ABSTRACT
This chapter examines why money matters to unions given their non-profit status. In practice, unions need money to build the organizational capacity to represent their members. Such capacity and its effective usage provide a rationale for workers to join and support the organization. Several theories illuminate the question of why money matters, including perspectives on collective mobilization, administrative and representational orientation, strategic choice, and resource dependency. How unions raise, spend, and manage money influences their success in formation and maintenance, which is a continuing consideration rather than a set of one-off decisions. We provide a systems-based conceptual framework on the role of money in unions qua organizations. A review of the available research on the topic of union finances in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia reveals that few studies provide a systematic analysis of the financial resources and performance of unions on a disaggregated basis. Aggregated data by definition mask the variation among unions in their financial resources and performance, though the aggregated trends provide a basis for making important inter-union comparisons.
