Law Commons^™

Peril And Possibility: Strikes, Rights, And Legal Change In The Era Of Trump, Kate Andrias

Other Publications

Everyone in this audience is well aware of the problems plaguing reiterating. The wealthiest one percent of Americans takes home nearly a quarter of our national income and owns forty percent of the nation's wealth.

Collective Bargaining Or "Collective Begging"?: Reflections On Antistrikebreaker Legislation, Samuel Estreicher

Michigan Law Review

The strike is a necessary part of collective bargaining. Workers should not ordinarily lose their jobs by pressing their disputes in this manner. But neither should strikes be viewed as a risk-free means of empowering unions to lock employers into uncompetitive contracts.

Public Employees' Right To Strike: Law And Experience, Martin H. Malin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article analyzes the law of and experience with the statutory right to strike in the public sector. Part I examines the policy debate over whether public employees should have a right to strike and concludes that reliance on the right to strike is superior to other forms of collective-bargaining dispute resolution in the public sector. The remainder of the Article focuses in detail on the experiences in Illinois and Ohio since those states legalized public employee strikes. The analysis is supplemented with an examination of the experiences with legalized strikes in Oregon and Pennsylvania. Part II compares and contrasts …

Supreme Court Philosophy On Labor And Employment Issues, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Other Publications

It would not take a confirmed cynic to suggest that the title of this paper amounts to an oxymoron. That soft-hearted but tough-minded commentator, Florian Bartosic, and his collaborator, Gary Minda, came close to putting it in so many words: " [T]he Supreme Court lacks a consistent and coherent theory of labor law" (1982). My own view is somewhat different. First, lack of a consistent judicial philosophy is not all bad; at least it is better than a consistently wrong philosophy. Second, the vacillating theories of the Supreme Court tend to reflect the divergent attitudes of American society toward labor …

Prevention Of Antiunion Discrimination In The United States, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Nearly all rank-and-file employees in private businesses of any substantial size in the United States are protected by federal law against antiunion discrimination. The Railway Labor Act applies to the railroad and airline industries. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) applies to all other businesses whose operations "affect [interstate] commerce" in almost any way. Supervisory and managerial personnel, domestic servants, and agricultural workers are excluded from this federal scheme. Separate federal law covers the employees of the federal government. About thirty of the fifty states have statutes ensuring the right to organize on the part of some or most of …

When Justice Fails, Stephan Landsman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Haymarket Tragedy by Paul Avrich

Integrity And Circumspection: The Labor Law Vision Of Bernard D. Meltzer, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Bernard Meltzer has testified under oath that he "rarely take[s] absolute positions." The record bears him out. While his colleagues among labor law scholars often strain to demonstrate that the labor relations statutes and even the Constitution support their hearts' desires, the typical Meltzer stance is one of cool detachment, pragmatic assessment, and cautious, balanced judgment. The "itch to do good," Meltzer has remarked wryly, "is a doubtful basis for jurisdiction" -or, he would likely add, for any other legal conclusion. In this brief commentary I propose to examine the Meltzer approach to four broad areas of labor law: (1) …

Federal Regulation Of The Workplace In The Next Half Century, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Even the general circulation press, from the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times to Business Week, has taken to examining the current malaise of the labor movement and the increased emphasis upon ensuring the safety, health, and economic security of employees through direct governmental regulation rather than through collective bargaining. What accounts for this upsurge of scholarly and popular interest in labor relations and labor law? There are undoubtedly multiple causes but I should like to focus on a couple of reasons that seem preeminent to me.

