de-unionizationthe termination by management of COLLECTIVE BARGAINING and representational rights of TRADE UNIONS in an organization. If managers decide to de-unionize, they will need to withdraw unions' rights to represent aggrieved employees in disputes with management and to cease to negotiate pay and conditions with them. Instead, management will unilaterally determine rates of pay and the relevant terms of the CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT. To achieve de-unionization, managers may also need to engineer the dismissal of key union activists.
The rationale for de-unionization is that union action leads to wages being artificially high (i.e. higher than the ‘true’ market rate) and inhibits LABOUR FLEXIBILITY (by generating RESTRICTIVE LABOUR PRACTICES). However, some labour economists claim that unions bring efficiency benefits. By ‘giving voice’ to employee grievances they defuse them and, by forcing wages up they provide an incentive to firms to invest in labour-saving technology. Firms also often find it easier to negotiate with employee representatives rather than directly with each individual employee.
Even where organizations de-recognize unions it does not necessarily end union activity. Trade unions may continue to recruit employees into union membership. If a sizeable proportion of the organization's employees remain or become union members, managers may find it difficult to sustain the non-union recognition policy because of the STATUTORY UNION RECOGNITION PROCEDURE. See MANAGEMENT STYLE.