The NLRB, Labor Courts, and Industrial Tribunals: A Selective Comparison

Abstract

This paper compares the National Labor Relations Board with the French, West German, and Swedish labor courts and the British industrial tribunals. Attributes compared are composition, the effects of politicization on membership appointment and the quality of decisions, the procedural importance of conciliation, and delays. The author concludes that, questions of efficiency and equity aside, substituting a European-model labor court system for the system the NLRA instituted is impracticable for political, structural, and other reasons. He also suggests that many of the perceived shortcomings of the NLRB result from employers' increasing resistance to unionism and violation of the NLRA.