Labor Law

This course examines the law governing the collective organization of workers. Our primary focus will be on the legal regulation of union organizing; collective bargaining; strikes and other forms of worker protest; and political activity by unions. But we will also consider emerging forms of worker organizations other than traditional unionism, including worker cooperatives, employee-owned workplaces, and community-based worker centers. Examples will be drawn from the current upsurge in campaigns to form worker organizations at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, Google and many other corporations,

Special attention will be paid to contemporary proposals for reform of outmoded labor laws, against the backdrop of recent political upheavals and economic crises. We will examine the Democratic and Republican parties' reform proposals, but we will also consider historical and comparative models of Social Democracy and imagined models of Democratic Socialism. The relationships among workplace conditions, the current crisis of democracy, and gross economic and racial inequality are central to the course. As time permits, we will examine the impact of globalization on workers, and concurrent developments in international labor law.

The course is entirely self-contained. That is, students need have no prior knowledge of workplace relations, economics, political theory, or the various bodies of law that intersect with labor law; the course readings and class discussion will cover everything you need to know.