Dannin, Dean & Singh on Law Reform and Collective Bargaining

Larry Solum of the Legal Theory Blog brings to our attention a new labor law book by Ellen Dannin (Penn State/Dickinson) (pictured left), Michelle Dean (San Diego State - Business) and Gangaram Singh (San Diego State - Management) entitled Law Reform, Collective Bargaining, and the Balance of Power (Working USA, 2008).

Here is the abstract:

Despite Congress' having made clear policy statements in the National Labor Relations Act that the law was intended to promote equality of bargaining power between employers and employees; to promote the practice and procedure of collective bargaining as the method of setting workplace terms and conditions of employment; and forbidding construing the law "so as to either interfere with or impede or diminish in any way the right to strike," by early 1940, the courts had given employers the right to permanently replace strikers and implement their final offer at impasse. Judges have often justified these doctrines as promoting balance in bargaining. Critics contend that the doctrines have the capacity to destroy the right to strike, unbalance bargaining power, and divert parties from the process of bargaining collectively. Some have proposed allowing temporary but not permanent striker replacement. We use a bargaining simulation followed by a survey and debriefing comments to test these opposing claims.

Very interesting. Mackay Radio has always been the bane of the labor movement and I would guess that the claims of management needs for permanent replacements during an economic strike don't hold up.  But, of course, the overruling of Mackay Radio or a new amendment to the NLRA disallowing permanent replacements probably is not something that can be expected anytime soon.

PS