This paper asks whether the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) can remain relevant in a competitive economy where nonunion employer discretion is the low-cost workplace governance form. We explore changes that would enhance worker participation and individual and collective voice in the non-union (and possibly union) private sector. Examined are changing the labor law default to some form of a non-union works council and narrowing the NLRA’s restrictions against company-sponsored worker groups. The impact of either change would be modest. Neither is politically likely. Such legal innovations, however, might produce workplace outcomes preferable to those likely to evolve under the current legal framework.
