany and, in some other countries, through the decline in union membership which often provides unions with the bargaining power they need to be taken seriously at the negotiating table. Elsewhere, most notably the Anglo-American world, union membership has been in decline for a number of decades such that the union sector constitutes a relatively small part of the private sector.
