The class dynamics of income shares

Effects of the declining power of unions in the US airline industry, 1977-2005

Bibliographic Data

ID4237722
AuthorsD Avent-Holt (0000-0001-5420-1420, Augusta University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume17
Issue3
Pages603-625
Publication date2019-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocio-Economic Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1475-1461 • E-ISSN: 1475-147X
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ser/mwx048
OpenAlexW2770752520
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited55

Although class relations are situated within workplaces, research on class income shares has neither examined firm-level mechanisms nor distinguished between managerial and non-managerial workers within the class of labor. This article analyzes the effects of union power on the distribution of shares of income between capital, top managers, and non-managerial workers at the firm-level during the neoliberal era. Using data on US airlines from 1977 to 2005 I find that strikes are central to shaping the firm-level distribution of income shares, but in an unexpected way. Strikes redistribute income away from non-managerial workers, without affecting either profit or top managerial income shares. These results suggest that analyses of income distribution across classes must incorporate a more detailed class schema as well as observe effects of deunionization at the firm level. Moreover, the findings provide further evidence that firm-level mechanisms are shaped by the institutional context in which firms operate

Business · Corporate governance · Distribution (mathematics) · Economics · Income distribution · Income shares · Inequality · Labour economics · Microeconomics · Profit (economics) · Share capital · Shareholder · Situated · Finance · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Labor Movements and Unions · Political Economy and Marxism

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