Cooperation, Conflict, or Coercion: Using Empirical Evidence to Assess Labor-Management Cooperation

Since the 1980s there has been strong interest in labor-management cooperation. That interest was reflected even in government attention, for example, through projects by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor-Management Cooperation. Under the leadership of Undersecretary Stephen Schlossberg, the Bureau’s “Laws Project” examined the impact of labor law on labor-management cooperation. The Dunlop Commission issued a report strongly in favor of labor-management cooperation, and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chair William B. Gould has spoken favorably of it. More recently, the government issued a report on state and local initiatives in this area.