TheGhent effect for whom? Mapping the variations of theGhent effect across different trade unions inDenmark

Abstract

The presence of an unemployment insurance system based on voluntary membership in unemployment insurance funds (known as the ‘Ghent system’) and a high union density has long been known and well documented, and even referred to as a special ‘Ghent effect’. However the Ghent system, especially in the three classic Ghent countries, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, has come under significant pressure in recent years, and many researchers are referring to an erosion of the Ghent system as a recruiting mechanism for trade unions. But prior research aimed at documenting the Ghent effect seems to disregard variations in how strongly trade unions benefit from the Ghent system as a recruiting mechanism. Hence, this article sets out to investigate whether all trade unions equally benefit from a Ghent effect across different sectors and occupations by studying the Danish case. Unique survey data made it possible to map Danish wage earners' reasons for joining or leaving unemployment insurance funds and trade unions. The article finds that there are great variations among Danish trade unions in terms of how strongly they are dependent on a Ghent effect as a recruiting mechanism. We may expect the same variations in the two other Ghent countries, Sweden and Finland, because the organisation of the Ghent system is similar in the three Nordic countries. In addition, the article shows that this variation might help explain why some trade unions are on the rise to the detriment of others.

Working-Class Strength by Institutional Design? Unionization, Partisan Politics, and Unemployment Insurance Systems, 1870 to 2010

“…Note also that our statistical analyses include separate country dummies for Imperial Germany, West Germany and unified Germany. 2 For a sampling of this literature, see Ebbinghaus & Visser (1999), Høgedahl (2014), Schnabel (2013), Scruggs (2002), Van Rie, Marx, & Horemans (2011) and Western (1997). 3 Having nearly closed in the course of the 1940s and 1950s, the gap again opened up from 1960 onwards.…”

New trajectories of unionization in the Nordic Ghent countries: Changing labour market and welfare institutions

“…Future research based on cross-national surveys would be able to shed more light on the new trajectories in unionization in the Nordic Ghent countries in a comparative setting and the dynamics behind these changes. Survey-based research in Denmark indicates that the double opt-out from the classic Ghent system is dominated by blue-collar workers between 30 and 40 years old (Høgedahl, 2014). Is this also the case in the other Nordic countries?…”

Development in the Regulation of Wages and Working Conditions: The Employee Perspective

“…The alternative unions do not engage themselves in collective bargaining activities with the employer side nor are they in favor of the use of strikes or any other collective actions, in fact, the statute-book of the Christian Union, the biggest alternative trade union, explicitly its members to strike (Høgedahl, 2014a). The alternative trade unions have around 250,000 members (for more on the rise of the alternative unionism in Denmark please see Ibsen et al, 2013;Høgedahl, 2014b). From 2002 to 2014, Denmark has seen a rise in the number of unorganized wage earners from around 750,000 to 810,000 (Høgedahl, 2014a).…”