On March 23, 1988, United States Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge a 1981 amendment Food Stamp Act which provided that no household could become eligible receive food stamps during time that any of its members was on strike (Lyng v. International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW, 108 S. Ct. 1184 [1988]).1 At same time, West German Parliament amended Act of Employment Promotion disqualify from unemployment benefits all employees thrown out of work by an industrial conflict who are represented by a union which asserts claims equal in kind and in those which are subject of dispute (p. 763). This amendment is currently being challenged before West German Constitutional Court (p. 764). These attempts withdraw state support from striking workers and those indirectly affected by work stoppages, whether they be striker's family or workers in another region, are but one of parallels between West German and United States labor law brought mind by a reading of Professor Weiss's article. Existing comparative studies of labor law have emphasized what Derek Bok called the distinctive character of American labor laws (Bok, 1971: 1394).2 These studies have sought root unique American system of labor relations in differences in culture or social organization (Bok, 1971) or, conversely, explore implication of a distinctive legal ideology for American labor movement (Forbath, 1987; Rogers, 1987). This focus on differences has also raised question of transplantation: whether and under what circumstances it is possible to use a pattern of law outside environment of its origin (Kahn-Freund, 1974: 27). But perhaps precisely because Weiss's article is not expressly comparative, it raises doubts about exceptionalist premise of this body of comparative work. By focusing not on broad outlines of West German regulation of labor, but rather on current tensions within law, Weiss's article allows us perceive that despite vast differences between West German and American systems-differences in form and extent of labor organization,