Statutory And Common Law Considerations In Defining The Tort Liability Of Public Employee Unions To Private Citizens For Damages Inflicted By Illegal Strikes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that in the absence of any clear indication that the legislature intended to bar such suits, courts should uphold private actions whenever plaintiffs can establish the elements of a common-law tort. Part I briefly outlines the various theories supporting the view that public sector collective bargaining statutes preempt private actions. The analysis is necessarily general, but Part I concludes that in most cases neither the language and structure of the applicable statute nor an analogy to federal labor law will resolve the preemption question. Part II, therefore, looks to the policies that animate no-strike provisions and argues …

Proposed Labor Reform: "Brave New World" Or "Looking Backward"?, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Other Publications

By now it is a commonplace in the labor relations community that there are two significant deficiencies in the administration of the National Labor Relations Act. Neither is a matter of substantive law in the usual sense. The first is the inordinate delay in securing a remedy in contested cases, and the second is the inadequacy of the remedy in certain critical situations. I should like to examine a few key recommendations of the NLRB Task Force, and a few key provisions of the proposed Labor Reform Act, in light of those two central concerns.

In my assessment I shall …

Guidelines For Alleviating Local-Emergency Work Disruptions, Joshua Greene

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The first section of this article summarizes the vast differences between the rights of public and private employees to strike. The second section focuses on likely obstacles to a governmental suit to enjoin shutdowns in the broadest segment of American private industry-the segment in which labor relations are governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The final section of the article suggests a legislative solution to the problem, fashioned after existing statutory remedies for limiting certain strikes by public employees.

Impasse Resolution Mechanisms And Teacher Strikes, Diane L. Kaye

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Public school teachers have no right to strike under Michigan law, but the power to strike exists. Michigan residents witnessed forty teacher strikes in the autumn of 1973 alone. Among them was the forty-four-day strike by Detroit teachers. The strikes during the past fall were not an unfortunate aberration. Ninety percent of the strikes in Michigan are by school teachers. In the public education context, the threat of a strike no longer brings negotiating parties together. A new mechanism for resolution of deadlocks in teacher-school board contract disputes is needed. This article describes the problem, outlines impasse resolution procedures presently …

Secondary Boycott: From Antitrust To Labor Relations, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

The ethos of the labor movement cuts against the American grain at several points. Our national instinct, reflected in many statutes and much judge-made law, is to exalt the rugged individualist over the anonymous group, to favor wide-open competition rather than a controlled market, and to prize the right of each person to remain aloof from the quarrels and concerns of his neighbors. It is not for nothing that our most universal folk hero is the frontiersman, who proudly stands alone and self-sufficient. Yet the ordinary workingman does not have the capacity to assume that heroic stance. For him strength …

Labor Law--Boycotts And Strikes--Picketing--The Picketing Of An Independent Warehouse I Which A Primary Employer's Goods Are Stored-- Steelworkers, Local 6991 (Auburndale Freezer Corp.), Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

When a group of employees strike against their own employer--the primary employer-their purpose usually is to disrupt his operations in the hope that economic pressure will persuade or coerce him to meet their demands. They may picket the primary employer's premises in order to publicize the strike or to try to persuade fellow employees to join it; and even if the picketing induces third persons not to deal with the primary, the employees' activity constitutes protected primary picketing. If the goal of the striking employees is in fact to publicize the strike and to persuade their co-workers, they will naturally …

Michigan Compulsory Arbitration Act For Essential Services, William J. Rainey

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

When Public Act 312 became effective on October 1, 1969, Michigan joined Rhode Island and Pennsylvania in permitting compulsory arbitration of unresolved labor disputes involving municipal police and firemen. Wyoming similarly provides for compulsory arbitration in fire department disputes. Passage of the Act was prompted by a desire to avoid the dire consequences of strikes or work stoppages by firefighters and policemen, and to provide a method by which the bargaining power of public service unions could be maintained in the absence of the strike privilege. Since Michigan had barred strikes by public employees in 1947, the unions felt that …

Collective Bargaining For Public Employees And The Prevention Of Strikes In The Public Sector, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In recent years, a number of states have enacted legislation providing collective bargaining rights for public employees. Almost invariably these statutes have reaffirmed the traditional prohibition against strikes by government workers. But the strike-or the threat of a strike-has been a key economic weapon for employees in the private sector, and some observers contend that without that weapon the new collective bargaining rights for public employees are illusory.

