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Articles 1 - 23 of 23
Full-Text Articles in Law
Structural Labor Rights, Hiba Hafiz
Structural Labor Rights, Hiba Hafiz
Michigan Law Review
American labor law was designed to ensure equal bargaining power between workers and employers. But workers’ collective power against increasingly dominant employers has disintegrated. With union density at an abysmal 6.2 percent in the private sector—a level unequaled since the Great Depression— the vast majority of workers depend only on individual negotiations with employers to lift stagnant wages and ensure upward economic mobility. But decentralized, individual bargaining is not enough. Economists and legal scholars increasingly agree that, absent regulation to protect workers’ collective rights, labor markets naturally strengthen employers’ bargaining power over workers. Existing labor and antitrust law have failed …
An American Approach To Social Democracy: The Forgotten Promise Of The Fair Labor Standards Act, Kate Andrias
An American Approach To Social Democracy: The Forgotten Promise Of The Fair Labor Standards Act, Kate Andrias
Articles
There is a growing consensus among scholars and public policy experts that fundamental labor law reform is necessary in order to reduce the nation’s growing wealth gap. According to conventional wisdom, however, a social democratic approach to labor relations is uniquely un-American—in deep conflict with our traditions and our governing legal regime. This Article calls into question that conventional account. It details a largely forgotten moment in American history: when the early Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) established industry committees of unions, business associations, and the public to set wages on an industry-by-industry basis. Alongside the National Labor Relations Act, …
Peril And Possibility: Strikes, Rights, And Legal Change In The Era Of Trump, Kate Andrias
Peril And Possibility: Strikes, Rights, And Legal Change In The Era Of Trump, Kate Andrias
Other Publications
Everyone in this audience is well aware of the problems plaguing reiterating. The wealthiest one percent of Americans takes home nearly a quarter of our national income and owns forty percent of the nation's wealth.
Customer Domination At Work: A New Paradigm For The Sexual Harassment Of Employees By Customers, Einat Albin
Customer Domination At Work: A New Paradigm For The Sexual Harassment Of Employees By Customers, Einat Albin
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This Article introduces a novel legal paradigm—customer domination at work—to address the sexual harassment of employees by customers. This new approach challenges the prevailing paradigm, which focuses on the employer-employee binary relationship. I show how, under current Title VII law, the prevailing paradigm leads to a weaker form of employer liability than other instances where employers are liable for the sexual harassment of their employees. The protection for workers is also limited. The same is true of two other legal regimes discussed in the Article: Germany and Britain. More importantly, I argue that the prevailing paradigm precludes a true understanding …
On The Need For Reform Of The H-1b Non-Immigrant Work Visa In Computer-Related Occupations, Norman Matloff
On The Need For Reform Of The H-1b Non-Immigrant Work Visa In Computer-Related Occupations, Norman Matloff
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The H-1B program authorizes non-immigrant visas under which skilled foreign workers may be employed in the U.S., typically in computer-related positions. Congress greatly expanded the program in 1998 and then again in 2000, in response to heavy pressure from industry, which claimed a desperate software labor shortage. After presenting an overview of the H-1B program in Parts II and III, the Article will show in Part IV that these shortage claims are not supported by the data. Part V will then show that the industry's motivation for hiring H-lBs is primarily a desire for cheap, compliant labor. The Article then …
Ghost Workers In An Interconnected World: Going Beyond The Dichotomies Of Domestic Immigration And Labor Laws, Ruben J. Garcia
Ghost Workers In An Interconnected World: Going Beyond The Dichotomies Of Domestic Immigration And Labor Laws, Ruben J. Garcia
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Beginning with the September 11, 2001 ("9/11 ") terrorist attacks, the labor movement's plans to organize immigrant workers and achieve immigration reform have met serious challenges. After 9/11, the political climate surrounding immigrants put the AFL-CIO s hopes for legislative reform on hold, because of socially perceived connections between immigrants and terrorism. Then, in a March 2002 decision titled Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, the U.S. Supreme Court held that undocumented immigrant workers could not collect back pay under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when their rights to join unions are violated. According to the Court, back pay …
