
Jonathan R. Harkavy has taught labor and employment law at Wake Forest School of Law and corporate finance at Duke Law School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. During the summers of 2018 and 2019, he has been a visiting research fellow in the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School.
Charlotte Garden’s insightful essay at Take Care about how antitrust laws are being used as a bludgeon against union collective action immediately brings to my mind Andrew Strom’s OnLabor post about the so-called “Powell Memo.” My hope is that considering these two posts together will fortify what both OnLabor contributors have to say.
To refresh, when Lewis Powell was at the height of his influence as a private practitioner in 1971, he wrote a memorandum for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that is now widely regarded as the blueprint for building a collective voice for the American business community. Witness Powell’s words about collective or unified action:
“But independent and uncoordinated activity by individual corporations, as important as this is, will not be sufficient. Strength lies in organization. . . and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.”
Fast forward nearly fifty years from the Powell memorandum: We can now better appreciate (recalling Lewis Powell’s own words) what Charlotte Garden wrote about—the collective might of the business community wielding, of all things, the antitrust laws to sap the “strength [that] lies in organization” and hamstring the “united action” of working people.
And so, it is ironic in the extreme, if not downright hypocritical, for the premier exponent and beneficiary of collective action—the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—to attempt (whether by the antitrust laws or otherwise) to deny to individuals who work for its members the benefits of a collective voice and unified action.
Daily News & Commentary
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April 7
State legislatures threaten to expand E-Verify coverage; the EEOC enforces at least parts of its PWFA regulations.
April 6
In today’s news and commentary, Alabama enacts paid parental leave for state employees, a new jobs report could be upended by tariff policies, and labor unions help plan mass demonstrations across the country. In Alabama, Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill that provides paid parental leave to state employees, including public school teachers. The law, […]
April 4
Colorado Senate Bill 5 sparks heated debate over union security thresholds; SEIU launches national ad campaign protesting detention of union members; 60,000 UC workers strike over alleged unfair labor practices.
April 3
Chicago Teachers Union reaches tentative agreement; SEIU rallies for first amendment protection; Representatives introduce Protect America's Workforce Act.
April 2
Local academic unions face pushback in negotiations
April 1
In today’s news and commentary, Aramark workers at Philly stadiums reach tentative agreement, Crystal Carey is poised to take general counsel at NLRB, President Trump’s nominees for key DOL positions, and the National Treasury Employees Union sues the Trump administration. UNITE HERE Local 274, which represents thousands of food service workers in the Philadelphia region, […]