Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

The Role Of Networks, Mentors, And The Law In Overcoming Barriers To Organizational Leadership For Women With Children, Terry Morehead Dworkin, Aarti Ramaswami, Cindy A. Schipani

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The 2012 election brought headlines such as "Another 'Year of Women' in Congress." Although the number of women in the highest legislative offices increased, their numbers are still significantly lower than those of men. Fewer than 100 women hold office in both houses of Congress. Corporate America similarly reflects significantly low female leadership numbers. For example, "fewer than 20% of finance industry directors and executives are women, and [there are] no women leading the 20 biggest U.S. banks and securities firms." Women make up nearly half the workforce and hold 60% of bachelor degrees, yet they hold only 14% of …

The Moral Dimension Of Employment Dispute Resolution, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Dispute resolution may be viewed from the perspective of economics or negotiation or contract law or game theory or even military strategy. In this Article, I should like to consider employment dispute resolution in particular from the perspective of morality. I do not necessarily mean "morality" in any religious sense. By "morality" here I mean a concern about the inherent dignity and worth of every human being and the way each one should be treated by society. Some persons who best exemplify that attitude would style themselves secular humanists. Nonetheless, over the centuries religions across the globe have played a …

Employee Free Choice: Amplifying Employee Voice Without Silencing Employers - A Proposal For Reforming The National Labor Relations Act, Amy Livingston

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note investigates the effectiveness of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in balancing unions, employers', and employees' rights during the course of union organizing drives. After reviewing case law and commentary, it concludes that the NLRA's certification regime is ineffective and permits pressures that inhibit employees from expressing their real desires about whether or not to be represented by a union. This Note then examines proposed alternatives for certifying unions, and takes note of Canada's federal and ten provincial certification regimes. Finally, it concludes that the NLRA must be amended to protect worker free choice, and proposes reforms including …

Review Of Understanding Labor And Employment Law In China, By Ronald C.Brown, Nicholas C. Howson

Reviews

Any attempt to analyze China’s comprehensive labor reform over the past three decades faces at least two dilemmas. First, the analyst must confront the task of describing how the Chinese state has dismantled the “work unit” (or danwei)- based “iron rice bowl” employment and entitlements system, replacing that comforting but low-production employment and social security scheme with formally-proclaimed legal rights and institutions apparently designed to protect employees in a functioning labor market. Second, the analyst must track how the state’s commitment (at all levels of government) to implementation of proclaimed legal and institutional protections has waxed and waned, based upon …

Offshore Outsourcing And Worker Rights, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

For the workers in the Rust Belt of the United States, concentrated in Southern New England, Western New York State, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, it doesn't make much difference whether their jobs are outsourced or lost to North Carolina or Mexico or China. In any event the sources of income that have existed for generations are gone and the economic and psychic pains are much the same. Nonetheless, for purposes of national policy it plainly matters whether the work is moving to another part of the country or is leaving the United States entirely. I am going to …

Teaching Adr In The Labor Field In China, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

My first visit to China, in 1994, was purely as a tourist, and came about almost by accident. In late September of that year I attended the XIV World Congress of the International Society for Labor Law and Social Security in Seoul, South Korea. In the second week of October I was scheduled to begin teaching a one-term course in American law as a visiting professor at Cambridge University in England. Despite my hazy notions of geography, I realized it made no sense to return to the United States for the intervening week. The obvious solution was to continue flying …

Offshore Outsourcing And Workers Rights, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

No abstract provided.

Minimum Wages, Inequality, And Globalization, T. H. Gindling, Katherine Terrell

Michigan Journal of International Law

The authors argue in this paper that the institution of the minimum wage is also an important factor in explaining changes in earnings inequality in Costa Rica, and that it can be an important factor in many developing countries. This study is a departure from the literature on institutions and development, which tends to analyze the impact of a more generally defined set of institutions using data on a number of countries. In this paper the authors analyze detailed changes in one institution in one country, using panel data over time. They argue that it is important to understand how …

Teaching Adr In The Labor Field In China, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

The editors have asked us to be quite personal in our ruminations on the future of comparative labor law and policy. For me, over the past several years, the focus has been on China. My first visit to China in 1994, purely as a tourist, was almost by accident. In late September of that year I attended the XIV World Congress of the International Society for Labor Law and Social Security in Seoul, South Korea. In the second week of October, I was scheduled to begin teaching a oneterm course in American law as a visiting professor at Cambridge University …

Law As A Tool For A Sexual Revolution: Israel's Prevention Of Sexual Harassment Law- 1998, Tzili Mor

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Discussion of the newly enacted law will outline the theoretical underpinnings and their effect on the resultant version (Part III), followed by the legislative history, including the Knesset and the public debate surrounding the bill (Part IV), and the impact of that debate on the final outcome of the law (Part V). Part VI will pay particular attention to the innovative approach of the law as a whole and some of the revolutionary specific provisions within. In particular, the legislative framework will be considered in the context of a nation founded and conducted on traditional religious tenets of Judaism. Finally, …

