In Defense of Industrial Pluralism
![handle is hein.journals/dlr87 and id is 263 raw text is: In Defense of Industrial Pluralism
James T. Carney*
I. Introduction
Industrial pluralism is a fundamental concept that has domi-
nated the theory and practice of collective bargaining since the late
1940s. In a lengthy article published in the June 1981 issue of the
Yale Law Journal,' Katherine Van Wezel Stone launched a far-
reaching attack upon the concept of industrial pluralism. The pur-
pose of this article is to answer that attack.
II. The Concept of Industrial Pluralism
Industrial pluralism envisions collective bargaining as a form of
self-government under which the participants legislate rules for the
workplace and establish tribunals to oversee the application of these
rules to individual cases.
Industrial pluralism is the view that collective bargaining is
self-government by management and labor: management and la-
bor are considered to be equal parties who jointly determine the
conditions of the sale of labor power. The collective bargaining
process is said to function like a legislature in which management
and labor, both sides representing their separate constituencies,
engage in debate and compromise, and together legislate the rules
under which the workplace will be governed. The set of rules that
results is alternatively called a statute or a constitution-the basic
industrial pluralist metaphors for the collective bargaining
agreement.
* A.B. 1964, Yale University; LL.B., 1967, Yale University; General Attorney, Em-
ployee Benefits, United States Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
i. Stone, The Post War Paradigm in American Labor Law, 90 YALE L.J. 1509 (1981)
[hereinafter cited as Stone].
2. Stone, supra note I, at 1511. Although industrial pluralism is pictured by Stone as a
World War II and post-war development, its roots extend back to the beginning of the twenti-
eth century. See FINAL REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION CREATED BY ACT OF CON-
GRESS, 1898 804 (1902):
By the organization of labor, and by no other reasons, it is possible to introduce an
element of democracy into the government of industry. By this means, only the
workers can effectively take part in determining the conditions under which they
work. This becomes true in the fullest and best sense when employers frankly meet
the representatives of the workmen and deal with them as partners equally interested
in the conduct of affairs.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/dlr87&div=17&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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In Defense of Industrial Pluralism
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