Disability and trade union membership in the UK

Abstract

Using data from two national surveys, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey and the Workplace Employment Relations Survey, we establish evidence of a robust disability-related trade union membership differential in the UK. After controlling for differences in other personal and work-related characteristics, disabled employees are found to be 3.6 percentage points (12–14 per cent) more likely to be union members than non-disabled employees. While the differential is consistent with evidence that disabled employees have stronger preferences for union representation, we do not find evidence that union membership is associated with disproportionate benefits for disabled employees in terms of a reduction in disability-related labour market inequality.