Regulating the Workplace in the Global Economy
Georgetown University Law Center
Spring 2012
Professor Alvaro Santos
asantos@law.georgetown.edu
Class Hours: Mon. 3:30-5:30
Room: H520
Office Hours:
Tue. 5:10-7:10pm (Room MD 460)
Assistant: Lydia McDaniel (mcdaniel@law.georgetown.edu)
Description
This seminar will explore the changing nature of the workplace and challenges to
workplace regulation in the global market. It will examine important academic and policy
debates about how best to create jobs, improve working conditions, and promote economic
growth and well being. We will analyze how a variety of factors, such as new modes of
production and technologies, increasing participation of women in the economy, widespread
migration flows, increasing global trade and capital mobility, and the rise of informal
economies challenge the assumptions underlying traditional labor and employment regulation
in both developed and developing countries. We will consider an array of innovative attempts
– national, international, transnational, public, private and mixed -- to improve workplace
conditions and assure employment opportunity consistent with economic growth and
stability. We will also inquire about the moral and political commitments associated with
various approaches and their critiques.
There are no prerequisites. All students are welcome.
Materials:

Readings available on the course Blackboard. (BB)
Requirements:
1. Reaction papers. Students will be required to submit three, single-spaced reaction papers
(1000 words max.) during the semester (20%). Students should write one paper for a session
of their choice by the following dates:
o 1st - Feb 23
o 2nd - March 26
o 3rd - April 23
Papers should be submitted to the discussion board by 8pm on the day before selected
materials are discussed in class.
2. Participation (20%)
3. Final paper:
a. 3-credit option (research paper): 25-30 double-spaced pages (60%).
b. 2-credit option: 10-15 double-spaced pages (60%).
Syllabus
Part I: The Transformation of Labor
1. The debate over globalization and labor (Jan.23)
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MARTIN WOLF, WHY GLOBALIZATION WORKS. Chapter 10
DANI RODRIK, HAS GLOBALIZATION GONE TOO FAR? (Washington, DC: IIE, 1997).
Chapter 1 & 5
ROBERT REICH, SUPERCAPITALISM. Chapter 3.
2. The Post-Industrial Employment Relationship (Jan.30)
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FREDERICK W. TAYLOR, THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT (1911) (excerpts).
KATHERINE V.W. STONE, FROM WIDGETS TO DIGITS: EMPLOYMENT REGULATION FOR
THE CHANGING WORKPLACE (2004) P. 27-86.
ROBERTO UNGER, DEMOCRACY REALIZED (excerpts)
3. The Regulatory Debate: Law and the Market Economy (Feb.6)
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Richard Epstein, In Defense of the Contract at Will, 51 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW
REVIEW, 947-982 (1984), (excerpts)
John J. Donohue, Understanding the Reasons for and Impact of Legislatively Mandated
Benefits for Selected Workers, 53 Stan. L. Rev. 897 (2000-2001)
Simon Deakin and Frank Willkinson, Labour Law and Economic Theory: A Reappraisal, in
LEGAL REGULATION OF THE EMPLOYMENT RELATION (eds. Collins et al.)
4. Globalization and Labor Markets’ Regulation (Feb.13)
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IMF, World Economic Outlook: Advancing Structural Reforms (2004, chapter 3)
Doing Business 2004 & 2005 (World Bank) (excerpts)
Alvaro Santos, Labor Flexibility, Legal Reform, and Economic Development, 50 Va. J. Int'l
L. 43-106 (2009).
Kerry Rittich, 2003. “Core Labor Rights and Labor Market Flexibility: Two Paths Entwined?” in
The International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, eds., Labor Law Beyond
Alvaro Santos
Seminar: Workplace Regulation in the Global Economy
Page 2 of 6
Borders: ADR and the Internationalization of Labor Dispute Settlement (The Netherlands:
Kluwer Law International), pp. 157-208
5. Workers’ Rights as Human Rights? (*Thursday* Feb.23)
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Virginia A. Leary, The Paradox of Workers' Rights as Human Rights, in Human Rights,
Labor Rights, and International Trade, Lance Compa & Stephen Diamond, eds. (1996).
Roy Adams, Choice or Voice? Rethinking American Labor Policy in Light of the
International Human Rights Consensus, 5 Employee Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. 521(2001).
Sarah H. Cleveland, Global Labor Rights and the Alien Tort Claims Act (reviewing Human
Rights, Labor Rights, And International Trade, Lance A. Compa & Stephen F. Diamond
eds.), 76 Tex. L. Rev. 1533 (1998).
Clyde Summers, The Battle in Seattle: Free Trade, Labor Rights, and Societal Values, 22 U.
Pa. J. Int’l Econ. L. 61 (2001) pp. 61-89.
