Racial Diversity and Union Organizing in the United States, 1999--2008
Does racial diversity make it harder to form a union? Case studies giveconflicting answers, and little large-scale research on the questionexists. Most quantitative research on race and unionization studies trendsin membership rather than the outcome of specific organizing drives, andassumes that the main problem is mistrust between workers and unions,paying less attention for example to the role of employers. I explore therole of racial and ethnic diversity in the outcomes of nearly 7,000organizing drives launched between 1999 and 2008. By matching the NationalLabor Relations Board’s information on union activity with the EqualEmployment Opportunity Commission’s surveys of large establishments, Ireconstruct the demographic composition of the work groups involved in eachmobilization. I find that more diverse establishments are less likely tosee successful organizing attempts. However, I find little evidence thatthis is because workers are less interested in voting for unions. Instead,I find that the organizers of more diverse units are more likely to give upbefore such elections are held. Furthermore, this higher quit rate can beexplained best by the other organizations involved in the organizing drive.In particular, employers are more likely to be charged with unfair laborpractices when the unit in question is more racially diverse. This effectpersists when controlling for heterogeneity among industries, unions andregions.