Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

There has been substantial speculation concerning the future of labor arbitration in the United States. I There is no doubt that the American labor market has undergone a dramatic change over the past few decades. The decline of the traditionally unionized sectors of the economy, the globalization of domestic markets, and the blurring of the boundaries between secondary and primary labor markets underpin much of this change.2 These changes in the labor market have also contributed to the relative decline of organized labor in the United States. It is this decline in unionization that has given rise to the debate concerning the future of labor arbitration. Whether unions and, hence, arbitration are rapidly becoming relics of this nation's industrial past is a question yet to be resolved. However, there is no question that unions have been in decline since the mid-1950s in the private sector. The only area in which unions have made significant gains has been the public sector, primarily during the late 1960s and 1970s.