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Nlrb Jurisdiction Over Foreign Governments, Dan T. Carter

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In State Bank of India the National Labor Relations Board reversed its discretionary abstention policy and asserted jurisdiction over the American operations of a foreign government employer. Previously the Board had declined to assert jurisdiction over these employers out of deference to foreign sovereigns, and because of the Supreme Court's admonition against extraterritorial application of the National Labor Relations Act in the absence of "an affirmative intention of the Congress clearly expressed." The Board now believes that neither public policy nor the policies of the NLRA can justify abstention. Although the Board has deemed the recently enacted Foreign Sovereign Immunities …