Consultants,lawyers, and the ‘union free’ movement in the USA since the 1970s

This paper provides a qualitative analysis of the services that the anti–union consultants and law firms have provided to American employers during the past three decades and an account of the campaign tactics of several ‘superstars’ of the union–free movement. It describes a multi–million dollar industry that has helped employers to circumvent the intent of federal labour law through a vast array of union–busting tactics, implemented before the union arrives and continuing until after it is defeated: tactics that are designed, at every juncture, to undermine employees’ free choice of bargaining representatives.     

Learning by fund-raising

From experience, fund-raisers become more efficient solicitors. This paper offers a full characterization of the optimal solicitation strategy when there are learning economies. The characterization is recursive, and does not require equilibrium computations. Our main results are that (1) the fund-raiser may now solicit a “ net free-rider”—a donor whose contribution falls below the marginal solicitation cost; (2) the number of solicitations is non-monotonic in the learning rate; and (3) a solicitation technology with high overhead but low marginal costs is likely to be optimal if income distribution in the population is relatively homogenous. The complementary case with a decreasing returns to scale technology is also considered.     

Genetic testing: Your genes and your job

This article examines issues related to worker's exposure to substances in the workplace that may cause genetic damage and the use of genetic testing to assess and monitor such damage. The discussion includes the scientific principles of genetic testing and its accuracy and predictive value. The applicability of existing federal and state legislation to genetic testing is explored. Also analyzed are various legal and ethical issues, including union and nonunion employees' rights, workers' compensation, common law remedies, privacy and confidentiality, and an applicant's or employee's right to know test results.     

Still balancing the books: the NUM and the 1984–85 strike

In the context of the NUM's decision to seek a merger, this article examines the financial impact of the 1984–85 strike. In conducting the strike, its federal structure is shown to have provided the union leadership with flexibility. But it has limited the capacity to recover afterwards and has consequences for merger prospects with other unions.     

Does it matter that the prosecutor is also the judge? The administrative complaint process at the Federal Trade Commission

Firms seeking to merge face antitrust scrutiny from either the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Unlike the DOJ, the FTC litigates its cases in front of its own administrative law judges (ALJs), and then hears the appeal itself, rather than using federal district courts. This study focuses on the formal decisions made by the FTC after an ALJ has conducted a full trial for a particular case. We find that while the ‘merits’ of a matter, as implied by the case law, affect the FTC's decision, institutional factors also have an impact. In particular, the firm's chances of prevailing in litigation are influenced by the number of commissioners who both vote to prosecute and then vote as a judge as well as the political affiliations of the commissioners. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

美国联邦质量责任担保法规

文章通过简要介绍美国联邦质量责任担保法规体系中的3种法律,希望对我国的产品质量安全法律法规体系的建立提供参考借鉴意义。其中迈哥努森-莫斯担保法是管理消费者产品担保的联邦法律,其目的是阻止制造商制定不公平的消费者担保,而且通过裁定律师费用来使得消费者提起担保诉讼在经济上成为可行;统一商业法是管理产品销售合同的主要法律来源,向消费者提供关于柠檬问题的一种可供选择的法律措施;1995年及以后生产的轿车和卡车排放担保是联邦要求排放控制担保可以保护车主以免承担因为与排放有关的某些诸如由材料或工艺上的制造缺陷造成的,或引起汽车超过联邦排放标准故障的修理成本。     

Temporary workers: Employee rights and employer responsibilities

As the number of temporary workers in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the past ten years, so, too, has social policy concent over the rights of temporary employees in the workplace and the responsibilities of employing organizations to them. This article first reviews the extent to which temporary workers can be considered “employees” of organizations and thereby be extended the same rights and protections as permanent, full-time employees. Then, the article reviews the current state of case law on the most salient legal issues pertaining to the treatment of temporary workers: discrimination, pay and fringe benefits, worker’s compensation, occupational safety and health, and union activity. The article concludes with the managerial implications of current labor law for compliance with legislative and judicial mandates.     

