Unions and the Duty of Good Faith in Employment Contracts

Some American scholars of law and economics have expressed dismay at the anticompetitive and illiberal body of legal doctrine that is labor law.' Their respondents, often in other fields if not other countries, have defended unions and the laws that support them on both economic and ethical grounds.On the one hand, unions may contribute to efficient workplace governance and correct the monopsony power of employers in imperfect labor markets. 2 On the other hand, by increasing workers' bargaining power vis-Ai-vis firms, unions may effectuate distributive social policies by winning workers a larger fraction of firms' surplus.By affording employees more control over their work, unions may also leave them less alienated in 1. See, e.g.,