... and deregulation, Lumsden et al (1997) stress other factors. In particular they highlight the impact of recent legislation concerning trades unions. Laws now exist which ensure that secret balloting of all union members is necessary before any strike action can take place, and whereas unions in certain workplaces were once able to operate 'closed shop' policies (effectively ensuring 100% union membership as a condition of employment), this is no longer the case. The overall effect of this legislation has been that the unions have lost some of their collective bargaining power, and as a result union membership has become less attractive (Lumsden et al note that the proportion of union members fell from 82% in 1985 to 62% in 1997, and has only recently begun to recover). This bargaining weakness has contributed to the reduction of wages among manual workers in particular (ibid). A further reason for the growth in earnings ...

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