The Cambridge Handbook of U.S. Labor Law for the Twenty-First Century

Analyzes causes of union decline in the US, and offers legal reforms aimed at reversing that trend.

Richard Bales (Edited by), Charlotte Garden (Edited by)

9781108949118, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 September 2020

433 pages, 2 b/w illus.
25.5 x 18 x 2.5 cm, 0.8 kg

'The Handbook of US Labor Law for the Twenty-First Century performs several valuable roles: it is a primer on the current state of the organized labor movement and on the economic, political, social, and cultural consequences of its weakness … In assembling such a large and diverse group of contributors, the Handbook can realistically claim to represent the best of what is on offer in addressing all of these crucial topics for discussion and action.' Christopher Tomlins, Law & Social Inquiry

Over the last fifty years in the United States, unions have been in deep decline, while income and wealth inequality have grown. In this timely work, editors Richard Bales and Charlotte Garden - with a roster of thirty-five leading labor scholars - analyze these trends and show how they are linked. Designed to appeal to those being introduced to the field as well as experts seeking new insights, this book demonstrates how federal labor law is failing today's workers and disempowering unions; how union jobs pay better than nonunion jobs and help to increase the wages of even nonunion workers; and how, when union jobs vanish, the wage premium also vanishes. At the same time, the book offers a range of solutions, from the radical, such as a complete overhaul of federal labor law, to the incremental, including reforms that could be undertaken by federal agencies on their own.

List of contributors
Preface
Acknowledgements
Part I. Introduction: 1. Union trends Richard Bales
2. The consequences of union decline Jake Rosenfeld
Part II. Labor Law Is Out of Date: 3. Yesterday's labor law and today's challenges Cynthia Estlund
4. The National Labor Relations Board in the twenty-first century William B. Gould, IV
5. Beyond the race to the bottom: reforming labor law preemption to allow state experimentation Charlotte Garden
6. Union rights for all: towards sectoral bargaining in the United States Kate Andrias
7. Public sector innovations: valuing voice Ann C. Hodges and Martin H. Malin
8. Combatting union monopoly power: the contrast between pre- and post-new deal legal regimes Richard A. Epstein
9. The case for repealing the firm exemption to antitrust (a modest proposal
or, a response to Professor Epstein) Sanjukta Paul
10. Make labor organizing a civil right Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit
Part III. The 'Fissured' Workplace: 11. Some problems with NLRA coverage: independent contractors and joint employers Joseph Slater
12. Reinventing employers Jeffrey Hirsch
13. The problem of 'misclassification' or how to define who is an 'employee' under protective legislation in the information age Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt
14. Rupture and invention: the changing nature of work and the implications for social policy Katherine V. W. Stone
15. Contemplating new categories of workers: technology and the fissured workplace Miriam A. Cherry
16. Balancing flexibility and rigidity: do unions make sense in the on-demand economy? Seth Oranburg and Liya Palagashvili
Part IV. Barriers to Forming a Collective Bargaining Relationship: 17. Tactical mismatch in union organizing drives Charlotte Garden
18. The power of place Michael M. Oswalt
19. Assembly and collective rights Marion Crain
20. Leveraging secondary activity within and outside legal boundaries Anne Marie Lofaso
21. Captive audience meetings: the right not to attend Paul M. Secunda
Part V. Barriers to Bargaining a Good Contract: 22. Obtaining a first contract after winning recognition David Rosenfeld
23. Advancing global labor standards: potential and limits of international labor law for worker-rights advocacy in the United States Lance Compa
24. Organizing for workplace rights when immigration law discourages it Leticia M. Saucedo
25. The central role of the right to strike Julius Getman
26. Organizational power for workers within the firm Matthew T. Bodie
27. Returning members-only collective bargaining to the American workplace: how to restore labor's countervailing power Charles J. Morris: Part VI. Unions, Civil Society, and Culture: 28. Can labor law reform encourage robust economic democracy? Brishen Rogers
29. Union security for the twenty-first century Catherine L. Fisk
30. Union membership and the Ghent system Matthew Dimick
31. Principled hope: labor law reform from an alt-labor perspective Cesar F. Rosado Marzan
32. Politically engaged unionism: the culinary workers union in Las Vegas Ruben J. Garcia
33. Union commitment to racial diversity Michael Z. Green
34. The economics of minimum wage regulations Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde
35. The role of labor research and education in the labor movement of the twenty-first century: the UCLA Labor Center and the CLEAN Carwash Campaign Victor Narro
Index.

Subject Areas: Employment & labour law [LNH], Law [L], Labour economics [KCF], Politics & government [JP]