Law Commons^™

Comparing The Naalc And The European Union Social Charter (Transcript), Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

This is a transcript of Professor Lance Compa’s presentation to the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation Conference held in Washington, DC on November 12, 1996 and published in the American University Journal of International Law and Policy. [Excerpt] After all of the excellent comments this morning and so far this afternoon, both from the panelists and from the floor, I am not sure that I can say anything new about the NAALC. So, what I want to do in this intervention is add some comparative discussion with respect to the European Union and the social charter of the European …

A Strange Case: Violations Of Workers’ Freedom Of Association In The United States By European Multinational Corporations, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] A central conclusion of this report is that firms’ voluntary principles and policies are not enough to safeguard workers’ freedom of association. They can be important initiatives, but only when they contain effective due diligence, oversight, and control mechanisms. Otherwise, as shown here, shortcomings in US labor law create enormous temptation - especially among US managers not sufficiently overseen by European parent company officials - to take advantage of them by acts inconsistent with international norms. The pattern that emerges in the examples presented here suggests inadequate due diligence and internal performance controls to prevent and correct US management …

Unfair Advantage: Workers’ Freedom Of Association In The United States Under International Human Rights Standards, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] Human Rights Watch selected case studies for this report on workers’ freedom of association in the United States with several objectives in mind. One was to include a range of sectors - services, industry, transport, agriculture, high tech – to assess the scope of the problem across the economy, rather than to focus on a single sector. Another objective was geographic diversity, to analyze the issues in different parts of the country. The cases studied here arose in cities, suburbs and rural areas around the United States. Another important goal was to look at the range of workers seeking …

Beyond The Organizing Model: The Transformation Process In Local Unions, Bill Fletcher, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] The ideological foundations of traditional U.S. trade unionism have been called into question by world and domestic events. The post-World War II labor movement, founded on a social truce with capital and the apparent inevitability of a rising living standard, has hit a bulkhead-piercing iceberg of dramatic proportions. The global economy, economic restructuring, deregulation, and privatization have wrought destruction on U.S. unions. In the wake of this devastation, it has become common, even for union leaders, to define unionism in objectively negative terms (e.g., without a union, you have no protection from arbitrary management). As a movement, we have …

Patterned Responses To Organizing: Case Studies Of The Union-Busting Convention, Richard W. Hurd, Joseph B. Uehlein

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] In June 1993, the Industrial Union Department (IUD) of the AFL-CIO initiated a project to gather cases from affiliated unions that would highlight aspects of the National Labor Relations Board process deserving attention from those shaping labor law reform proposals. Based on the cases submitted, we conclude that in its current form the National Labor Relations Act serves to impede union organizing. Particularly problematic are NLRB policies that allow employers to wage no-holds-barred antiunion campaigns. Even where there are legal restrictions on specific actions, the penalties for violations are so meager that they serve no deterrent effect. The cases …

Introduction: The Context For The Reform Of Labor Law, Sheldon Friedman, Richard W. Hurd, Rudolph A. Oswald, Ronald L. Seeber

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] It has become increasingly clear that the U.S. system of collective bargaining is no longer a realistic option for a large and growing proportion of American workers, and the situation will continue to worsen absent a major redirection of public policy. The decline in union density rates in this country is alarming to those who value and promote unionization. The extent to which this decline is due to management resistance and the failure of the law to promote collective bargaining is an important question that requires continued study and debate. Opinion polls reveal that for millions of nonunion American …

A Protocol Against Trafficking In Persons: Is It Enough?, Michelle K. Forrest

Michelle K Forrest

Human Trafficking is a flourishing, criminal business that brings in more than thirty-two billion dollars yearly. This paper will discuss how the trafficking enterprise is difficult to eliminate because of its growing sophistication; unique flexibility and mobility; infiltration of lawful business; lucrative profit; and transnational operation. Potential infringement upon fundamental ideals of American society, such as privacy and liberty, weakens the fight against trafficking. As a result, trafficking has become a grave threat to human rights, the rule of law, and world peace.

