Refocusing Rights "On the Books": The State, Social Movement Organizations, and U.S. Labor Law
Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This dissertation examines recent efforts to refocus the enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)—the 1935 statute that granted workers the right to organize, strike, and bargain collectively. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has come under immense criticism for its inability to exploit the law to protect workers’ right to unionize in the face of economic changes and increased employer hostility to unions. Yet, in recent years officials in the agency have sought to expand their reach by promoting the NLRA's Section 7, which grants workers the right to “concerted activity” regardless of their union membership. By attempting to reach non-unionized workers who can mobilize the law to protect themselves when they voice demands to their employers, the Board has acknowledged that many workers today labor outside of unions’ reaches and are nevertheless in need of protections for self-organization and voice in the workplace. I explore these developments in the agency, along with the response from worker organizations and workers, and thus speak to the question of whether and how latent resources in existing laws can be deployed to protect disadvantaged groups. Drawing on agency documents and interviews, I find significant variation in the level to which agency officials have sought to reach non-unionized workers, especially at the regional level. Officials are more likely to conduct proactive outreach with groups representing non-unionized workers in parts of the country where they have more information about their needs. That information stems from organizing efforts from diverse organizations. Likewise, as more worker organizations—often referred to as “worker centers”—have learned about the relevance of the NLRA, only some of them have gone on to mobilize it. This finding can be traced to organizational identities and logics that make some laws more obvious tools than others. The dissertation thus speak to the opportunities and constraints that exist in laws long “on the books.” While laws may contain latent resources that can benefit disadvantaged groups, their potential is limited by the law's social embeddedness, and in particular, the relationships and identities that shape whether and how information about a statute is received and interpreted by societal and state actors alike.
Author: Jessica Garrick
Language: English
Topic: Labor Movements and Unions
Subfield: Industrial relations
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3135364173