Reclaiming The Labor Movement Through Union Dues? A Postmodern Perspective In The Mirror Of Public Choice Theory, Harry G. Hutchison
Reclaiming The Labor Movement Through Union Dues? A Postmodern Perspective In The Mirror Of Public Choice Theory, Harry G. Hutchison
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) seeming powerlessness to process dues objector cases has led to a proliferation of state sponsored "paycheck protection" laws and popular referenda devised to ensure that workers will not be obliged to pay dues for non-germane purposes. Recently, California captured national attention as the site of a richly contested paycheck protection referendum. Such proposals have electrified union advocates and have enlivened the debate over the proper use of union dues. In addition, recent attempts to reform campaign finance have run aground on the thorny issue of union political contributions (both in-kind and in cash). Concurrently, …
The Continuing Relevance Of Section 8(A)(2) To The Contemporary Workplace, Michael C. Harper
The Continuing Relevance Of Section 8(A)(2) To The Contemporary Workplace, Michael C. Harper
Michigan Law Review
After embarking on his illustrious career as a legal academic, Theodore St. Antoine, through a multitude of roles, including those of scholar, teacher, administrator, pragmatic law reformer, and arbitrator, made innumerable contributions to the practice and development of many parts of American law. For most of us, however, as a scholar he will be associated primarily with the system of collective bargaining established and encouraged by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and its progeny. During the first part of Professor St. Antoine's years as an academic, this system continued to flourish in America, as he, along with other legal …
Engineering The Middle Classes: Class Line-Drawing In New Deal Hours Legislation, Deborah C. Malamud
Engineering The Middle Classes: Class Line-Drawing In New Deal Hours Legislation, Deborah C. Malamud
Michigan Law Review
The likely readers of this Article work for a living, or are studying with the hope that they will work for a living very soon. Unlike many other workers in this society, they do not (and will not) get paid time-and-a-half for overtime. In this Article, I tell the story of how upper-level white-collar workers - people like the intended readers of this Article - came to be exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act's general overtime rules. My purpose in telling this story is not to participate in the debate on whether the so-called "white-collar exemptions" to the Fair …
Rearranging Deck Chairs On The Titanic: The Inadequacy Of Modest Proposals To Reform Labor Law, Charles B. Craver
Rearranging Deck Chairs On The Titanic: The Inadequacy Of Modest Proposals To Reform Labor Law, Charles B. Craver
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Agenda for Reform: The Future of Employment Relationships and the Law by William B. Gould IV
Collective Bargaining Or "Collective Begging"?: Reflections On Antistrikebreaker Legislation, Samuel Estreicher
Collective Bargaining Or "Collective Begging"?: Reflections On Antistrikebreaker Legislation, Samuel Estreicher
Michigan Law Review
The strike is a necessary part of collective bargaining. Workers should not ordinarily lose their jobs by pressing their disputes in this manner. But neither should strikes be viewed as a risk-free means of empowering unions to lock employers into uncompetitive contracts.
Labor Law Successorship: A Corporate Law Approach, Edward B. Rock, Michael L. Wachter
Labor Law Successorship: A Corporate Law Approach, Edward B. Rock, Michael L. Wachter
Michigan Law Review
In this article, we take an approach fundamentally different from that of the labor law commentators. We start from a broader perspective than is common: successorship is as important an issue for corporate law as it is for labor law. Given that the two principal inputs to the firm are labor and capital, it would be surprising if the laws for labor law successorship were completely different from the laws for corporate law successorship. To the extent that differences exist, those differences should hinge upon differences between the employees' and the creditors' relationships with the firm.
A Bargaining Analysis Of American Labor Law And The Search For Bargaining Equity And Industrial Peace, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt
A Bargaining Analysis Of American Labor Law And The Search For Bargaining Equity And Industrial Peace, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt
Michigan Law Review
In this article, I present an alternative economic analysis of unions and collective bargaining that utilizes recent advances in labor economics and some simple applications of game theory to address the deficiencies of the traditional monopoly model.
