Declining Union Membership in the Post-World War II Era: The United Furniture Workers of America, 1939-1982

Abstract

An organizational explanation of post-World War II declining union membership, termed the "replenishment thesis," is developed to compensate for the deemphasis on decline in Marxian, functional, and economic theories of unionization. Since 1945, large nonunion corporations have stabilized their work forces by providing private employee welfare plans, and unions have consequently been most successful in organizing employees of small establishments. These have often folded, thereby jeopardizing union membership. The thesis is tested with analyses of the membership trends, representation election outcomes, and local union turnover rates of the United Furniture Workers between 1939 and 1982.