ABSTRACT
What is common knowledge regarding union membership? A quick read of several elementary textbooks indicates not only a declining U.S. union membership since the 1950s, but also diminishing union membership in the United Kingdom (UK) beginning in the late 1970s. 1 However, these trends in American and British unionism were not necessarily typical worldwide. 2 As shall be illustrated very shortly, although the rate of union membership was deteriorating in a number of countries, such as Canada, France, Spain, Chile, and Kenya, it was increasing in Norway and Sweden, as well as a number of developing countries (e.g., Mexico, Korea, and Taiwan). So not all countries mirror the U.S. and UK decline in union membership. 3
