Sectoral Bargaining in the United States

doi:10.1017/9781108885362.008

5 - Sectoral Bargaining in the United States

Historical Roots of a Twenty-First Century Renewal

from Part II - History, Politics, and Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2022

Nelson Lichtenstein

Edited by

Angela B. Cornell and

Mark Barenberg

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Angela B. Cornell: Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Mark Barenberg: Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York

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Summary

Because of the virtual demise of firm centered collective bargaining, many labor partisans have rediscovered a form of wage determination originating in the Progressive Era. Sectoral bargaining encompasses an effort to win better conditions in an entire occupation or industry. Instead of a collective bargaining contract, standard-setting laws or codes are enacted, either by the legislature or a state board that sets wages and working conditions once all the stakeholders have had their say. Just as civil rights laws apply to all US workplaces regardless of the attitude of workers or employers, so too would a wage board promulgate a set of work standards that are equally universal, at least within the industry and region over which the board has jurisdiction.

Keywords

collective bargaining sectoral bargaining organized labor progressive era

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy , pp. 87 - 101

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108885362.008 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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5 - Sectoral Bargaining in the United States

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