Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

Reforming At-Will Employment Law: A Model Statute, Liana Gioia, Per Ramford

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Effective relief for at-will employees can only be achieved through statutory reform. Although specific legislation has been proposed on the federal 4 and state levels, 5 none of these bills have been sufficiently comprehensive to provide optimal relief. Moreover, those commentators who have called for a statutory remedy have failed to explain precisely what the mechanism for dispute resolution should be, or how it should operate. 6 This Note, therefore, proposes a model statute utilizing mediation-arbitration to provide consistent, informal, and economical protection for at-will employees. Part I explores the development of the at-will rule and the deficiencies of current …

Court-Annexed Arbitration, A. Leo Levin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Court-annexed arbitration is utilized more extensively today than ever before. It commands widespread and increasing interest, not only because it serves the litigants well, but also because it offers to beleaguered courts a measure of relief from seriously overburdened dockets. This Article examines the use of court-annexed arbitration as an alternative method of dispute resolution. Part I describes how court-annexed arbitration works and the goals it is designed to achieve. Part II focuses on what the actual experience with court-annexed arbitration has been. Utilizing data from a recent empirical study on court-annexed arbitration by the Federal Judicial Center, this section …

Exploring Voluntary Arbitration Of Individual Employment Disputes, Alfred W. Blumrosen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article outlines an arbitration process which may be employed in individual employment contracts to achieve a fair disposition of disputes, with the maximum finality for an arbitration decision which is consistent with legal principles. Where finality is not possible, arbitration would be a condition precedent to formal legal processes. To assure fairness in the process, the employer would agree to pay the arbitrator's fee and the employee's attorney fees incurred in connection with the arbitration.

Protection Against Unjust Discipline: An Idea Whose Time Has Long Since Come, Theodore St. Antoine

Book Chapters

The law seems able to absorb only so many new ideas in a given area at one time. In 1967 Professor Lawrence Blades of Kansas produced a pioneering article in which he decried the iron grip of the contract doctrine of employment at will, and argued that all employees should be legally protected against abusive discharge. The next dozen years witnessed a remarkable reaction. With a unanimity rare, if not unprecedented, among the contentious tribe of labor academics and labor arbitrators, a veritable Who's Who of those professions stepped forth to embrace Blades' notion, and to refine and elaborate it …

Interlocutory Appeal Of Orders Granting Or Denying Stays Of Arbitration, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note attempts to resolve the conflict among the courts of appeals by examining the interests affected by orders granting and denying stays of arbitration. Part I considers the appealability of such orders under the collateral order doctrine developed by the Supreme Court in Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. This doctrine permits interlocutory appeal of final orders adjudicating an important right that is collateral to the merits of the case and effectively unreviewable in a final judgment appeal. Part II considers whether orders on motions for stays of arbitration are reviewable as orders granting or refusing injunctions under …

Where Two Worlds Meet: A Time For Reassessment In The Anthropology Of Law, Simon Roberts

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Disputes and Negotiations: A Cross-Cultural Perspective by P.H. Gulliver, and The Disputing Process--Law In ten Societies edited by Laura Nader and Harry F. Todd Jr., and The Imposition of Law edited by Sandra B. Burman and Barbara E. Harrell-Bond

Organizing The Ethnography Of Negotiations, William L.F. Felstiner

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Disputes and Negotiations: A Cross-Cultural Perspective by P.H. Gulliver

Protection Against Unjust Discipline: An Idea Whose Time Has Long Since Come, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Book Chapters

The law seems able to absorb only so many new ideas in a given area at any one time. In 1967 Professor Lawrence Blades of Kansas produced a pioneering article in which he decried the iron grip of the contract doctrine of employment at will, and argued that all employees should be legally protected against abusive discharge. The next dozen years witnessed a remarkable reaction. With a unanimity rare, if not unprecedented, among the contentious tribe of labor academics and labor arbitrators, a veritable Who's Who of those professions stepped forth to embrace Blades' notion, and to refine and elaborate …

Incorporation Of State Law Under The Federal Arbitration Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note proposes a solution to this choice-of-law problem. Section I surveys the courts' response to Congress's silence and finds confusion and disarray. Section II argues that courts should apply the state law pertinent to arbitration unless that law places heavier burdens on arbitration contracts than on other contracts; where state law does discriminatorily burden arbitration, the courts should apply the pertinent state rules applicable to "any contract." It concludes that the "grounds . . . for the revocation of any contract," although determined as a matter of federal policy, are to be found in state law rather than in …

Machiavelli And The Bar: Ethical Limitations On Lying In Negotiation, James J. White

Articles

Upon the enactment of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, published ethical norms will for the first time give explicit consideration to the lawyer's behavior in the process of negotiation. Rules 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 deal with negotiation. Although the Canons, the interpretations of the Canons, and the Disciplinary Rules and Ethical Considerations gave tangential consideration to negotiating, 1 none of the Disciplinary Rules or Ethical Considerations explicitly considered negotiation apart from the process of litigation or counseling. The mere recognition of negotiation as a separate process worthy of unique rules is a large step. The purpose of this paper …