This paper examines the current operation of trafficking in Cambodia, a country that supplies individuals for trafficking; …

Are Muslims The New Catholics? Europe's Headscarf Laws In Comparative Historical Perspective, Robert Kahn

Robert Kahn

ABSTRACT: Many European opponents of the headscarf view themselves as engaged in a “struggle against totalitarianism.” This article explores an alternative framing: What if Muslims—rather than Nazis or Communists in training—are the more like nineteenth century Catholics, who were seen as a religious threat to European (and U.S.) liberalism? To explore this idea, this article looks at the headscarf debate through the lens of the German Kulturkampf (1871-1887) and nineteenth century U.S. laws that banned public school teachers from wearing clerical garb. It reaches two tentative conclusions. First, many of the claims made against European Muslims—especially about the “backward” nature …

A United States Marine General Should Replace General Mcchrystal, Christopher C. Cooper Dr.

Christopher C. Cooper Dr.

General McChrystal’s insubordinate statements about the President and Vice President of the United States represent a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). What the Obama administration should take from this unfortunate event is that the top commander in Afghanistan (and in any war for that matter) should be a United States Marine general. Marines stay fit. Marines follow orders. Marine officers set the example. We must be critical of General McChrystal for setting the most abhorrent of examples for the men and women of the U.S. Army.

Breaking The Ice - Overview On The First Chinese Judgment Recognized And Enforced By The United States Courts, Tao Liang

Tao LIANG

Organizing To Win: Introduction, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Sheldon Friedman, Richard W. Hurd, Rudolph A. Oswald, Ronald L. Seeber

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] The American labor movement is at a watershed. For the first time since the early years of industrial unionism sixty years ago, there is near-universal agreement among union leaders that the future of the movement depends on massive new organizing. In October 1995, John Sweeney, Richard Trumka, and Linda Chavez-Thompson were swept into the top offices of the AFL-CIO, following a campaign that promised organizing "at an unprecedented pace and scale." Since taking office, the new AFL-CIO leadership team has created a separate organizing department and has committed $20 million to support coordinated large-scale industry-based organizing drives. In addition, …

Not Only Innovation But Also Collaboration, Funding, Goodwill And Commitment: Which Role For Patent Laws In Postcopenhagen Climate Change Action, Estelle Derclaye

Estelle Derclaye

Patent laws can do their bit to help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, accelerated grant procedures and reduction of fees have been put in place by among others the UK and US patent offices. Private initiatives such as the eco-patent commons to licence technology free of charge have been taken. But greening patent law is only a small part of the solution. However well-intentioned all these initiatives are, for several reasons, they may not be sufficient or even at all used. More than intellectual property-related solutions, what will be needed is non-intellectual property-related solutions such as using technology …

The Us-Korea Free Trade Agreement: The Evolution Of Responsible Trade And A Reflection On What Lies Ahead, Nicole D. Skibola

Nicole D Skibola

This paper addresses residual problems in the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement, with regard to the Agreement’s labor provisions in Article 19. Alternatives are proposed in response to remaining issues including the status of Outward Processing Zones and a problematic lack of private firm accountability. First, it is suggested that Annex 22-A, pertaining to Outward Processing Zones, is renegotiated. To address the lack of private firm accountability, three alternate models are offered. The first approach is to follow the Cambodia Textile Agreement model, whereby positive economic incentives are attached to specific strides made in improving labor conditions. The second approach is …

Decentralizing Family: An Inclusive Proposal For Individual Tax Filing In The United States, Anthony C. Infanti

Anthony C. Infanti

The debate in the United States over individual versus joint federal income tax filing is at something of a crossroads. For decades, progressive — and, particularly, feminist — scholars have urged us to abolish the joint return in favor of individual filing. On the rare occasion when scholars have described what such an individual filing system might look like, the focus has been on the ways in which the traditional family must be accommodated in an individual filing system. These descriptions generally do not take into account — let alone remedy — the tax system’s ongoing failure to address the …

The Anglo-American Perspective On Freezing Injunctions, Masayuki Tamaruya

Masayuki Tamaruya

Freezing injunctions are pre-trial orders to restrain a defendant from dealing with his assets so as to forestall his attempt to frustrate the potential money judgment against him. Freezing injunctions have been adopted in most common law jurisdictions as an effective civil remedy to combat attempts by recalcitrant debtors or fraudsters to frustrate potential money judgments by use of ever faster methods of fund transfer. However, in Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo SA v Alliance Bond Fund Inc, the US Supreme Court by a 5:4 judgment declared that the US District Court does not have the equitable jurisdiction to grant such …