7329. Labor Law, Adv: The Legal Regulation of Strikes, Picketing, and Secondary Boycotts

This course will explore the regulation of strikes, picketing, and secondary boycotts under the National Labor Relations Act. Thus, we will take a close look at the “right to strike”; at the contours of that “right” with respect to different kinds of job actions (e.g., strikes in support of bargaining demands and workplace grievances vs. strikes to protest employer unfair labor practices vs. strikes to protest and avoid unsafe working conditions); and at the lawful counter-measures employers may deploy in response (e.g., hiring replacements for the striking workers). Then we will examine the right to picket and, in particular, the limits imposed by the Labor Act on so-called “recognitional” picketing – i.e., picketing for the purpose of pressuring an employer to recognize and bargain with a union. Finally, we will explore the Labor Act’s general prohibition on secondary boycotts (i.e., economic pressure – like a consumer boycott – aimed not at the target employer but instead at the employer’s suppliers or customers); the major “exceptions” to that prohibition (e.g., when the boycotted firm is engaged by the target employer to perform the work ordinarily done by striking workers); and the considerable tension between the regulation of boycotts and the First Amendment. Pre/Co-Requisite: Labor Law I (LAW7766).