Litigation And Mediation In Thailand, Sally Falk Moore

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Code and Custom in a Thai Provincial Court by David M. Engel

Judicial Review Of Labor Arbitration Awards: A Second Look At Enterprise Wheel And Its Progeny, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Book Chapters

Logic, so the cliche goes, is not the life of the law. But logic is very much like the DNA of the law-the structural principle without which all is sprawl and muddle. In the last ten years a controversy has raged over the role of the labor arbitrator in issuing awards, and the role of the courts in reviewing and enforcing those awards. This controversy has largely taken the form of a continuing debate among scholars and practicing arbitrators at the annual meetings of the National Academy of Arbitrators. With due respect to the thoughtful and experienced persons who have …

The Integrity Of The Arbitral Process, Roger I. Abrams

Michigan Law Review

Over twenty years ago Dean Shulman and Professor Cox debated through the pages of the Harvard Law Review the question of the role law should play in labor arbitration. Shulman urged "that the law stay out," while Cox argued that courts would come to understand the special nature of the arbitration process and would accordingly limit the extent of judicial intervention. The impact of their discussion has, of course, been mooted by the numerous judicial decisions implanting private arbitration within the federal law of the collective agreement. From the Supreme Court has come a formidable legal superstructure for the labor …

Judicial Review Of Labor Arbitration Awards: A Second Look At Enterprise Wheel And Its Progeny, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Logic, so the cliche goes, is not the life of the law. But logic is very much like the DNA of the law-the structural principle without which all is sprawl and muddle. In the last ten years a controversy has raged over the role of the labor arbitrator in issuing awards, and the role of the courts in reviewing and enforcing those awards. This controversy has largely taken the form of a continuing debate among scholars and practicing arbitrators at the annual meetings of the National Academy of Arbitrators. With due respect to the thoughtful and experienced persons who have …

"Interest" Arbitration Revisited, Robben W. Fleming

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The essence of what is said in this speech is that it is time to rethink our position on "interest" arbitration. The labor relations process is a dynamic one in which neither the problems nor the remedies can remain static

Interventionism, Laissez-Faire, And Stare Decisis: The Labor Decisions Of The Supreme Court, October Term 1969, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Book Chapters

Following is the partial text of an address delivered at the August 10, 1970, meeting of the American Bar Association's Section of Labor Relations Law by Theodore J. St. Antoine, Professor of Law, University of Michigan, and Secretary of the Section of Labor Relations Law of the American Bar Association. The portion of the address reproduced deals with the Supreme Court's Boys Markets decision relating to injunctions against strikes in violation of no-strike contracts and the Court's H. K. Porter decision involving the NLRB' s authority to order a party to agree to a substantive provision in a collective bargaining …

Michigan Compulsory Arbitration Act For Essential Services, William J. Rainey

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

When Public Act 312 became effective on October 1, 1969, Michigan joined Rhode Island and Pennsylvania in permitting compulsory arbitration of unresolved labor disputes involving municipal police and firemen. Wyoming similarly provides for compulsory arbitration in fire department disputes. Passage of the Act was prompted by a desire to avoid the dire consequences of strikes or work stoppages by firefighters and policemen, and to provide a method by which the bargaining power of public service unions could be maintained in the absence of the strike privilege. Since Michigan had barred strikes by public employees in 1947, the unions felt that …

The Role Of Law In Arbitration: Discussion, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Book Chapters

Back in the days before the Green Bay Packers acquired fee simple title to the National Football League championship, I saw a playoff game here at the Cleveland Stadium between the Browns and the Detroit Lions. My Michigan loyalties have created a mental block as to the final score, but I do have a vivid recollection of one stirring goal-line stand by Detroit. A great, burly Lion tackle stationed himself about a foot from the goal post—and I remember thinking that whatever play the Brown quarterback might call, it certainly wasn't going to be a run over tackle. In facing …

The Labor Board And The Arbitrators, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Other Publications

The Labor Relations Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan held its second program of the current year, from May 27 through May 30, 1967 on Mackinaw Island, on a variety of subject matters with excellent presentations by the resource people conducting each of the various symposiums. Those who were unable to be present in this joint venture of pleasure and legal presentations will be able to at least vicariously "gather in the sheaves" of the legal wisdom disseminated during the program by the report contained herein. For those who were fortunate enough to attend plus those who didn't, …

The Lawyer As A Negotiator: An Adventure In Understanding And Teaching The Art Of Negotiation, James J. White

Articles

In the fall of 1965 we enlisted experience as a teacher in an experimental seminar called "The Lawyer as a Negotiator." We gave the students experience not by simulation but by making them negotiate with one another for their grades in the course. In this as in many other "experience" courses the teaching supplement consisted of readings and of classroom participation by the students and teachers. However the supplement differed from the standard trials and appeals or legal writing course in that a psychiatrist was a full partner in the teaching and in the discussion and analysis of the student …

Review Of Better Settlements -- Through Leverage, By P. J. Hermann. , James J. White

Reviews

Who ever learned to negotiate from a book? Probably no one, and one who seeks the kernel of wisdom which will make him an expert negotiator, who seeks the password for admittance to the negotiator's sanctum sanctorum-that person will hunt in vain through the pages of Mr. Hermann's book. I do not mean to suggest either that Mr. Hermann has withheld something in his power to reveal or that he has explicitly promised such a revelation. Rather, I suggest a flaw either in our perception and analysis or in our verbal skills. One of them, probably our perception and analysis, …

Reflections On The Nature Of Labor Arbitration, R. W. Fleming

Michigan Law Review

The use of arbitration as a means of settling labor-management disputes has increased steadily in the past twenty years. Recent decisions of the Supreme Court have underlined the importance of the process. The natural tendency is to compare labor arbitration with the court system as an adjudicatory process. There are, however, significant differences between the two, and this needs to be better understood.

