Law Commons^™

Third Party Access And Refusal To Deal In European Energy Networks: How Sector Regulation And Competition Law Meet Each Other, Michael Diathesopoulos

Michael Diathesopoulos

In this paper, we will analyse the issue of concurrence between competition and sector rules and the relation between parallel concepts within the two different legal frameworks. We will firstly examine Third Party Access in relation to essential facilities doctrine and refusal of access and we will identify the common points and objectives of these concepts and the extent to which they provide a context to each other’s implementation. Second, we will focus on how Commission uses sector regulation and objectives as a context within the process of implementation of competition law in the energy sector and third, we will …

Liability For Misstatement In Prospectus In India: Where To Stop?, Manendra Singh

Manendra Singh, Solicitor & Advocate, India (Mumbai)

The article is intended to highlight the securities law and deals with the liability for misstatement in prospectus. It helps in identifying people who could be held liable and to what extent the liability extends. It also provides an insight for the defences available to an accused. The article basically deals with the Indian law but also touches upon the necessary issues under USA and UK law and thus helps in drawing a comparison between these countries' laws for the same.

International Labor Rights And The Sovereignty Question: Nafta And Guatemala, Two Case Studies, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] Labor rights advocates in the United States and allied organizations abroad attempting to establish international fair labor standards run up against traditional notions of sovereignty in formulating national labor policies and development strategies. In the same way that entrenched sovereignty principles gradually yielded to international human rights claims after World War E, sovereignty is now being challenged by claims of international laborrights in the field of employment standards and industrial relations. This Article seeks to illuminate this challenge to sovereignty in two case studies of labor rights advocacy. Part I sets the stage with an overview of the growing …

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 …

Three Stories And Their Morals, Robert B. Bennett

Robert B. Bennett

Fundamentally, the common law tradition is a collection of stories. Stories also become the law professor's stock in trade. We tell students stories or have them read stories in the form of cases or hypothetical situations and help them discern the morals to the stories-i.e., what the stories mean in the context of business or in their business lives? In a sense, that is what the Socratic Method is all about: analyzing stories in the form of cases and discerning their greater meaning. In this paper I will relate three true stories within the context of just-in-time production management and …

The Federal Trademark Dilution Act Of 1995: Potent Weapon Or Uphill Battle?, Erin Roth, Robert Bennett

Robert B. Bennett

Following a brief discussion of the history of trademark infringement law, the events leading to the FTDA, and an overview of the FTDA, this paper discusses the major causes of the FTDA's ineffectiveness. We will then review the application of the act, discuss its implications on the future of trademark ownership in business, and suggest improvements to the legal application of the act.

Seeing Is Believing; Or Is It? An Emperical Study Of Computer Simulations As Evidence., Robert B. Bennett, Jordan H. Leibman, Richard Fetter

Robert B. Bennett

Relying on the old adage, "seeing is believing," we conclude that the jury may give undue weight to an animated reconstruction of the accident .... It would be an inordinately difficult task for the plaintiff to counter, by cross-examination or otherwise, the impression that a computerized depiction of the accident is necessarily more accurate than an oral description of how the accident occurred. Because the expert's conclusion would be graphically depicted in a moving and animated form, the viewing of the computer simulation might more readily lead the jury to accept the data and premises underlying the defendant's expert's opinion... …

[Review Of The Book We Can’T Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard], Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] In 1988 the fifteen-year campaign to organize office and laboratory workers at Harvard University ended with an NLRB election win. We Can't Eat Prestige is the most comprehensive examination to date of this compelling story, offering new detail and sufficiently bold assertions to re-ignite a smoldering debate about what this victory means for the future of unions. The author is a highly regarded journalist with thirty years of experience reporting on labor issues. Predictably, the book is extraordinarily well written, weaving a fascinating story of the union's evolution.

Organizing And Representing Clerical Workers: The Harvard Model, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] The private sector clerical work force is largely nonunion, simultaneously offering the labor movement a major source of potential membership growth and an extremely difficult challenge. Based on December 1990 data, there are eighteen million workers employed in office clerical, administrative support, and related occupations. Eighty percent of these employees are women, accounting for 30 percent of all women in the labor force. Among private sector office workers, 57 percent work in the low-union-density industry groups of services (only 5.7 percent union) and finance, insurance, and real estate (only 2.5 percent union). With barely over ten million total private …

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 …

Undue Equation Of 'Savings' With 'Compensation For Services': Case Comment, Belachew M. Fikre

Belachew M Fikre

Individual employer-employee relations are regulated by a regime called 'employment law'. Despite the inadequate semantic clarity in our legal system regarding the usage of the words 'employment law' and 'labour law', the latter is 'understood as the regime that governs workers' efforts to advance their own shared interests through self-organisation and collective protest, pressure, negotiation and agreement with employers. Among the numerous benefits accorded to an outgoing employee is severance payment that somehow provides an interim income during transition from one engagement to another. And this form of benefit represents one variety of the 'third wing' within the regime of …

