New Technology in Unionized Firms: Advantages of Mandatory Bargaining

U.S. Labor Law currently allows employers whose work forces are unionized to introduce new technologies without bargaining over the decision to do so. This forces unions to adopt inefficient strategies when negotiating collective bargaining agreements in an effort to minimize the impact of technological change on their members. Allowing unions to bargain over the decision to introduce new technologies would obviate their having to resort to these inefficient strategies. In addition, it might increase the likelihood of employees suggesting alterations in production processes that would increase the rate of technological change. For these reasons, this article advocates amending U.S. labor law to require employers to bargain over the introduction of new technologies.     

Organizing College Athletes Utilizing the Civil Rights Unionism Model

In January 2014, Northwestern University (NU) football players filed a certification election petition with the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) Chicago regional office. After the NLRB ruled that they were employees having the legal right to unionize, the football players voted at the end of April 2014 with NU immediately appealing the regional director’s ruling after the balloting. In mid-August 2015, the Washington D.C. NLRB declined jurisdiction in this case, ending the football players’ unionization attempt. Because of the NLRB’s appellate ruling, however, unionization of college athletes remains a distinct possibility. Since a majority of U.S. collegiate basketball and football players are black, this paper argues that the model of unionism that should be adopted in any unionization attempt of these college athletes is civil rights unionism which represents a continuation of the historic, collective struggle of Black athletes to obtain their rights on athletic fields and in classrooms.     

The collective bargaining of flexicurity: A case for sector‐level analysis? The Italian chemical and metalworking sectors compared

Although employment relations in Europe have long been seen as a factor of rigidity, limiting managerial discretion and adaptability, in the last 30 years, they have witnessed a trend towards decentralisation of collective bargaining and negotiations increasingly centred on flexibility–security trade‐offs between employers and employees. Research on the contribution of collective bargaining to the so‐called flexicurity has mostly focused on national‐level institutional arrangements. In this article, we contend that meso‐level differences need to feature more prominently in the debate. Our comparison of two sectors in the same country (chemicals and metalworking in Italy) shows that decentralisation has divergent effects on flexicurity issues depending in particular on differences in market structures and on depth of bargaining. The interplay between these two factors affects what we refer to as procedural security, which we view as important in ensuring sustainable trade‐offs between flexibility and security.     

Falling through the net: employment change and worker protection

Employment change in Britain highlights the limitations of collective bargaining and exposes the myth of protection afforded by ‘universal’ legal rights. This article explores the changes and these limitations, addressing the question of how protection might be extended to those workers currently ‘falling through the net’, in particular what is required of the trade unions.     

A strike of ‘unorganised’ workers in a Chinese car factory: the Nanhai Honda events of 2010

This strike in a Chinese factory of the Japanese multinational Honda in 2010 received worldwide coverage. A young workforce sustained an on–off strike, with varying numbers of workers involved, for 19 days. Academic interest has focused on prospects for collective bargaining and union reform in China. This article, using interviews with former strikers, and newspaper sources, analyses the strike process. The workplace union, as a constituent of the All‐China Federation of Trade Unions and subject to the Chinese Party–state, was hostile; so the workers were in effect ‘unorganised’. Examples of non‐union strikes in the interwar car industry of the USA and UK show the similarity of situation with the Honda workers. Hiller's classic text, The Strike, provides a surprisingly suitable framework for understanding strikes of unorganised workers. The strikers' vocabulary ‘framed’ their demands initially as injustice, but incorporated anti‐Japanese sentiment and, then, dignity, in response to events.     

Faculty bargaining in private colleges and universities: Beyond Yeshiva

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme court inYeshiva University v. NLRB ruled that faculty members in some private colleges and universities are managerial employees, and, thus, are not entitled to the protection provided under federal labor law. Since then, the courts and the National Labor Relations Board have heard a number of cases arising out ofYeshiva. This article first reviews the status of managerial and professional employees under the NLRA, then examines how the law has been applied in the aftermath ofYeshiva. We conclude that while a few general principles have evolved, the courts have yet to establish clear criteria for defining “managerial” as applied to university faculty. We note that theYeshiva case has resulted in a substantive decline in collective bargaining among faculty in private sector higher educational institutions, and that the criteria arising out of the decision have the potential for restricting collective bargaining coverage outside academia.     

Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the termination of collective bargaining contracts

In 1984 the Supreme Court ruled that employers can unilaterally break an existing collective bargaining contract upon filing a chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. This ruling changed both the contractual responsibilities of the employer to honor the collective bargaining agreement and the rights that workers have under the National Labor Relations Act. The purpose of this article is to show the conditions under which a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding will lead to the termination of a labor contract. Our results suggest that (a) legal rulings that reduce the costs of bankruptcy will increase the number of contractual dissolutions and (b) a Chapter 11 bankruptcy is more likely to occur when a firm operates in a climate of uncertain expectations.     

A trade without collective bargaining

The contract cleaning industry has hitherto managed to avoid the establishment of collective bargaining machinery. Will this situation be remedied in the light of the N.B.P.I, report, pressure from the unions concerned and the T.U.C. ?     

Islam and Human Rights: A Growing Rapprochement?

Can Islamic thought provide a basis for a fully developed theory of human rights? This article begins with an examination of the tensions between religion in general and the secular framing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). From a historical perspective, it then delves into the history of the relationship between Muslim political and religious leaders and the UDHR. With that background in mind, the author analyzes the positions of three influential Muslim scholars on human rights: Khaled Abou El Fadl's emphasis on ethics and law; Abdulaziz Sachedina's recent book Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights (2009), in which he urges the traditionalists to develop a “public theology”; and finally, Abdullahi An‐Na'im's focus on shari'a and the secular state. He concludes that the majority of Muslims worldwide remain more conservative than these authors, and yet they overwhelmingly support the notion of human rights. This bodes well for the growing influence of such reformist thinking and, as a result, for the retooling of traditional Islamic jurisprudence in addressing human rights.     

Trade Unions and the Reform of the Quality of Work Life: Ergonomic and Other QWL Reforms Have Limited Goals and Are Held No Substitute for Labor Involvement

Abstract . North American labor unions have typically responded to management- initiated Quality of Work Life (QWL) reforms: by co operating in their design and implementation, or by rejecting involvement and relying on traditional collective bargaining. Neither response addresses the distribution of organizational power. Workplace reform in North America confines itself to the technical aspects of job design. Traditional collective bargaining, however, tends to be highly circumscribed, focusing on pay and fringe benefits. To be meaningful, workplace reform must take place within a context of changing power relations between unions and managements Otherwise it may be overwhelmed by events occurring in the external environment. Labor unions, therefore, need to participate in QWL initiatives while simultaneously making new types of demands at the bargaining table, and seeking input into strategic decisions.     

Two speed ahead: social Europe and the UK after Maastricht

Legislation and collective bargaining are a different but often complementary means of protecting employees and strengthening workers’ rights. At the EC level both means are now being followed but, at present, since Maastricht largely without the UK. Here the author considers whether in the longer term the UK's isolation from such developments can be sustained even in the light of the outcome of the April General Election.     

农民工社会保障的人权维度分析

庞德认为,权利的本质就是一种"合理的期望"。农民工社会保障权就是这样一种合理的期望,最初是作为应用权利存在的,是人权最初和最完整的形态。本文旨从应然逻辑出发,从平等权、生存权、发展权三个人权维度视阈,具体考量和剖析农民工社会保障权的正当性、合理性与现实性。     

Smoking in the Workplace: Balancing Smoker and Nonsmoker Rights

The tobacco industry presents an interesting American dilemma. While warning against the use of tobacco and striving for a smokeless society the U.S. government subsidizes the growth of tobacco. The economic impact of smoking is, on balance, negative for users, nonusers and society. The federal government does not legislate the use of tobacco but most states and many municipalities have smoking laws. Although such laws vary they normally attempt to protect the rights of both smokers and nonsmokers. Workplace smoking policies also vary but generally focus on applicable laws, health research findings, employee preferences, involvement in policy determination, formalization and communication, and smoking cessation programs.     

When territory matters: Employer associations and changing collective goods strategies

Recent research shows employer associations strategically responding to external challenges, from collective bargaining decentralisation, by altering their offerings of “selective” goods (to directly address threats to membership levels) and of “elective” goods (to revenues). Implicit is that traditional “collective goods” are irrelevant for achieving sustainability. That literature also suggests that territorial associations are more vulnerable than sectoral ones. In this qualitative, longitudinal comparative case study, we explore why and how two territorial associations, the largest each in Italy and Australia, have pursued sustainability by also innovatively enlarging their collective goods activities. This has involved shifting from bargaining leadership to promoting economic dynamism within their territories. Using metaorganisation theory and the resource‐based view, we explain how these associations realised their strategic advantages. Our evidence suggests that innovatively developing new collective goods may be another important way associations can improve their competitive positions.     

