What do the unions do?

The project aims to assess which are the labour unions' goals. What do they maximize? Only the wage rate as the Nickell's Right-to-Manage model states, both the wage rate and the level of empoloyment as in the McDonald and Solow's Efficient Bargaining, or both the wage rate and the hours of work as in Pencavel's? The literature on labour unions still have not found an answer and the empirical evidence does not seem to confirm the first two. Anyone who has opinions, empirical evidence or theoretical works can is welcomed to contribute to the project. In particular the literature of labour unions should still find evidence about the relation between hours of work and level of employment. Any contribution on the field is welcomed!

Discussion questions and essay ideas

 * How have labor unions helped workers throughout history?
 * How have labor unions benefited and harmed companies throughout history?

Wikipedia

 * Trade union
 * Union prevalence worldwide
 * International Labour Organization
 * Labor unions in the United States
 * Labor history of the United States