This provocative book by the leading historian of the National Labor Relations Board offers a reexamination of the NLRB and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by applying internationally accepted human rights principles as standards for judgment. These new standards challenge every orthodoxy in U.S. labor law and labor relations. James A. Gross argues that the NLRA was and remains at its core a workers' rights statute. Gross shows how value clashes and choices between those who interpret the NLRA as a workers' rights statute and those who contend that the NLRA seeks only a "balance" between the economic interests of labor and management have been major influences in the evolution of the board and the law. Gross contends, contrary to many who would write its obituary, that the NLRA is not dead. Instead he concludes with a call for visionary thinking, which would include, for example, considering the U.S. Constitution as a source of workers' rights. Rights, Not Interests will appeal to labor activists and those who are trying to reform our labor laws as well as scholars and students of management, human resources, and industrial relations.

In a book that confronts the moral choices that U.S. corporations make every day in the treatment of their workers, James A. Gross issues a clarion call for the transformation of the American workplace based on genuine respect for human rights, rather than whatever the economic and regulatory landscape might allow. Gross questions the nation's underlying fabric of values as reflected in its laws and our assumptions about workers and the workplace.

Arguing that our market philosophy is incompatible with core principles of human rights, he forces readers to realign the country's labor policies so that they conform with the highest international human rights standards. To make his case, Gross assesses various aspects of U.S. labor relations freedom of association, racial discrimination, management rights, workplace safety, and human resources through the lens of internationally accepted human rights principles as standards of judgment.

His findings are chilling. "Employers who maintain workplaces that require men and women and sometimes even children to risk their lives and endanger their health and eyes and limbs in order to earn a living are treating human life as cheap and are seeking their own gain through the desecration of human life," Gross argues, and such behavior should be considered as crimes against humanity rather than matters of efficiency, productivity, or morale.

By revealing how truly unacceptable management's "best practices" can be when considered as human rights issues, A Shameful Business encourages a bold new vision for workers, whether organized or not, that would signify a radical rethinking of social values and the concept of workplace rights and justice in the courtroom, the boardroom, and on the shop floor."

The concept of human rights at work has advanced significantly in the last decade. The authors of the essays in Human Rights in Labor and Employment Relations focus in various ways on how the promotion and protection of human rights at workplaces here and around the world posit a new set of values and approaches that challenge every orthodoxy in the employment relations field, every practice and rule based in that orthodoxy, and even the underlying premises and intellectual foundations of contemporary labor and employment systems.

The authors constitute a diverse and accomplished group of human rights activists, practitioners, and scholars. Implementing the theme of the volume, they address a wide range of important subjects: worker health and safety, child labor, worker freedom of association, migrant and forced labor, the human rights obligations of employers, workplace discrimination, and workers with disabilities. The authors also discuss the implications of their findings for labor and employment research and, where relevant, make pragmatic proposals for change.

Contributors: Susanne M. Bruyere, Cornell University; Lance Compa, Cornell University; James A. Gross, Cornell University; Jeffrey Hilgert, Cornell University; Barbara Murray, International Labour Organization; Tonia Novitz, University of Bristol; Maria L. Ontiveros, University of San Francisco Law School; Edward E. Potter, Director of Global Workplace Rights, Coca-Cola Company and U.S. Employer Delegate, International Labour Organization Conference; Marika McCauley Sine, Global Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Coca-Cola Company; Rebecca Smith, National Employment Law Project; Burns H. Weston, University of Iowa"

In a book that confronts the moral choices that U.S. corporations make every day in the treatment of their workers, James A. Gross issues a clarion call for the transformation of the American workplace based on genuine respect for human rights, rather than whatever the economic and regulatory landscape might allow. Gross questions the nation's underlying fabric of values as reflected in its laws and our assumptions about workers and the workplace.

Arguing that our market philosophy is incompatible with core principles of human rights, he forces readers to realign the country's labor policies so that they conform with the highest international human rights standards. To make his case, Gross assesses various aspects of U.S. labor relations freedom of association, racial discrimination, management rights, workplace safety, and human resources through the lens of internationally accepted human rights principles as standards of judgment.

His findings are chilling. "Employers who maintain workplaces that require men and women and sometimes even children to risk their lives and endanger their health and eyes and limbs in order to earn a living are treating human life as cheap and are seeking their own gain through the desecration of human life," Gross argues, and such behavior should be considered as crimes against humanity rather than matters of efficiency, productivity, or morale.

By revealing how truly unacceptable management's "best practices" can be when considered as human rights issues, A Shameful Business encourages a bold new vision for workers, whether organized or not, that would signify a radical rethinking of social values and the concept of workplace rights and justice in the courtroom, the boardroom, and on the shop floor."

Until recently, the international human rights movement and nongovernmental organizations, human rights scholars, and even labor organizations and advocates have given little attention to worker rights as human rights. James A. Gross finds, however, that employers, not just governments, have the power to violate workers' rights. Workers' Rights as Human Rights provides a new perspective on the assessment of U.S. labor relations law by using human rights principles as standards for judgment. The authors also present innovative recommendations for what should and can be done to bring U.S. labor law into conformity with international human rights standards. This volume constitutes a long overdue beginning toward the promotion and protection of worker rights as human rights in the United States.

Rarely have the international human rights movement, non-governmental organizations, human rights scholars or even labour organizations and advocates given attention to worker rights as human rights. James A. Gross finds, however, that employers, not just governments, have the power to violate workers' rights.

Teachers on Trial is a study of 260 case decisions in New York State which tenured teachers were charged with incompetence or conduct unbecoming a professional. The author analyzes what, in the deciders' opinion, constituted conduct unbecoming and incompetence and critiques the standards used in making determinations.