A Touchstone for Labor Board Remedies

Abstract

Fashion dictates what lawyers argue about, and law professors write about, more than we may care to admit. In labor law, especially, the styles change with a rapidity that would impress a Paris couturier. During the past decade the spotlight has moved from union democracy to labor contract enforcement to the union organizing campaign. Today the in topic is National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) remedies. Yet if any subject deserves immunity from the vagaries of fashion, this is the one; for all rights acquire substance only insofar as they are backed by effective remedies. Coke said it long ago: [W]ant of right, and want of remedy are in one equipage. This article will not focus upon any particular type of Labor Board remedy. Instead, I shall discuss certain general tests for determining the validity and propriety of Board orders, and then try to show how these tests might apply in various circumstances