The article proceeds in four parts. In Part I, I provide a brief primer on the economic analysis of unions and collective bargaining. I discuss the various possible sources of union wage increases, possible employer responses to union wage demands, and alternative models of the costs of collective bargaining. In Part II, I outline the traditional monopoly theory of unions by combining the …
Which Side Are You On?: Trying To Be For Labor When It's Flat On Its Back, John Edward Connelly
Which Side Are You On?: Trying To Be For Labor When It's Flat On Its Back, John Edward Connelly
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back by Thomas Geoghegan
Substantiating "Competitive Disadvantage" Claims: A Broad Reading Of Truitt, Brandon David Lawniczak
Substantiating "Competitive Disadvantage" Claims: A Broad Reading Of Truitt, Brandon David Lawniczak
Michigan Law Review
This Note argues that the broad reading of Truitt is correct. It advocates a broad rule which would require an employer to disclose substantiating financial information to its employees' union whenever it claims that meeting a proposed wage demand would place the firm at a competitive disadvantage. Because the appropriateness of substantiating financial information is factually dependent, this Note will not focus on the type or amount of information that should be disclosed. Instead, it will focus on the legal and policy justifications for a broad disclosure rule. Part I reviews Truitt and discusses the various interpretations given to it …
When Justice Fails, Stephan Landsman
When Justice Fails, Stephan Landsman
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Haymarket Tragedy by Paul Avrich
New Ways In Corporate Governance: European Experiments With Labor Representation On Corporate Boards, Klaus J. Hopt
New Ways In Corporate Governance: European Experiments With Labor Representation On Corporate Boards, Klaus J. Hopt
Michigan Law Review
Corporate governance has been discussed in Europe for over 150 years. Indeed, in the 1840's, when the first Corporation Act was enacted in Prussia, three troubling features of the corporate organization form had already been discerned: (I) the vulnerability of small investors who lacked the influence and sophistication to. control the corporation; (2) the risk to creditors and the public created by the limited liability of the corporation, especially when combined with inadequate funds and poorly controlled management; and (3) the power that big corporations could amass economically, by monopolizing markets, and politically, by exerting influence on public opinion and …
Alternatives To Seniority-Based Layoffs: Reconciling Teamsters, Weber, And The Goal Of Equal Employment Opportunity, Paul M. Hamburger
Alternatives To Seniority-Based Layoffs: Reconciling Teamsters, Weber, And The Goal Of Equal Employment Opportunity, Paul M. Hamburger
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note advocates the use of legal incentives for adopting nonpreferential alternatives to seniority-based layoffs. Part I analyzes the impact of bona fide seniority systems on recently hired minorities and women. Part II discusses existing legal incentives for unions and employers to seek alternatives to strict seniority layoffs and for courts to enjoin such layoffs, thereby forcing the parties to negotiate over alternatives. Finally, part III examines two kinds of potential alternatives: racially preferential alternatives, which are prohibited under Title VII, and nonpreferential options, which are permissible and should be used increasingly.
Advance Notice Of Plant Closings: Toward National Legislation, Joseph A. Cipparone
Advance Notice Of Plant Closings: Toward National Legislation, Joseph A. Cipparone
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article advocates the adoption of national legislation requiring advance notice for plants closed or relocated for ostensibly economic reasons. Part I discusses the magnitude of the plant closing problem, focusing upon the costs associated with such closings, the types of assistance available for terminated workers, and the inadequacies of current relief efforts. Parts II and III examine the arguments for and against requiring advance notice of plant closings, and conclude that such a requirement represents sound public policy. Part IV proposes a complete model advance notice statute. The model statute establishes minimum requirements for a viable advance notice system, …
Union Decisions On Collective Bargaining Goals: A Proposal For Interest Group Participation, Eileen Silverstein
Union Decisions On Collective Bargaining Goals: A Proposal For Interest Group Participation, Eileen Silverstein
Michigan Law Review
This Article assesses the consequences of unions' virtually unrestrained power to set bargaining priorities and to reconcile antagonisms among the workers they represent. It then evaluates the function that economic interest groups within unions might serve if workers were encouraged to form interest groups and these groups were recognized as legitimate mechanisms for meeting the diverse needs of a heterogeneous workforce.
Presumption Of Dependence In Workers' Compensation Death Benefits As A Denial Of Equal Protection, A. Russell Localio
Presumption Of Dependence In Workers' Compensation Death Benefits As A Denial Of Equal Protection, A. Russell Localio
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This note will examine the sex bias prevalent in many workers' compensation statutes and the constitutionality of these statutes in light of recent Supreme Court decisions on sex discrimination. After this examination, alternative methods for effecting reform of the sex-biased death benefit provisions will be analyzed.
Protecting The Older Worker, H. Patrick Callahan, Charles T. Richardson
Protecting The Older Worker, H. Patrick Callahan, Charles T. Richardson
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Unlike racial discrimination, age discrimination statutes do not prohibit all forms of discrimination but only those forms that are arbitrary. In this respect age is most analogous to sex as a basis of discrimination: in neither case has a conclusive statutory presumption been made that these factors are irrelevant in an employment situation; in both situations the employer must make his decision to hire or not to hire on the abilities of the individual and not on assumptions, proven or unproven, about the class as a whole. This note considers the extent of arbitrary age discrimination and what measures have …
Workmen's Compensation--Encouraging Employment Of The Handicapped In Michigan: A Proposal For Revision Of The Michigan Second Injury Fund, Michigan Law Review
Workmen's Compensation--Encouraging Employment Of The Handicapped In Michigan: A Proposal For Revision Of The Michigan Second Injury Fund, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Employment of the handicapped is clearly a proper concern of the state. Unemployed, such a person is a burden on his family and on the state; welfare and relief payments to such a person needlessly increase costs to both the state and local governments supporting such programs. Employed, the handicapped person is a self-supporting, stable member of the community; he becomes a taxpayer rather than a tax consumer. There are also important moral and social considerations which may be simply summarized stating that no person who is able to work should be needlessly denied employment. In short, any continued waste …