Collective Bargaining and the Law

Pleasure, R. J. (2000, Fall). Collective Bargaining and the LaborManagement Antitrust Exemption. Journal of Labor Research (21), p. 557.

Pleasure presents a literature review in order to put forth that there are significant gaps in the application of antitrust legislation regarding employees and independent contractors in the workplace. By reviewing Supreme Court decisions, legislation passed during the late 1800s and early 1900s, injunctions against labor unions and the current environment (which, according to Pleasure, may well be seeking to impose additional antitrust limitations on workers), Pleasure presents an argument that the goal of the Sherman Antitrust Act was not to limit the ability of workers to organize and associate, but was rather intended to protect the consuming public from the organization of companies to control prices of goods (Pleasure, 2000, p. 558).

The heart of Pleasure's article rests on the growing tendency of companies to use independent contractors instead of traditional employees to perform everyday tasks. Employees would be permitted to organize without violating antitrust regulations, but independent contractors are not granted the same opportunity, even when they are performing the exact jobs as those done by employees. This, according to Pleasure, unfairly restricts their right to unionize and associate, and results in downward pressure on wages as well as lower social benefits to the larger community (Pleasu

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ndermining efficient levels of output. Monopsony, or single-buyer power, would lead to unacceptable social costs of reduced employment, output, and quality. For the foregoing reasons, the notion of repeal of the "labor exemption" has slight support, both in academic literature and in public policy debate. Most notably, it is popular among those who find inspiration in the so-called Austrian school of economics represented in the work of Friedrich August Von Hayek. See, for example, Baird's writings cited in my References. Baird's views on the exemption are reflected in the Heritage Foundation's Issues `96: The Candidate's Briefing Book, which calls for repeal of the Norris-LaGuardia Act "to remove union special privileges." Baird is listed as one of the five experts who contributed to the Briefing Book section on Labor, Employment, and Wages. Does the theme of special privilege reflect an old resentment that predates the recent very active management practice of seeking shelter under the so-called labor exemption? Or is "privilege" a notion that simply fails to account for the labor-management character of the exemption, which received a great deal of attention in 1996 after the court's decision in Brown v. ProFootball, Inc.? In

Category: Government - C