This is the first book on a crucial issue in human resource management. In recent years, employers have begun to require, as a condition of employment, that their nonunion employees agree to arbitrate rather than litigate any employment disputes, including claims of discrimination. As the number of employers considering such a requirement soars, so does the fear that compulsory arbitration may eviscerate the statutory rights of employees. Richard A. Bales explains that the advantages of arbitration are clear. Much faster and less expensive than litigation, arbitration provides a forum for the many employees who are shut out of the current litigative system by the cost and by the tremendous backlog of cases. On the other hand, employers could use arbitration abusively. Bales views the current situation as an ongoing experiment. As long as the courts continue to enforce agreements that are fundamentally fair to employees, the experiment will continue. After tracing the history of employment arbitration in the nonunion sector, Bales explains how employment arbitration has actually worked in the securities industry and at Brown & Root, a company with a comprehensive dispute resolution process. He concludes by summarizing the advantages, disadvantages, and policy implications of adopting arbitration as the preeminent method of resolving disputes in the American workforce.

This open access book opens up the black box of mediation in collective conflicts through the analyses and comparisons of various systems. Mediation and related third party interventions such as conciliation and facilitation are discussed as effective prevention and regulation tools for different types of collective labor conflicts. These interventions fit in a new developed five-phase model of collective conflicts in organizations, going from capacity building in latent conflicts, through conciliation, mediation and arbitration in escalating phases, to rebuilding of trust after hot conflicts. The authors promote understanding and discussion with regards to labor mediation systems, presenting comparative research on the perspectives of mediators and users of mediation. This book describes and analyses laws, regulations and practices of mediation in seventeen countries, with a relative strong emphasis on Europe. Part 1 presents theoretical frameworks on conciliation and mediation in collective labor conflicts. Part 2 presents regulations and practices in 12 European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Part 3 discusses mediation in these collective conflicts in Australia, China, India, South Africa and the USA. Part 4 offers conclusions and ways forward. This book offers analyses, good practices and developments for third party intervention in collective labor conflicts in global and local changing environments. This book is a must-read for policy makers, , social partners at different levels, as well as scholars and practitioners in industrial relations, human resources management and conflict management, particularly conciliators and mediators.

First published in 1991, Rethinking Labour-Management Relations explores how the contemporary system of industrial relations developed and outlines proposals for a better alternative. The book examines the positives and negatives of three systems of industrial relations: a freely operating market for labour where workers bargain individually with employers; a strike-based system of collective bargaining; and, a compulsory arbitration system. It discusses how the strike replaced individual bargaining, highlighting the deficiencies in these respective systems and presenting arbitration as the more efficient and effective way of settling disputes. In doing so, the book emphasises the role of the parties involved in finding solutions and considers how government intervention could be kept to a minimum. Exploring a wealth of literature relating to compulsory arbitration systems around the world and formulating a set of criteria for establishing the best possible form of arbitration, Rethinking Labour-Management Relations will appeal to those with an interest in the history of trade union theory, public policy, and labour law.