Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1960
Publication Information
35 Notre Dame L. 591 (1959-1960)
Abstract
Power to bring the nation's economy to a virtual standstill cannot be immune from legal accountability. That such power is lodged in some, at least, of the great national and international labor unions has been demonstrated repeatedly, most recently by the United Steelworkers. One can be wholly sympathetic with labor's aspirations and still reject the notion that the nation's economic health and safety should be dependent upon unilateral decisions by a group of private individuals—union members and their leaders—decisions taken for their own ends, however legitimate. So vast a power—terrifying in its potentialities—must be brought under reasonable legal controls.
The reason is simple and, in other contexts, long has been taken for granted: the public interest is paramount. Hence the law must intervene to protect the whole from the consequences of private action designed to benefit a few.
Partisans can be expected to dissent, but I believe most Americans will agree with the proposition I have just put forward. That, at any rate, represents the thinking behind this Symposium, whose purpose is to explore the sources and extent of labor-union power, its effects in terms of the public interest and how best to deal with the complex and difficult problems it raises.
Recommended Citation
Joseph O'Meara,
Foreword,
35 Notre Dame L. 591 (1959-1960).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/999
