Computerization and the Decline of American Unions: Is Computerization Class-Biased?

Abstract

This article offers a new explanation for union decline by focusing on a currently neglected site that exemplifies the fragility of unions—the shop floor in the computer revolution era. Using data from several sources including the National Labor Relations Board, it analyzes the effect of using a computer at work on the odds of being a union member and the broader effect of computerization on union strength within detailed industries between 1973 and 2002. Workers who used a computer at work were found less likely to be union members, and computerization of workplaces accounted for about a quarter of the decline in union density within industries; partly by changing the skill composition of industries’ workforces and partly by enhancing employers’ resistance to unions as measured by their use of unfair labor practices and decertification elections as documented by the National Labor Relations Board. The findings are explained in a new theoretical framework that specifies what computerization does to unions by (a) reshaping the way products are made and services are provided and (b) boosting a profound power shift throughout workplaces.

Why Has Computerization Increased Wage Inequality? Information, Occupational Structural Power, and Wage Inequality

“…Liu and Grusky (2013) assert that the changes in payout on skill were driven in part by institutional sources, such as the "low-road" strategy of intensive supervision, as opposed to narrowly technological ones. These and other studies (Fernandez, 2001;Hanley, 2014;Kristal, 2019;Shestakofsky, 2017;Skott & Guy, 2007 suggest that while SBTC certainly has a role in explaining rising inequality, it is rather restrictive to assume that computers have impacted the labor market and wage inequality solely via SBTC.…”

“…Because I focus on occupation positional power to clarify that computers are biased in favor of powerful occupations, and not only in favor of high-skilled workers, my argument suits the term Class-Biased Technological Change coined by Kristal (2013Kristal ( , 2019, in which the concept of "class" is used explicitly for location within employment relations. The term Power-Biased Technological Change coined by Peter Frederick Guy (2007, 2013) to illustrate that technologies have profoundly affected the relative power of firms and corporate executives is also closely articulated with my argument.…”

Prime Suspect: Mechanisms of Labor Control at Amazon's Warehouses

“…But as such technologies are adopted even by firms in the conventional economy, similar effects may spill over beyond gig work (Wood, 2021b), not least because firms such as Amazon operate in both domains. Though some case studies report exceptions to this disempowering trend (Shestakofsky, 2017; Wu, 2020), research using national data (Kristal, 2013, 2019, 2020) suggests that digital technology increases the flow of information to strategically important managerial groups, enabling them to expand their structural power over labor in various ways. This point is often reaffirmed by studies of call centers, where digital technology is central to the labor process (see Taylor and Bain, 1999 and below).…”

Unions, technology, social-class, and earnings inequality in the US, 1984-2019

“…On this specific point, recent studies have stressed that technological change and unionization are associated and that the process of (de)unionization may act as a mediator of the direct link between technology and economic inequality. Moreover, strong unions can moderate the impact of technological change either by containing its impact on the wage growth of higher classes or by limiting the increase in the deskilling and disempowerment of less-skilled workers (Acemoglu, 2001;Kristal, 2015Kristal, , 2019.…”

“…On the other hand, social science research has repeatedly shown that the demise of wage-setting institutions and workers' power has inhibited wage growth for lower incomes and increased earnings dispersion (Card et al, 2017;Kristal, 2013;Kristal & Cohen, 2017;Lin & Tomaskovic-Devey, 2013;Western & Rosenfeld, 2011;Blau & Kahn, 2009). Finally, a growing body of research has highlighted the combined effect of these two factors, suggesting a moderating and mediating effect of de-unionization in the relationship between technological change and labour market inequalities (Acemoglu, 2001;Kristal, 2015Kristal, , 2019.…”