Management's Reserved Rights and the National Labor Relations Board - An Employer's View

Abstract

FIRST PARAGRAPH(S)|Until recently, the prevailing approach to post-contractual labor management relations in the United States has been the reserved rights theory, under which an employer retains all rights to manage its enterprise except for those specifically surrendered in the collective bargaining agreement. Since its rights are "reserved" under this theory, an employer does not look to a collective agreement to ascertain its rights; it looks to the agreement only to ascertain the extent to which it has ceded away or agreed to share its rights and powers.|Two rationales for this approach were established. The first, on a conceptual level, was that since management was hired by the owners, all the rights to deal with the enterprise inherent in ownership were delegated to management, the only restrictions on its control arising from contractual commitments. This explanation, while superficially appealing, is not altogether satisfying, particularly to the non-manager. For one thing, the "enterprise" is composed of people as well as things and the only authority given by property ownership is over things. In our society, the only source of authority over people is their consent...