The Relative Bargaining Power of Employers and Unions in the Global Information Age: A Comparative Analysis of the United States and Japan

In this paper, we examine and compare the impact of American and Japanese labor law on the relative bargaining power of the labor and management within the context of the new global economy based on information technology. We begin by providing a simple economic definition of bargaining power and examining how it can be influenced by economic and legal factors. Next we discuss the impact of the new information technology and global economy on the employment relationship and how this has decreased union bargaining power relative to management bargaining power. Finally, we compare various facets of American and Japanese labor law that have a significant impact on the parties’ relative bargaining power and discuss how one might expect American and Japanese unions to fare in their negotiations with management in the new economic environment. ∗ Willard and Margaret Carr Professor of Labor and Employment Law, Indiana University—Bloomington. JD (1981), University of Michigan—Ann Arbor; PhD (economics, 1984), University of Michigan—Ann Arbor. This article was first presented July 15, 2008 in Tokyo Japan as part of the RIETI project on “‘Enterprise Law’ as an Infrastructure of an Incentive Mechanism.” My thanks to Professors Zenichi Shishido and Gillian Lester for inviting me to make this presentation. ∗∗ Law Clerk & Peggy Browning Fund Summer Fellow, International Union, UAW Legal Department, Solidarity House, Detroit Michigan. JD / MPA Candidate (Expected 2009), Indiana University—Bloomington.