Toward a Free-Market Union Law

In what follows, I will set out my formulation of the criteria for voluntary exchange in any market, including the labor market, and consider what these criteria imply for strikes and “yellow-dog” (union-free) contracts. Next, I will show how the NLA and the NLRA violate those criteria. Then I will briefly examine what Hayek and Hutt had to say about voluntary unionism. Finally, I will examine some of the provisions of the ECA as possible components of an American free-market union law. I have examined the usefulness of the ECA as a guide to building voluntary unionism elsewhere (Baird 2001). Here I do so in a bit more depth