Optional readings:
 Harry Arthurs, The Role of Global Law Firms in Constructing or Obstructing a Transitional
Regime of Labour Law, in Rules and Networks: The Legal Culture of Global Business
Transactions, R. Appelbaum, W. Felstiner & V. Gessner (eds.) (2001) pp. 273-293.
 Klaus Samson, The Standard-Setting and Supervisory System of the International Labour
Organisation, in AN INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION
OF HUMAN RIGHTS (Raija Hanski & Markku Suksi eds., 1997) pp. 149-153.
 Lance Compa, …And the Twain Shall Meet? A North-South Controversy Over Labor
Rights andTrade, 23 Labor Research Review 50 (1995), pp. 50-65.
 Kate E. Andrias, Gender, Work, and the NAFTA Labor Side Agreement, 37 U.S.F. L. Rev.
521 (2003).
6. Work and Contingency: The “Non-Employee” Workforce (Feb. 27)
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ROTHSTEIN & LIEBMAN, EMPLOYMENT LAW (5TH ED. 2003) PP 81-115.
WILBORN, SCHWAB & BURTON, EMPLOYMENT LAW (2ND ED. 1998) P. 25-29.
STEPHEN F. BEFORT, REVISITING THE BLACK HOLE OF WORKPLACE REGULATION: A
HISTORICAL ANDCOMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE OF CONTINGENT WORK, 24 BERKELEY J.
EMP. & LAB. L. 153 (2003).
*March 2 – Topic, statement and bibliography due
Spring break – March 4-11
7. From Security to Employability: Welfare-to-Work Reforms and the Centrality of
Workforce Development (March 12)
Required:
Alvaro Santos
Seminar: Workplace Regulation in the Global Economy
Page 3 of 6
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JOHN LANGBEIN AND B. WOLK, PENSION AND EMPLOYEE BENEFIT LAW (2000) PP 16-33.
DAVID CHARNY, THE EMPLOYEE WELFARE STATE IN TRANSITION, 74 TEX. L. REV. 1601
(1996).
KATHERINE V.W. STONE, FROM WIDGETS TO DIGITS: EMPLOYMENT REGULATION FOR
THE CHANGING WORKPLACE (2004) P. 243-288.
Optional:
 Michael A. Graetz and Jerry L. Mashaw, True Security: Rethinking American Social
Insurance (1999) 69-91.
Part II The Challenges and Opportunities of Global Labor Markets
8. The Effects of Global Labor Markets on Gender (March 19)
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Guy Standing, Global Feminization Through Flexible Labor: A Theme Revisited, 27:3
World Development 583 (1999)
Sassen, Saskia, Women's Burden: Counter-Geographies of Globalization and the
Feminization of Survival, 71 Nordic Journal of International Law 255 92002)
Cossman and J. Fudge, “Introduction”, Brenda Cossman and Judy Fudge, eds., Privatization,
Law, and the Challenge to Feminism (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), excerpts
*March 13 – Outline due
9. A Race to Where?: “Soft Law” Approaches to Work Regulation (March 26)
Required:
 David M. Trubek, Jim Mosher & Jeffrey S. Rothstein, Transnationalism in the Regulation of
Employment Relations: International Regimes and Transnational Advocacy Networks, 25
Law & Soc. Inquiry 1187 (2000).
 Claire Moore Dickerson, Transnational Codes of Conduct Through Dialogue, Leveling the
Playing Field for Developing – Country Workers, 53 Florida L. Rev. 611 (2001)
 Bob Hepple, A Race to the Top? International Investment Guidelines and Corporate Codes
of Conduct, 20 Comp Lab. L. & Pol’y J. 347 (1999).
 Charles Sabel, Dara O'Rourke and Archon Fung, Ratcheting Labor Standards: Regulation
for
Continuous
Improvement
in
the
Global
Workplace
(2000),
http://www2.law.columbia.edu/sabel/papers/fintimes.pdf
Optional
 Archon Fung, Dara O'Rourke, and Charles Sabel, Can We Put an End to Sweatshops? A
New Democracy Forum on Raising Global Labor Standards (2001) pp. 1-23.
 Adelle Blackett, Global Governance, Legal Pluralism and the Decentered State: A Labor
Law Critique of Codes of Corporate Conduct, 8 Ind. J. Global Legal Stud. 401 (2001).
Alvaro Santos
Seminar: Workplace Regulation in the Global Economy
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Owen E. Herrnstadt, Voluntary Corporate Codes of Conduct: What’s Missing? 16 Lab. Law.
349 (2001).
