IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v73y2007i3p231-243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A New Approach to Resolving the Right-to-work Ethical Dilemma

Author

Listed:
  • Helen Lam
  • Mark Harcourt

Abstract

Union security has long been an industrial relations controversy. While compulsory unionism supporters say it benefits the working class, right-to-work advocates denounce it as an unethical infringement of individual rights and freedom. Unfortunately, neither side has adequately addressed the shortcomings of their viewpoint, nor the broader worker concerns about effective representation beyond just “unionismâ€\x9D. In this paper, we examine the ethical and practical problems of compulsory (union security) and voluntary (right-to-work) unionism and propose a new resolution, compulsory proportional representation, that has the advantages of: (a) ensuring workers’ freedom to associate or not associate, (b) promoting freedom to contract, (c) allowing free competition in representation in line with anti-trust principles, (d) improving industrial peace and efficiency, (e) enhancing fairness and social justice, and (f) addressing the employer–employee power imbalance. It is superior to either voluntary unionism, which often lead to management unilateralism, or compulsory unionism, where workers are compelled to join unions against their will. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Helen Lam & Mark Harcourt, 2007. "A New Approach to Resolving the Right-to-work Ethical Dilemma," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 231-243, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:73:y:2007:i:3:p:231-243
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9203-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-006-9203-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-006-9203-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James T. Bennett & Bruce E. Kaufman, 2001. "The Future of Private Sector Unionism in the U.S," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 22(2), pages 227-228, April.
    2. Peter Haynes & Jack Vowles & Peter Boxall, 2005. "Explaining the Younger– Older Worker Union Density Gap: Evidence from New Zealand," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(1), pages 93-116, March.
    3. David Fairris, 2002. "Are Transformed Workplaces More Productively Efficient?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 659-670, September.
    4. Olaf Hübler & Uwe Jirjahn, 2003. "Works Councils and Collective Bargaining in Germany: The Impact on Productivity and Wages," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 50(4), pages 471-491, September.
    5. Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez & Morley Gunderson & Noah Meltz, 2005. "Youth-Adult Differences in the Demand for Unionization: Are American, British, and Canadian Workers All That Different?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 26(1), pages 155-167, January.
    6. Carola M. Frege, 2002. "A Critical Assessment of the Theoretical and Empirical Research on German Works Councils," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 40(2), pages 221-248, June.
    7. Charles W. Baird, 2000. "Unions and Antitrust," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 21(4), pages 585-600, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simon Pek, 2019. "Rekindling Union Democracy Through the Use of Sortition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 1033-1051, April.
    2. Michelle Beauchamp & Sandra Benson & Lara Daniel, 2014. "Why the Doctor Will NOT See You Now: The Ethics of Enforcing Covenants Not to Compete in Physician Employment Contracts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(3), pages 381-398, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steffen Mueller & Jens Stegmaier, 2017. "The Dynamic Effects of Works Councils on Labour Productivity: First Evidence from Panel Data," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 372-395, June.
    2. A. van den Berg & Y.K. Grift & A. van Witteloostuijn & C. Boone & O. van der Brempt, 2013. "The effect of employee workplace representation on firm performance: A cross-country comparison within Europe," Working Papers 13-05, Utrecht School of Economics.
    3. Rafael Gralla & Kornelius Kraft, 2018. "Separating Introduction Effects from Selectivity Effects:Â The Differences in Employment Patterns of Codetermined Firms," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 32(1), pages 93-111, March.
    4. Steffen Müller & Jens Stegmaier, 2020. "Why is there resistance to works councils in Germany? An economic perspective," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 41(3), pages 540-561, August.
    5. Scholz, Robert, 2021. "Labour in the Board and Good Work: How to Measure and Evidence From Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 219-243.
    6. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2004. "The Course of Research into the Economic Consequences of German Works Councils," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(2), pages 255-281, June.
    7. VAN DEN BERG, Annette & GRIFT, Yolanda & VAN WITTELOOSTUIJN, Arjen & BOONE, Christophe & VAN DER BREMPT, Olivier, 2013. "The effect of employee workplace representation on firm performance. A cross-country comparison within Europe," Working Papers 2013008, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    8. David Metcalf, 2002. "Unions and Productivity, Financial Performance and Investment: International Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0539, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Gralla, Rafael & Kraft, Kornelius, 2012. "Higher Wages, Overstaffing or Both? The Employer's Assessment of Problems Regarding Wage Costs and Staff Level in Co-Determined Establishments," IZA Discussion Papers 7021, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Jens Mohrenweiser & Paul Marginson & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2012. "What triggers the establishment of a works council?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 33(2), pages 295-316, May.
    11. Christian Grund & Andreas Schmitt, 2013. "Works councils, wages and job satisfaction," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 299-310, January.
    12. Uwe Jirjahn & Steffen Mueller, 2014. "Non-union worker representation, foreign owners, and the performance of establishments," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 140-163, January.
    13. Jirjahn, Uwe, 2003. "Betriebsräte, Tarifverträge und betriebliches Lohnniveau (Works councils, wage agreements and the company wage level)," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 36(4), pages 649-660.
    14. Uwe Jirjahn & Jens Mohrenweiser & Uschi Backes‐Gellner, 2011. "Works Councils and Learning: On the Dynamic Dimension of Codetermination," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 427-447, August.
    15. Olaf Hübler, 2003. "Fördern oder behindern Betriebsräte die Unternehmensentwicklung?," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 4(4), pages 379-397, November.
    16. Jirjahn, Uwe, 2003. "Betriebsräte, Tarifverträge und betriebliches Lohnniveau (Works councils, wage agreements and the company wage level)," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 36(4), pages 649-660.
    17. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Lutz Bellmann, 2023. "Performance and the Conjunction of Better Management Practices and Non-Union Workplace Representation," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 1-43, June.
    18. Jens Stegmaier, 2012. "Effects of Works Councils on Firm-Provided Further Training in Germany," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 50(4), pages 667-689, December.
    19. VAN DEN BERG, Annette & GRIFT, Yolanda & VAN WITTELOOSTUIJN, Arjen & BOONE, Christophe & VAN DER BREMPT, Olivier, 2013. "The effect of employee workplace representation on firm performance. A cross-country comparison within Europe," ACED Working Papers 2013016, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    20. Metcalf, David, 2002. "Unions and productivity, financial performance and investment: international evidence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20072, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:73:y:2007:i:3:p:231-243. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.