Oligopoly, open shop unions and trade liberalisation

Abstract

In an international oligopoly model, we investigate how trade liberalisation impacts on collective bargaining outcomes when workers are represented by open shop unions. We find that, with intermediate levels of union density, trade liberalisation may lead to higher negotiated wages even if no trade occurs in equilibrium. In addition, we show that union wages may be higher with free trade than in autarky.International oligopoly, bargaining, open shop unions, trade liberalisation