This course explores the law of workers’ collective action. Broadly speaking, the major topics we study are: 1) the legal framework for union organizing, and of various other forms of worker collective action and worker protest; 2) the public recognition of labor organizations and subsequent regulation of the collective bargaining relationship; 3) the legal constitution of labor unions as functioning organizations. We look at the development of the law, its current operation, and where it may go. We focus mainly on the National Labor Relations Act, related case-law and agency decisions. Further, we aim to think about labor law not just as a series of decisions and rules, but also in terms of the living organizations with specific institutional dynamics — labor unions — that it governs. Time permitting, we may consider additional topics, such as historical and comparative perspectives on labor law, interaction with other areas of law and with changing business models, and labor law reform proposals.