Gadbaw and Medwig, Multinational Enterprises and International Labor Standards: Which
Way for Development and Jobs?, in Compa and Diamond, Human Rights, Labor Rights and
International Trade (1996), pp. 141-162
*March 30 – Draft due
10. Labor and Corporate Governance (April 2)
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Mark Roe, Political Preconditions to the Separation of Ownership and Control, STANFORD LAW
REVIEW, VOL. 53, (2000)
Damon A. Silvers, “Challenging Wall Street’s Conventional Wisdom: Defining a Worker-Owner View
of Value,” in WORKING CAPITAL: THE POWER OF LABOR’S PENSIONS, Fung, et al. eds,
Cornell University Press (2001),
Marleen O'connor, Labor's Role In The Shareholder Revolution
Damon Silvers, Origins and Goals of the Fight for Proxy Access
Part III: Reinventing the Workplace
11. Institutions of Workplace Democracy I: Reviving Traditional Unionism (April 9)
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Cynthia L. Estlund, The Ossification of American Labor Law, 102 Colum. L. Rev. 1527
(2002) pp. 1530-35.
Shauna L. Olney, Unions in a Changing World: Problems and Prospects in Selected
Industrialized Countries (ILO, 1996) pp. 60-65.
Terry Collingsworth, Resurrecting the National Labor Relations Act—Plant Closings and
Runaway Shops in a Global Economy, 14 Berkeley J. Emp. & Lab. L. 72 (1993) pp. 85-104.
Optional:
W.J. Diamond and R. Freeman, Will Unionism Prosper in Cyberspace? The Promise of the
Internet for Employee Organization, British J. of Industrial Relations Vol 40:3 (2002).
 Bita Rahebi, Rethinking the National Labor Relations Board’s Treatment of Temporary
Workers: Granting Greater Access to Unionization, UCLA L. Rev. 1105 (2000).
 Craig Becker, Labor Law Outside the Employment Relation, 74 Tex. L. Rev. 1527 (1996),
pp. 1527-1562.
 Charles Heckscher, The New Unionism (1988) pp. 185-191.
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12. Institutions of Workplace Democracy II: Alternative Models of Organizing (April 16)
*** Guest speaker: Craig Becker”
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Jennifer Gordon, Suburban Sweatshops: The Fight for Immigrant Rights (2004).
William H. Simon, The Community Economic Development Movement: Law, Business, and
the New Social Policy (2002) (Ch. 1).
Alvaro Santos
Seminar: Workplace Regulation in the Global Economy
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Rachel Geman, Safeguarding Employee Rights in a Post-Union World: A New Conception
of Employee Communities, 30 COLUM. J.L. & SOC. PROBS. 369 (1997)
Ruth Milkman, New Workers, New Labor, and the New Los Angeles, in Unions in a
Globalized Environment, 103-126, B. Nissen (ed.) (2002).
Optional:
James Atleson, The Voyage of the Neptune Jade: Transnational Labour Solidarity and the
Obstacles of Domestic Law, in LABOUR LAW IN AN ERA OF GLOBALIZATION,
379-399,J. Conaghan, R.M. Fischl & K. Klare (eds.) (2002).
Henry J. Frundt, Four Models of Cross-Border Maquila Organizing, in UNIONS IN A
GLOBALIZED ENVIRONMENT, 45-61, B. Nissen (ed.) (2002).
Abel Valenzuela, Jr., Day Laborers as Entrepreneurs?, 27 J. OF ETHNIC & MIGRATION
STUDIES 335 (2001)
Roger Waldinger, et al., Helots No More: A Case Study of the Justice for Janitors Campaign
in Los Angeles, in Kate Bronfenbrenner, et al., eds., Organizing To Win: New Research on
Union Strategies (1998) pp. 102-119.
13. Institutions of Workplace Democracy III: Alternative Models of Employee (April 23)
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Karl Klare, The Labor-Management Cooperation Debate: A Workplace Democracy
Perspective, 23 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Rev. 39 (1988), pp. 69-81.
Katherine V.W. Stone, Employee Representation in a Boundaryless Workplace, 77 Chi.Kent L.Rev. 773 (2002).
Paul Weiler, Governing the Workplace (1990), pp. 225-241
Alan Hyde, Employee Caucus: A Key Institution in the Emerging System of Employment
Law, in Matthew Finkin, ed., The Legal Future of Employee Representation (1994), pp. 146
– 190.
Optional
 Joel Rogers and Wolfgang Streeck, Work Councils (1995), pp. 6-24 and 393-402.
 Dunlop Commission: REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION
ON THE FUTURE OF WORKER-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS 35-40 (1994).
 Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 1997 (TEAM Act) S. 295.
14. Movie Night (April, date TBD)

Morristown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tdfW0ccOY)
*April 30 - Final papers due for 3Ls
*May 15 – Final papers due for 2Ls
Alvaro Santos
Seminar: Workplace Regulation in the Global Economy
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