Solving the Problem from Hell: Tripartism as a Strategy for Addressing Labour Standards Non-Compliance in the United States

The crises of wage theft and industrial accidents in low-wage America reflect erosion of the social contract but they also reflect a crisis in labour standards enforcement. This article draws upon archival material, case studies, and interviews to make the case for tripartism—an enforcement regime that partners workers’ organizations with government inspectors to patrol workers’ industries and labour markets for unfair competition. It extends to the federal level previous work in which Jennifer Gordon and i have documented dynamic contemporary examples of tripartism at the state and local levels. The article explores historical precedents for tripartist collaboration on the federal level at the Department of Labor (DOL) in the Wage and Hour Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It then considers several tripartist initiatives at the DOL under the Obama administration, the legal obstacles that purportedly stand in the way of more robust approaches, and some potential solutions. The article concludes with an explanation of why formalizing partnerships matters.