Labor Law--Boycotts And Strikes--Replaced Economic Strikers Who Apply For Reinstatement Remain Employees And Are Entitled To Reinstatement When Positions Become Available--Laidlaw Corporation And Local 681, International Brotherhood Of Pulp, Sulphite, And Paper Mill Workers, Afl-Cio, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The collective bargaining agreement between the Laidlaw Corporation and Local 681 of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers, the certified bargaining agent for Laidlaw's employees, contained a provision for modification of wages during the term of the contract. In October 1965, the union notified the company that, pursuant to this provision, it desired to negotiate a wage increase. On January 10, 1966, after two unproductive bargaining sessions, the union voted to reject Laidlaw's only offer, and two days later approximately seventy employees went on strike. When no settlement was reached by February 11, forty of the …

Strikes And Public Employment, Theodore W. Kheel

Michigan Law Review

In public employment there has been an increasing resort to strikes in all parts of the nation by employees previously immune--teachers, policemen, firemen, welfare workers, garbage collectors, hospital attendants, doctors, nurses, and zoo keepers. The strike fever is contagious, and leapfrogging demands and multiplying disputes leave government hesitant, defensive, and distracted from the unresolved problems of our urban crisis. The basic question-and the great challenge-is how to prevent strikes that imperil the public interest while still providing millions of public employees with the opportunity to participate in the process of determining the conditions of their work, an opportunity not only …

Strikes And Impasse Resolution In Public Employment, Arvid Anderson

Michigan Law Review

Experience indicates that in most instances the right to strike is not an essential part of the public employment collective bargaining process.18 Thus, the crucial issue is not really whether strikes should be permitted or prohibited in the public sector, but whether the collective bargaining process itself can be made so effective absent the right to strike that the need for work stoppages will be obviated. It is my conclusion that certain proven impasse resolution procedures--mediation, fact-finding, and in some cases, even arbitration--can be substituted for the strike weapon in public employment without substantial loss in the effectiveness of collective …

Transportation Strike Control Legislation: A Congressional Challenge, Arthur M. Wisehart

Michigan Law Review

The necessity of protecting the public interest in continuity of transportation services while at the same time preserving the institution of collective bargaining presents a serious dilemma which the statutory framework devised during the first third of this century now seems inadequate to resolve. Indeed, most crippling strikes have occurred after statutory mechanisms for dispute resolution have been exhausted. This Article will trace the history of transportation labor legislation, outline the shortcomings of present procedures for dispute resolution, evaluate various alternatives for statutory reform, and propose permanent corrective legislation which would avoid the necessity of submitting each dispute for congressional …

The Influence Of Mr. Justice Murphy On Labor Law, Archibald Cox

Michigan Law Review

When Mr. Justice Murphy took his place on the Supreme Court in 1940, a period of major development in labor law was beginning. In 1935 Congress had laid one of the two principal foundation stones by enacting the Wagner Act. But the NLRA did not become effective in any practical sense until after its constitutionality was upheld in 1937, and it was in the next decade that the farthest reaching questions of interpretation and application were to be decided. The second stone was laid in 1938 when passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act committed the nation to the policy …

Labor Law-Compulsory Arbitration Of Labor Disputes, James A. Sprunk S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1947, seven states adopted legislation for compulsory arbitration of labor disputes in public utilities. Four more provide for seizure of such industries in cases of strikes or lockouts, and one prohibits picketing or interference with the service of a public utility. In addition, procedures for conciliation, mediation, or voluntary arbitration with suspension of the right to strike or lockout during such procedures, are provided by still others. Such legislative activity reflects the growing public concern regarding labor disputes and indicates that many state legislators are convinced that to secure industrial peace more is required than the mere imposition of …

The Authority Of The National War Labor Board Over Labor Disputes, Leonard B. Boudin

Michigan Law Review

The National War Labor Board has reached the respectable age of two years. Supported originally only by the President's war powers, it has secured compliance with its orders, has weathered a minor congressional investigation, and has built up a body of decisions whose effect will continue after the war. These facts, as well as certain signs of the conservatism which appears to strike all government agencies at one time or another, entitle the board to a short survey of certain aspects of its jurisdiction and authority.