Political Will, Local Union Transformation, And The Organizing Imperative, Bill Fletcher, Richard Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] As part of its ongoing commitment, SEIU has devoted increasing attention to the challenge of getting local unions to embrace organizing and to allocate sufficient resources to the task. In this context, the unions 1992 national convention adopted two key resolutions: one to affirm the centrality of organizing, the second to assist leadership development with targeted educational programs. In the months following the convention, a discussion unfolded among national staff regarding appropriate steps required to assist local union leaders committed to change. Although internal organizing and initiatives to develop leadership skills among women and people of color were encouraged, …

Wege Zur Transformation Gewerkschaftlicher Organisationsstrukturen, Martin Behrens, Richard W. Hurd, Jeremy Waddington

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] Bei einer länderübergreifenden Betrachtung erweist sich die Neubelebung der Arbeiterbewegung als ein komplexer Prozess des Wandels, der je nach soziopolitischem und ökonomischem Kontext variiert.Zwar lassen sich zahlreiche, vielfältige Gewerkschaftsstrategien und Ergebnisse beobachten, aber dennoch sind in den meisten der untersuchten Länder (Deutschland, Italien, Spanien, Großbritannien, USA) verschiedene Formen der strukturellen Anpassung, wie Zusammenschlüsse und Übernahmen, sowie eine „Rationalisierung“ der internen Gewerkschaftsstrukturen übliche Elemente der Revitalisierungsbemühungen. Auch wenn viele Ansätze zur Veränderung der Gewerkschaftsstrukturen auf der Strecke blieben, so bleiben doch noch eine Reihe von Fällen bei denen Reformen zu den positive Ergebnissen führten,welche die Arbeitnehmerschaft dringend benötigte.

Revival Of The American Labor Movement: Issues, Problems, Prospects, Lowell Turner, Harry C. Katz, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] The purpose of this book is to examine union revitalization efforts: to identify central developments, to analyze strengths and weaknesses in the new initiatives, and to assessprogress made and prospects for the future. We ask questions such as: Can union decline be reversed? Are there serious indications of revitalization beyond new leadership and publicity? What accounts for successes and failures so far, and what strategies have shown the most promise for future success? Can innovations in areas such as vocational training consortia contribute to labor movement revitalization? Are there ways to reconcile the contradictions between an "organizing model" of …

Building Social Movement Unionism: The Transformation Of The American Labor Movement, Lowell Turner, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] In the United States, the renewed energy displayed by the labor movement is particularly promising. From organizing drives to strike victories to legislative campaigns, labor's renewed influence in the American political economy is clearly seen. A labor movement that was left for dead by many in the Reagan era has developed new leadership and innovative strategies for rank-and-file mobilization and political clout. In a global economy dominated to a large extent by American-based multinational corporations, the world needs a strong American labor movement. The goal of the new activists, young and old, who drive today's labor campaigns, is the …

Conviction And Punishment: Free Press And Competitive Election As Deterrents To Corruption, Xiaowen Tian, Vai Lo

Xiaowen Tian

Democratic institutions are not equally effective in curbing corruption. Using a criminal behavior model, this study formulates the hypothesis that corruption offenders, being risk-inclined, are deterred more by conviction-reinforcing democratic institutions than by punishment-reinforcing democratic institutions. Evidence based on cross-country regressions strongly supports this hypothesis, indicating that compared with competitive election, free press is a more effective deterrent to corruption. While shedding light on why corruption remains rampant in some electoral democracies - particularly the illiberal democracies - this study identifies a key to corruption control.

Law For Foreign Business And Investment In China, Vai Lo, Xiaowen Tian

Xiaowen Tian

In trying to establish a presence in China, foreign investors have found it imperative to understand the regulatory environment of this potentially huge market. This book provides an up-to-date overview of the legal framework for doing business in China. It covers such topics as state structure; legislative amendments and enactments on direct foreign investment; the court system; the legal profession; business entities; foreign investment enterprises; contracts; intellectual property; labor and employment; consumer protection; taxation; securities; and dispute resolution.Apart from explaining legal principles, the book highlights liberalisation measures that China has undertaken to fulfil its WTO commitments; elucidates complicated legal concepts …

Além Dos "Achismos", Do Senso Comum E Das Evidências Anedóticas: Uma Análise Econômica Do Judiciário Brasileiro, Luciana L. Yeung

Luciana L Yeung

Inefficiency in Brazilian courts has long been discussed within academic and business circles. Most of the discussion, however, is based on personal “feelings”, common sense, and anecdotal evidence. Almost no empirical or quantitative research has ever been carried out in the national literature.

