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Full-Text Articles in Law
Labor Unions, Solidarity, And Money, Marion G. Crain, Ken Matheny
Labor Unions, Solidarity, And Money, Marion G. Crain, Ken Matheny
Scholarship@WashULaw
For labor, 2018 was a year of highs and lows. A wave of teachers’ strikes in states traditionally hostile to public sector labor unionism and collective bargaining garnered widespread popular support. The passions animated by the strikes were credited with inspiring a range of progressive political shifts, including the rollback of right to work laws in Missouri and new challengers running on education platforms aimed at increasing investment in public education. Less than three months later, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31 invalidating agency fees that public sector unions relied on to cover costs …
Criminal Labor Law, Benjamin Levin
Criminal Labor Law, Benjamin Levin
Scholarship@WashULaw
This Article examines a recent rise in suits brought against unions under criminal statutes. By looking at the long history of criminal regulation of labor, the Article argues that these suits represent an attack on the theoretical underpinnings of post-New Deal U.S. labor law and an attempt to revive a nineteenth century conception of unions as extortionate criminal conspiracies. The Article further argues that this criminal turn is reflective of a broader contemporary preference for finding criminal solutions to social and economic problems. In a moment of political gridlock, parties seeking regulation increasingly do so via criminal statute. In this …
Blue-Collar Crime: Conspiracy, Organized Labor, And The Anti-Union Civil Rico Claim, Benjamin Levin
Blue-Collar Crime: Conspiracy, Organized Labor, And The Anti-Union Civil Rico Claim, Benjamin Levin
Scholarship@WashULaw
This Article provides an historically-rooted analysis of a recent spate of civil RICO complaints arising from labor union organizing campaigns. The Article historicizes contemporary civil RICO suits against labor unions by analogizing to nineteenth century conspiracy prosecutions of unions. In tracing this history of organized labor’s social standing, the Article addresses the cultural framing of the union and its place in political and cultural discourse over the past century. The civil RICO complaints have received limited scholarly attention mainly focusing on issues of federal preemption; this Article argues for a broad reading of the cases as a way to understand …