Cooperation, Conflict, Or Coercion: Using Empirical Evidence To Assess Labor-Management Cooperation, Ellen J. Dannin

Michigan Journal of International Law

Since the 1980s there has been strong interest in labor-management cooperation. That interest was reflected even in government attention, for example, through projects by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor-Management Cooperation. Under the leadership of Undersecretary Stephen Schlossberg, the Bureau's "Laws Project" examined the impact of labor law on labor-management cooperation. The Dunlop Commission issued a report strongly in favor of labor-management cooperation, and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chair William B. Gould has spoken favorably of it. More recently, the government issued a report on state and local initiatives in this area.

Labor And The Global Economy: Four Approaches To Transnational Labor Regulation, Katherine Van Wezel Stone

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article examines the challenge to domestic labor regulation posed by the increasingly international economic and legal order. Part I analyzes the several ways in which increased global economic integration creates problems for labor. These problems include a decline in union bargaining power, a race-to-the-bottom in labor standards, and a weakening of labor's role as political actor. Part II identifies four approaches, or models, for transnational labor regulation that have emerged in the Western world in the past twenty years. These are: (1) preemptive legislation; (2) harmonization; (3) cross-border monitoring; and (4) extraterritorial jurisdiction. Part III explores the differences between …

Germany's Legal Protection For Women Workers Vis-À-Vis Illegal Employment Discrimination In The United States: A Comparative Perspective In Light Of Johnson Controls, Carol D. Rasnic

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article will review the major German laws affecting women in the workplace, including clarification of the rationales of the German Bundestag (parliament). Comparative remarks regarding U.S. law and an analysis of Johnson Controls will place the two bodies of law in juxtaposition. Finally, an explanatory historical overview will allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions as to the preferred view of the legal status of the working woman.

Demoncratic Institutions Of Industrial Relations: A Polish Perspective, Ludwik Florek

Michigan Journal of International Law

This essay addresses three issues. The author first describes the major features of the previous Polish industrial relations system which caused it to be undemocratic. He then presents arguments justifying the need for a democracy in industrial relations in Poland. Second, the indispensable premises and elements of three basic democratic institutions of industrial relations are identified: trade union freedom, collective bargaining and the right to strike. These elements were selected for analysis on the basis of international legal instruments, in particular, conventions of the International Labor Organization ("ILO"), as well as U.S. and West European labor legislation. The author then …

Comparison: Japanese And American Plant Closing Laws, Allison Zousmer

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note analyzes the American and Japanese approaches to plant closings and discusses to what extent the American government can apply the successful Japanese approach to its own labor relations system. The first part examines the specific provisions of the two nations' laws. Second, it illustrates how the divergent social rules and historical backgrounds influence the operation of the plant closing laws in both nations. Part three explores the impact and applicability of Japanese labor policies to American industrial practices. The Note concludes that although the Japanese provide a general model for a labor management system which combines cooperation and …

The Case For Employee Ownership In Overseas Operations Of U.S. Multinational Enterprises In Central America, William G. Hopping

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part II of this note explains the relevance of using U.S. direct investment in Central America as a starting point for encouraging employee ownership. Part III describes the essential legal framework of the ESOP in the U.S., providing a framework from which to adapt the ESOP to other countries. Part IV argues that all parties participating in this form of expanded ownership will realize significant short and long-term benefits, but points out some problems of transferring ESOPs, a U.S. legal innovation, to different cultural and business environments. Part V presents some of the legal and economic issues of adapting ESOPs, …

Japanese-Style Worker Participation And United States Labor Law, William S. Rutchow

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note will evaluate the current legal status of Japanese-style worker participation programs under the NLRA. First, it analyzes relevant sections of the NLRA and their interpretation by the Board and the courts. Second, the note describes various types of Japanese worker participation programs, and suggests how these programs can be legally implemented under current American labor law. Third, the note considers standards the Supreme Court may adopt to test the legality of worker participation programs in the future. Finally, this note recommends that the Supreme Court uphold those participation programs which are freely chosen by employees.

Remade In Japan, Jennifer Friesen

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Japan's Reshaping of American Labor Law by William B. Gould

Industrial Policy And The Rights Of Labor: The Case Of Foreign Workers In The French Automobile Assemble Industry, Mark J. Miller

Michigan Journal of International Law

The foreign labor which made possible Western Europe's postwar economic growth has become a permanent, if belatedly recognized, component of the region's labor markets. Technological change and new industrial policies stressing efficiency, skilled labor, and rationalization threaten foreign workers, raising complex and important issues of law and social policy in the debate over labor's role in industrial policy. These changes already have resulted in grave problems which make agreement and clarification of the rights of foreign workers in national and international law a matter of considerable urgency.