This dissertation offers a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the Brazilian Judiciary, using the perspectives of the Economic Analysis of Law (or Law and Economics). First, it discusses how institutions, in general, and legal institutions, in particular, became subjects of interest for economists. This has to do with the development of Institutional Economics, and more precisely, New …

Unionization Of Professional And Technical Workers: The Labor Market And Institutional Transformation, Richard W. Hurd, John Bunge

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] Established institutions that serve the interests of white-collar workers find themselves at a critical juncture. On the one hand they can foresee the potential to augment membership and influence. On the other hand, they confront the reality of reconfigured labor markets. Growth (and indeed survival) is contingent upon being able to adapt to the changing needs and interests of professional and technical workers. The combination of technological advances and alterations in the functioning of white-collar markets suggests strategic reconceptualization and institutional transformation. This chapter explores the attitudes of professional and technical workers toward their jobs and labor market organizations …

If Ethanol Is The Answer, What Is The Question, Peter Z. Grossman

Peter Z. Grossman

Since 2005, in the face of rising oil and gasoline prices, many Americans have looked to plant-based fuels, particularly ethanol, as the "answer" to our energy dilemmas. Section III examines the issues connected specifically to ethanol, how market forces as well as government subsidies have worked to make corn-based ethanol economically viable at times, why that viability has been lost in recent months even with subsidies, and further, why ethanol from corn on the scale the legislation demands is impractical. Clearly it would be technically possible to produce the mandated 15 billion gallons of ethanol, and distilling capacity will nearly …

Collective Bargaining In The Era Of Grocery Industry Restructuring, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] As UFCW international and local leaders know from first hand experience, there have been dramatic changes in the retail grocery industry over the past 15 years. Of most direct relevance to the collective bargaining environment, the absolute size of key corporations has increased and economic power in the industry has become more concentrated. Influenced by the spread of Wal-Mart's grocery operations, established companies like Kroger, Safeway, Supervalu, and Loblaw have pursued aggressive merger and market expansion strategies. Further complicating the situation has been the success of other alternative format grocers (such as Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and BJ's), …

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, …

The Failure Of Organizing, The New Unity Partnership And The Future Of The Labor Movement, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] The New Unity Partnership (NUP) has stirred up a firestorm of controversy in union circles. Its inception can be traced to the July 4th holiday in 2003 when five national union presidents gathered for a candid private discussion about the future of the labor movement. The motivation for the summit was concern about the collective inability of unions to reverse their fading fortunes. At this and subsequent meetings the unions considered structural and strategic options to promote union growth, ultimately committing to a form of mutual aid pact to pool resources for coordinated organizing initiatives and to support each …

Contesting The Dinosaur Image: The Labor Movement’S Search For A Future, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] But the increased effectiveness of labor's political activities has not resulted in major improvements legislatively, and now there is a hostile President who opposes nearly every aspect of the union policy agenda. The promise for the future lies in the demonstrated ability to mobilize at the grassroots. But there are recent signs that national unions are breaking ranks and pursuing narrow self interest. The USWA joined with the steel industry to persuade the Bush administration to restrict imports, and even hinted at a possible endorsement for his reelection in 2004 (Murray). The UMWA has praised the president's energy policy, …

Proceedings Of The 2009 Nrc Federal Facilities Council/James Madison University Symposium On Protecting Large Facility Complexes;, George H. Baker, Cheryl E. Wilkins

George H Baker

Large, complex facilities pose unique protection challenges involving multidisciplinary expertise and collaboration among government, academia, and the private sector. The symposium served as a forum for sharing experiences in dealing with large facility catastrophic events and risk management. The symposium was organized based on the value of interaction among different people representing diverse disciplines. In many instances, such interactions lead to solutions that would not have been developed within disciplinary stovepipes. The venue was divided into three panels addressing physical security, cyber security, and real facility case studies. We were also privileged to have three keynote speakers including Dr. Charles …

When Is Command-And-Control Efficient? Institutions, Technology And The Comparative Efficiency Of Alternative Regulatory Regimes For Environmental Protection, Peter Z. Grossman, Daniel H. Cole

Peter Z. Grossman

The nominal efficiency of a regulatory regime is determined by comparing its social costs and benefits; the regime is nominally efficient if it produces benefits in excess of its costs. Thus, a regulatory regime can be at once nominally efficient and relatively inefficient. A regulatory regime that is nominally efficient in the early days of pollution-control efforts, when increments of environmental quality are relatively cheap, may (but will not necessarily) grow less efficient over time - producing less return on each dollar invested - as increments of environmental quality grow increasingly expensive. A regulatory regime that is more efficient in …