Employee participation and contemporary labor law in the US

Employee participation has commonly been seen, in US conditions, as in potential conflict with the maintenance and development of collective bargaining. Since labor law seeks to protect the collective bargaining rights of employees, an important current debate is concerned with to what extent, if at all, the law needs to be changed to encourage employee participation schemes without weakening this protection.     

The determinants of pay settlements: the influence of the national context

This article studies the influence of national context and collective bargaining on the factors taken into account when adjusting wages. Using data from Spanish and British manufacturing establishments, we examine the relative importance of the cost of living, the ability to recruit or retain employees, the financial performance of the organisation and the industrial relations climate on wage adjustments of manual workers at the establishment level. Our findings show that there are significant differences on the importance given to these factors in both countries. In part, these are related to differences in the incidence of collective bargaining.     

Complementary or conflictual? Formal participation,informal participation,and organizational performance

Most studies of worker participation examine either formal participatory structures or informal participation. Yet, increasingly, works councils and other formal participatory bodies are operating in parallel with collective bargaining or are filling the void left by its decline. Moreover, these bodies are sprouting in workplaces in which workers have long held a modicum of influence, authority, and production‐ or service‐related information. This study leverages a case from the health care sector to examine the interaction between formal and informal worker participation. Seeking to determine whether or not these two forces—each independently shown to benefit production or service delivery—complement or undermine one another, we find evidence for the latter. In the case of the 27 primary care departments that we study, formal structures appeared to help less‐participatory departments improve their performance. However, these same structures also appeared to impede those departments with previously high levels of informal participation. While we remain cautious with respect to generalizability, the case serves as a warning to those seeking to institute participation in an environment in which some workers have long felt they had the requisite authority, influence, and information necessary to perform their jobs effectively.     

Ireland's conundrum on union bargaining rights: assessing the Industrial Relations Amendment Act 2015

Anglophone countries address the question of workplace-level union bargaining rights via the mechanism of statutory recognition. Existing literature has evaluated such regimes as underpinned by several weaknesses. In contrast, Ireland presents an unusual case whereby the question of bargaining rights is resolved via collective dispute resolution procedures combining voluntary and statutory provisions. However, employer challenges and civil court rulings resulted in the weakening of these procedures from a trade union perspective. We assess the latest attempts to reform the Irish provisions via the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015, evaluating the implications for unions and their capacity to represent members' on pay and working conditions in comparison to Anglophone statutory recognition regimes.     

Collective bargaining in Portugal in the aftermath of the crisis: trends and prospects

This article examines the decline of collective bargaining in Portugal during the recent economic crisis and why, following significant improvements in the economic and political contexts, the number of collective agreements published each year remains lower than before. Drawing on theoretical work on institutional change by Streeck and Thelen (2005) and Baccaro and Howell (2017), it argues that industrial relations institutions in Portugal have been subject to an incremental but transformative process of liberalisation. The analysis of national data and in‐depth interviews with key informants reveals that serial legal amendments since the 1990's weakened unions, converted bargaining into a mechanism to introduce flexibility and wage austerity and reduced incentives for the parties to conclude agreements. While these changes were gradual, their consequences became clear during the crisis. By improving understanding of recent developments in Portuguese collective bargaining, the article enriches knowledge of processes of liberalisation of industrial relations in Europe.     

The American Pot and the Chinese Kettle: Joining Forces for Human Rights

A bstract NO nation is a virtuoso when it comes to human rights performance In its representations to China, the United States takes stronger action against violations of "intellectual property" rights (in the form of CDs and trade marks) than against violations of freedom of speech and person For its part, China complains about economic inequality in the U.S., but justifies Tiananmen Square with the elusive claim that social harmony is a greater good than free speech.
Both sides believe they have a commitment to human rights Each has something to say to the other, but neither is listening very hard. This article suggests what they might listen for first, the legitimacy of claims of both sides in light of the emerging international consensus on human rights; second, the complaints that each side registers against the other on the basis of those claims, and finally, the likely influence each side can exercise on the other through international actions