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132 Int'l Lab. Rev. 453 (1993)
Recent Developments in Compulsory Unionism

handle is hein.journals/intlr132 and id is 467 raw text is: International Labour Review, Vol. 132, 1993, No. 4 Recent developments in compulsory unionism Morton G. MITCHNICK * C ompulsory unionism - involuntary association with a trade union through membership or the requirement to contribute the equivalent of periodic union dues - was at the heart of the Lavigne case, on which the Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled,1 opting for a radically different interpretation from that of its neighbour, the United States. While current attention to this issue has focused largely on the North American side of the Atlantic, some significant developments in the area have concurrently been unfolding in the United Kingdom and Denmark, so that a general review of the subject seems timely. Within western democracies the extent to which compulsory unionism has been an issue - or indeed, has been allowed to take root at all - has of course varied widely from one national jurisdiction to another. This article will first consider some of these variations as illustrated in the approaches adopted in Switzerland, Spain, Belgium and Germany, and will then examine in greater detail developments in the United Kingdom, Denmark, the United States and, finally, the Lavigne case in Canada. Variations in approach Switzerland In Switzerland the essentially laissez-faire attitude characteristic of that country's approach to economic matters generally extended to labour relations as well, and came to be reflected in its courts' outright rejection of any of the typical forms of compulsory membership arrangements.2 In 1956 this judicial proscription was formally enshrined in legislation when the Swiss Parliament expanded its Code of obligations to stipulate: •Former Chairman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board; writer and arbitrator. 'Lavigne v. Ontario Public Service Employees Union (1991), 2 S.C.R., pp. 211-352. 2 See, for example, Hauser v. Schweiz. Lithographenbund (1956), Entscheidungen des Schweizerischen Bundesgerichts, 82 II 308. Copyright © International Labour Organization 1993

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