(with Francesco Squintani)
Motivated by the recent wave of collective action, we explore the determinants of successful unionization. An employee who aims to unionize her workplace must first build an organizational team. In turn, the team convinces workers in the bargaining unit of the benefits of unionization. Unionization succeeds if and only if the organizer is sufficiently credible in the workplace. Credibility entails the team not being too biased towards unionization and/or incurring organizational costs. Our theory sheds light on why grassroots movements, rather than established unions, managed to organize their workplace. If a firm opposes unionization and targets organizers, unionization becomes more likely if organizational costs are low. However, unionization is thwarted if a firm’s opposition is too strong, requiring legal and political protection.