Drug testing and the law

This article examines judicial and administrative rulings and legislation involving or related to the issue of drug testing in the workplace. It discusses the rights of employees in the public and private sector: constitutional rights; federal, state, and local statutory rights; rights of unionized employees; and common law rights. It analyzes both the current state of the law and future directions the law may take, as courts and administrative agencies decide more cases and governmental bodies continue to pass drug testing legislation.     

Does federal financial aid affect college enrollment? Evidence from drug offenders and the Higher Education Act of 1998

In 2001, amendments to the Higher Education Act made people convicted of drug offenses ineligible for federal financial aid for up to two years after their conviction. Using rich data on educational outcomes and drug charges in the NLSY 1997, we show that this law change had a large negative impact on the college attendance of students with drug convictions. On average, the temporary ban on federal financial aid increased the amount of time between high school graduation and college enrollment by about two years, and we also present suggestive evidence that affected students were less likely to ever enroll in college. Students living in urban areas are the most affected by these amendments. Importantly, we do not find that the law deterred young people from committing drug felonies nor did it substantively change the probability that high school students with drug convictions graduated from high school. We find no evidence of a change in college enrollment of students convicted of non-drug crimes, or of those charged by not convicted of drug offenses. In contrast to much of the existing research, we conclude that, for this high-risk group of students, eligibility for federal financial aid strongly impacts college investment decisions.     

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.     

Capital intensive education policy issues and problems

This paper describes some of the problems of today's mass schools and suggests that the technology is already available to replace them with more effective and efficient ones using capital intensive man-machine methods of instruction. It discusses some of the political and labor problems that may impede implementation and makes suggestions how these may be overcome.Research findings on the development of such schools are examined. A generalized model of such schools is presented based on a number of studies suggesting it will be substantially more cost-effective than its contemporary counterparts. The politics of change is discussed and specific strategies for implementation are suggested, the most immediate of which is the provision of federal or state funds for development of operating models of capital intensive schools. The key role of teacher union negotiations in facilitating or impeding changes is considered along with the present teacher union posture of opposition. It is suggested that teacher unions can best serve their own interests by cooperating in the development of capital intensive schools while bargaining to assure that their members share appropriately in the benefits of the improvements they bring.     

Partnership working and the cultivated activist

Critics and advocates of union–management partnership agreements offer competing assessments of the potential outcomes for workplace union representation. These include the attenuation of the role of lay activists and intra‐union conflict. In this case study of Amicus‐MSF at Legal & General partnership involved centralised decision making, membership loss and activist‐leadership tensions, but these were temporary. With employer support the local union leadership ‘cultivated’ a cadre of pro‐partnership activists with extended reach into management decision making, increasing membership and strengthening workplace organisation.     

Employer opposition and union avoidance in the UK

This paper presents empirical evidence about the shape and pattern of non–union employer strategies to remain union free. The data are collected from seven case studies across different industrial sectors and organisational sizes in Britain. Following a brief critique of typologies of union avoidance, the evidence suggests the ‘configuration’ of anti–union approaches involves an uneven and at times contradictory interaction of context–specific variables. Three mutually inclusive factors that influence employer behaviour are identified: structural, ideological and cultural dimensions. It is argued that these represent a deeper understanding of employer hostility towards unions than existing employment relationship classifications. The utility of non–union typologies and the prospects for union mobilisation are considered in the light of these findings.     

Trade union cross‐border alliances within MNCs: disentangling union dynamics at the local,national and international levels

This study identifies three types of workplace union strategy in the development of cross‐border relations within North American and European multinational companies: defensive isolation, risk reduction and proactive solidarity. Qualitative case studies of MNCs with operations in Canada and Mexico indicate that the nature and intensity of participation in cross‐border trade union alliances are shaped by the union dynamic at the local, national and international levels. A combination of greater workplace union power resources, notably discursive capacity, and of strong supportive approach of the national union, notably dedicated resources and space for bottom‐up initiatives, contributes to proactive solidarity strategies towards international union networks. The absence of these factors is associated with risk reduction and defensive isolation strategies.     

Union recognition in Ireland: one step forward or two steps back?

