Union Dispossession of Labor Protection: A Paradox, in Two Legal Systems

It is not uncommon for legislatures, in fabricating labor law protections, to permit unions to agree to derogate downward from them – to dispossess the workers they represent of rights the workers would enjoy were they not to be union-represented. This is so, for example, of the United States and Germany. This article explores labor dispossession in these two jurisdictions: on what matters, for what reasons, with what consequences and subject to what cautions is collective derogation allowed; and to see what conclusions can be drawn that are generalizable across these jurisdictions or that are cabined to them.