An intelligent evaluation of the differences, and of the labor arbitration tribunal in general, can be made only after an exploration of its origin and history, and after some consideration of the kinds of cases which are …

Labor Law - Collective Bargaining - Jurisdiction Of District Court To Vacate An "Unlawful" Order Of The Nlrb, Stephen B. Flood

Michigan Law Review

Respondent, representing a labor organization, petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for certification as the exclusive bargaining agent of a group of professional employees pursuant to section 9 of the amended National Labor Relations Act. After a hearing the Board ordered that nine non-professional employees be included in the bargaining unit. Section 9(b) (1) expressly prohibits the inclusion of non-professional employees in a professional unit unless a majority of the professional members vote for inclusion in such unit. The Board refused to take a vote among the professional employees, and proceeded directly to order an election to determine if respondent's …

Labor Law - Picketing - Peaceful Picketing For Recognition By Minority Union, Roger W. Findley S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner union was certified as exclusive bargaining representative of an employees' unit in 1953. When contract negotiations faltered, the union called a strike and began picketing the employer's retail store. The picketing continued for two years during which time the employer permanently replaced the strikers with non-union employees. In 1955 the union lost a new representation election by a vote of 28 to 1 and was decertified. When the picketing persisted, the employer petitioned the National Labor Relations Board, charging the union with an unfair labor practice. The Board, after finding that the union's objective was exclusive recognition, held that …

The National Labor Relations Act And Collective Bargaining, Nathan P. Feinsinger

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this paper has been to review the policy-making decisions of the National Labor Relations Board in seeking to effectuate the duty "to bargain collectively" under the National Labor Relations Act, in order to ascertain and appraise their direction.

Setting The Price In An Close Corporation Buy-Sell Agreement, David Keith Page

Michigan Law Review

The stockholders of a close corporation may consider it important to keep control of the business "within the family." This can be accomplished through a restrictive agreement, typically one which gives the corporation or the remaining stockholders a first option to purchase the shares of any departing stockholder. The original owners may also wish to guarantee themselves a ready purchaser for their stock when they die or leave the business. This second objective can be attained by adopting a restrictive agreement which places an obligation on the departing stockholder to sell to the corporation or to the surviving stockholders, who …

The Law Of The Collective Agreement, Charles O. Gregory

Michigan Law Review

The Wagner Act contained no law governing collective agreements. Congress left their enforcement to the state and federal courts under the miserable body of common-law rules. Under various theories the courts worried about consideration, mutuality of obligation, duress and public policy aspects as if they were dealing with conventional contracts.

Collective Bargaining And The Law, University Of Michigan Law School

Summer Institute on International and Comparative Law

Since 1948 the Law School of The University of Michigan, as a part of its program of public service, has sponsored a series of summer institutes to provide a medium for high-level discussion of legal problems in areas of public concern. In 1950 the subject of the Summer Institute was "The Law and Labor-Management Relations." In 1958 it seemed desirable again to turn to this important field, and the subject selected was "Collective Bargaining and the Law."

The 1958 Institute brought together a distinguished group of experts in labor relations law and produced a series of papers and comment which, …

Labor Law - Arbitration - Power Of Arbitrator To Enjoin Union From Continuing Slowdown, Lawrence M. Kelly

Michigan Law Review

An arbitrator, acting under a collective bargaining agreement which called for a "speedy arbitration" procedure, issued an award enjoining the unions from continuing a slowdown in violation of that clause of the agreement forbidding strikes, lockouts, and slowdowns. A Supreme Court order granted the employers' motion to confirm the award and overruled the unions' cross motion to vacate. The unions claimed that the arbitrator, in issuing the injunction, had exceeded the powers granted him under the agreement and had acted contrary to section 876a of the Civil Practice Act (the New York Anti-Injunction Act). The Appellate Division affirmed the order …

The Legal Nature Of Collective Bargaining Agreements, Archibald Cox

Michigan Law Review

One reflecting upon the legal nature of a collective bargaining agreement can hardly avoid beginning with the thought that the institution has flourished outside of the courts and administrative agencies and often in the face of legal interference. The law had fallen into disrepute in the world of labor relations because it failed to meet the needs of men. Collective bargaining agreements were negotiated and administered without regard to conventional legal sanctions. Grievance procedures and arbitration evolved into an intricate and highly organized, private judicature. Many experienced and perceptive observers argued that the conventional sanctions for commercial contracts should not …