In this paper a variety of union recognition procedures and their effect on union density levels in a number of countries are considered. The crucial importance of the national institutions that govern industrial relations are emphasised. While in Ireland, conditions such as social partnership and the buoyant economy of the 1990s would appear to favour union growth, the reverse has been the case. Recent legislation to establish more formal procedures for union recognition, we argue, is likely to be a dismal failure. Indeed, an unintended consequence of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 may be the exclusion of the union from the workplace and the legitimisation of a firm's non‐union status.     

Workplace unionism under decentralised bargaining in France: a case study of the CGT in the car industry

Considering recent theoretical accounts on the trajectory of French unionism under localised bargaining, this article examines potential consequences for the country's traditionally largest radical union, Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT). Deploying a case study of CGT at PSA Peugeot Citroёn and Renault in the years since the 2008 automotive crisis, the article observes a persistent pattern of militant opposition within company and plant union sections. Company bargaining structure, interunion reformist collaboration and electoral considerations are identified as workplace mechanisms reinforcing CGT actions at this level.     

On the incentives to experiment in federations

Conventional wisdom has it that policy innovation is better promoted in a federal rather than in a unitary system. Recent research, however, has provided theoretical evidence to the contrary: a multi-jurisdictional system is characterized—due to the existence of a horizontal information externality—by under-provision of policy innovation. This paper presents a simple model that introduces political competition for federal office and emphasizes that such competition plays an important role in shaping the incentives for experimentation. For, in this case, political actors use the innovative policies to signal ability to the electorate. This effect may offset the effect that arises from the incentive to free ride, and so a federal system may generate more innovation than a unitary one.     

Post-9/11 Backlash in the Workplace: Employer Liability for Discrimination against Arab- and Muslim- Americans Based on Religion or National Origin

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, discrimination and violence directed toward American immigrants in general, and Arab- and Muslim-Americans in particular, increased markedly. Yet, despite a November, 2001 joint initiative undertaken by the EEOC, the Justice Department, and the Labor Department to increase sensitivity to and combat instances of potential discrimination or harassment against individuals who are—or are perceived to be—Muslim, Arab, Afghani, Middle Eastern, or South Asian, EEOC charge statistics for workplace discrimination claims involving religion, ethnicity, national origin, and citizenship indicate that the reported incidence of such conduct has continued to increase. This paper examines recent federal court cases that involve employment discrimination claims by Arab- and Muslim-Americans at both the trial court and appellate court levels to identify problematic fact patterns that may give rise to employer liability and to better understand judicial treatment of the legal issues when such cases are taken up on appeal. Management guidance for reducing potential liability when such situations arise in the workplace is developed based on recent findings in the case law. Analogous international implications are also discussed.     

The new American way—how changes in labour law are increasing inequality

How have changes in labour law affected income inequality in the United States over the last half century? Curiously, even though employers have increased the degree to which they break labour law, workers have decreased their utilisation of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the strike. How do we understand the unwillingness of labour to utilise the NLRB and the strike when under increasing attack? To answer these interrelated questions, I analyse three central changes in federal labour law and norms from the middle of the 20th century to present: the usage of permanent replacement workers, adjudication of the main federal labour law—the National Labor Relations Act—and change in administration of the NLRB—the body charged with overseeing the National Labor Relations Act.     

A policy capturing analysis of federal district and appellate court sexual harassment cases

A policy capturing analysis of 206 federal district and appellate sexual harassment cases showed that federal judges were moderately consistent in their judgments, with 29% of the variance in case outcomes accounted for by the regression model. Judges used Victim's Reaction, Form of Harassment, and Coercion, to make their ruling, and these three cues accounted for 20% of the variance in judgments. Appellate judges were slightly less consistent than district judges, and there were differences in judgment policy between appellate and district level cases. These findings are consistent with key aspects of the EEOC's Guidelines on Sexual Harassment and suggest that federal judges use the Guidelines to make their judgments. The model could be used by potential plaintiffs or defendants in sexual harassment cases to generate a prediction of the likely outcome of their case, to decide whether to pursue the case in court or seek a settlement.