Work

When Monopolists Union-Bust: Antitrust Standards for Unilateral Labor Market Conduct

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This Article clarifies standards for evaluating whether a firm's unilateral labor market conduct (wage suppression) violates antitrust law. It begins by analyzing suppression of collective bargaining (union busting) as conduct that can violate § 2 of the Sherman Act. This Article is the first to argue that wage suppression can violate § 2 if the conduct (1) harms the competitive process within a labor market and increases monopsony (2) tends to exclude law-abiding rivals from product or service markets; or (3) forecloses any adjacent market. Conduct that satisfies any of these three standards can be restrained with antitrust law. The antitrust standards presented are applicable to any kind of unilateral labor market conduct, including worker misclassification, wage theft, restrictive covenants, employer-driven debt, or child labor.

Source: Journal of Law and Political Economy

DOI: 10.5070/lp60065481

Author: Michael Swerdlow

Institution: Columbia University

Language: English

Topic: Merger and Competition Analysis

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W7075903628