Labor Law-Objectives Test For Determining The Legality Of Labor Activities, Arthur B. Lathrop

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this paper to make a survey of the status of the objectives test as a method of determining the legality of labor activity before the Supreme Court rendered its momentous decisions in Thornhill v. Alabama, American Federation of Labor v. Swing, and the Meadowmoor case. Thereafter the state decisions will be examined to determine the effect of these recent Supreme Court cases on the objectives test.

Labor Law - War Labor Problems And Policies, Paul M. Oberndorf, Donald H. Treadwell

Michigan Law Review

God is on the side with the most artillery. Wars in the past have been fought by armies of men. The war today is being fought by armies of machines, and ultimate victory will belong to the side which can most quickly place an overwhelming force of fighting equipment on the world battlefield. For many months the United States stood as a spectator while other nations prepared their economies to amass such a force. We are now faced with the imperative need of overtaking and passing the capacity for production of war equipment that has been built or seized by …

Labor Law - National Labor Relations Act - Employee Misconduct As Barring Relief, John C. Griffin

Michigan Law Review

The problem to be considered in this comment is the extent to which employees will, as a consequence of wrongful action on their part, be denied benefits secured to them by the National Labor Relations Act. Inherently, the discussion must also include the examination of another fundamental issue; viz., what is the proper relation between the National Labor Relations Board and the courts on this problem? The substantive question may arise either where the employer seeks to justify a discharge of the worker because of alleged misconduct, or where the misconduct is sought to be used as an estoppel against …

Regulation Of Labor Unions And Labor Disputes In France, Rudolf B. Sobernheim, V. Henry Rothschild 2nd

Michigan Law Review

In a study of British labor, Andre Philip contrasted what he termed "le Trade Unionisme'' of England with les syndicats professionels of France. So foreign did he deem the British concept of trade unionism to his French readers that, in speaking of British trade unions, he preferred not to use the French term.

Labor Law - Right Of Employer Guilty Of Unfair Labor Practices To Discharge For Illegal Acts, John C. Griffin

Michigan Law Review

During a membership drive in the Fansteel Metallurgical plants, the petitioner corporation was guilty of an unfair labor practice in that it hired espionage agents to spy upon the union. Lodge 66 attempted to bargain collectively with the petitioner and on its rejection of their offer, the union seized the key plants, effectively stopping production. The petitioner, on the union's refusal to vacate, made a blanket discharge of everyone within the plant, and secured an injunction against the union's possession. Compliance with the order was not obtained, and a writ of attachment for contempt was issued. On the second attempt …

Businesses Subject To The National Labor Relations Act, Joseph H. Mueller

Michigan Law Review

Justice Holmes once remarked that, "the life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience." This observation is illustrated in a striking manner by the recent change in the attitude of the Supreme Court with respect to Congressional regulation of labor relations in the field of production. Holding that the National Labor Relations Act applied to the steel, automobile, and clothing industries, as well as to the agencies of interstate commerce, the Court restated existing doctrine relating to interstate commerce, giving it new direction and content.

Labor Injunctions-Federal Statute Defining And Limiting The Jurisdiction Of Courts Sitting In Equity

Michigan Law Review

The latest effort of organized labor to protect itself against judicial interference in industrial disputes is to be found in the Norris anti-injunction bill, passed by Congress early this year and signed by the President on March 23, 1932. Its object is to limit the powers of federal courts at law and in equity, and chiefly to regulate the grant of federal injunctions in labor disputes. Similar legislation, state and federal, has encountered many obstacles, either by way of restrictive interpretation or through constitutional limitations. It is, therefore, interesting to examine not only the main provisions of the Norris Act …