A Right Of Fair Dismissal: Enforcing A Statutory Guarantee, Janice R. Bellace

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Support for the concept that employees should be protected against wrongful dismissal continues to grow in this country. Yet, many advocates of protection have thus far refrained from venturing into the legislative arena. Even though the movement to achieve this protection is still at an early stage, it is not too soon to focus on specific proposals designed to translate ideals into protections. By failing to coalesce behind a single proposal, supporters have retarded the progress of the movement. Without a proposal for specific legislation, supporters lack a rallying point and legislators have nothing concrete to debate. This Article attempts …

Regulating America, Regulating Sweden: A Comparative Study Of Occupational Safety And Health Policy, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Regulating America, Regulating Sweden: A Comparative Study of Occupational Safety and Health Policy by Steven Kelman

Collective Bargaining In The Public Service Of Canada: Bold Experiment Or Act Of Folly?, H. W. Arthurs

Michigan Law Review

This brief background sketch of the Canadian labor relations scene suffices to indicate that several important impediments to the introduction of a full-fledged system of public service collective bargaining which exist in the United States have no counterpart north of the border. Particularly at the practical level, there were no insuperable hurdles to the enactment of the 1967 Canadian federal law. To understand how and why the new federal statute came to be enacted within this reasonably hospitable environment, it is important to trace the course of employment relations in the Canadian Public Service.

The Labor Court Idea, R. W. Fleming

Michigan Law Review

When the War Labor Board first began to exert pressure on companies and unions to adopt grievance arbitration clauses during World War II, there was a considerable hesitance on both sides. Both groups worried that while third party decision making might momentarily improve productive efficiency, it would do so at the price of a long-run loss in institutional integrity and autonomy, and peace at any price held little fascination for either side. Nevertheless, grievance arbitration was accepted and gradually became the normal mechanism for resolving contractual disputes in the United States.

American Enterprise In The European Common Market: A Legal Profile. Volume 2., Eric Stein, Thomas L. Nicholson

Michigan Legal Studies Series

The rapid expansion of international trade during the past fifteen years has confronted the American business counselor with a great variety of new problems. Solutions to these problems were not expounded to him in his pre-war legal education, nor are they to be found in the rich proliferation of advance sheets, digests, and loose-leaf services with which the modern American lawyer is blessed. When he turns to foreign counsel, he finds that a lack of common legal background makes meaningful professional communication difficult. This book has been prepared with the primary purpose of helping those American lawyers who, because of …

American Enterprise In The European Common Market: A Legal Profile. Volume 1., Eric Stein, Thomas L. Nicholson

Michigan Legal Studies Series

The rapid expansion of international trade during the past fifteen years has confronted the American business counselor with a great variety of new problems. Solutions to these problems were not expounded to him in his pre-war legal education, nor are they to be found in the rich proliferation of advance sheets, digests, and loose-leaf services with which the modern American lawyer is blessed. When he turns to foreign counsel, he finds that a lack of common legal background makes meaningful professional communication difficult. This book has been prepared with the primary purpose of helping those American lawyers who, because of …

Lectures On The Law And Labor-Management Relations, University Of Michigan Law School

Summer Institute on International and Comparative Law

The 1950 Summer Institute on International and Comparative Law recognized the great importance, all over the world, of the problems of labor-management relations and the accelerating pace of development of labor law. The Institute sought, through the techniques of lecture, comment, and panel discussion, to provide a basis for an informed appraisal of some of the most challenging questions in this area.

For the most part the program dealt with the problems arising in the attempt in the United States and in other countries to develop and apply legal standards to labor-management relations. Underlying the legal framework, however, are major …

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.

German Social Honor Courts, Harlow J. Heneman

Michigan Law Review

Germany's National Socialist regime has prided itself on its ability to maintain peaceful employer-employee relations at a time when other countries of the world are seriously troubled by industrial disturbances. The German government has actively intervened to see that neither employers nor workers overstep bounds set for them by Nazi social and economic policies. Dr. Robert Ley, head of the German Labor Front, has said that the government owes its success in this field to measures that are a "healthy combination of freedom and compulsion." Since Hitler's advent to power, the former organizations of both employers and employees have largely …

Protection Of Employees Against Abrupt Discharge, G. T. Schwenning

Michigan Law Review

The dismissal compensation law movement is a significant, though relatively new, effort on the part of industrial nations to minimize the hazards of employment uncertainty. It is a development in labor legislation of recent origin designed to stabilize employment contracts by limiting employers' freedom of arbitrary and abrupt discharge. Where such statutes have been enacted, employers are required to give their employees advance notice of the termination of the labor contract or to pay compensation in lieu of notice. The length of the time of notice ranges in different countries from five days to two years, while the discharge compensation …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

Multiple book reviews by various authors.