Bargaining Levels and Relative Earnings in Northern Ireland in 1987

ABSTRACT Individual level data is used to consider the effects of the union mark‐up on earnings in Northern Ireland and in particular to find out if a differential exists between bargaining groups as well as across covered and not covered workers. The results show that company (and to a lesser extent, UK industry‐wide) agreements have a much lower mark‐up than might be deduced by simply analysing mean wage levels across groups. This suggests that most of the differential is actually the result of a productivity advantage attached to (these) covered workers and not because of union power per se.