Are trade unions important? Depends on who you ask

A majority of Dutch employees think trade unions are important or even very important, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. But there are exceptions. For example, very few general managers think trade unions are important. That shouldn’t really come as a surprise.

I combined the data with a previously published dataset on how satisfied employees in different occupational groups are with their salary. The results are shown below.

There’s a moderately strong correlation. General managers can’t complain about their salary and, as indicated, they could do without trade unions. On the other hand, cleaners are less satisfied with their salary, and they overwhelmingly support trade unions.

More interesting perhaps is the question which groups deviate from the pattern. Nurses appear to have a strong sense of solidarity: they are pretty satisfied with their salary, but they also attach great importance to trade unions.

The opposite applies to personnel officers. Personel officers are less satisfied with their salary than nurses, but that doesn’t translate into support for trade unions. Perhaps they think their job would be easier if workers wouldn’t organise.

Sources: opinion on trade unions xlsx, satisfaction with salary xlsx, number of workers xlsx.