Agenda for Reform: The Future of Employment Relationships and the Law

Abstract

For years William Gould has argued for labor law reform that would facilitate trade union organization and collective bargaining. That position, which he expands upon in this latest book, is based on his belief in the value of pluralism, the importance of employee participation in the economy as well as the political process, and the effectiveness of unions in best advocating employee interests in the workplace. In the face of increased erosion in worker protection and weakening of the collective bargaining process, Gould proposes an agenda of reforms to balance the interests of management and workers, and to protect employee participation and job security.Each chapter presents in-depth summaries of developed areas of labor or employment law and related policies. At the core of Gould's discussion are the workings and usefulness of the National Labor Relations Act. Gould first provides a history of the past and current labor management relationships - how we got where we are today - and then reviews and evaluates such factors as the possible repeal or reform of the NLRA, the possible increase in worker participation plans, the change in the use of the strike weapon, wrongful discharge law, the protections afforded nonunion employees, and race relations as factors that will affect the future of the labor management relationship and, consequently, the future of industrial relations.William B. Gould IV is Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. An impartial arbitrator of labor disputes since 1965, he is a member of the Clinton Administration's Committee on the Future of Worker Management Relations. He is the author of A Primer on American Labor Law.