Publications

Books

The Fissured WorkplaceThe Fissured Workplace: How Work Became So Bad
for So Many and What Can be Done to Improve It.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.
[Harvard University Press | Amazon]

Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better:
Lessons from the Harvard Home Builder Study.

with Frederick Abernathy, Kermit Baker, and Kent Colton.
Lexington Books, 2011.
[Lexington Books | Amazon]

Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency.
with Archon Fung and Mary Graham.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
[Cambridge University Press | Amazon]
A Stitch in Time: Lean Retailing and the Transformation of
Manufacturing—Lessons from the Apparel and Textile Industries.

with Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, and Janice H. Hammond,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
[Oxford University Press | Amazon]

Turning the Tide: Strategic Planning for Labor Unions.
New York: Lexington Books / Macmillan Inc., 1994 / 1997.
[Amazon]
 

Refereed Journal Articles

“Improving Workplace Conditions Through Strategic Enforcement: The US Experience.” In Leah Vosko, et al. (eds.) Closing the Employment Standards Enforcement Gap.  (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020), pp. 260-278.

The Future of Occupational Safety and Health Protection in a Fissured Economy,” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 110, no. 5, pp. 640–641. Read the article.

Understanding the Present and Future of Work in the Fissured Workplace Context.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. December 2019, 5 (5) 147-165. Read the article.

“Workers Shouldn’t Have to Sign Away Their Rights to Class Action Lawsuits,” Harvard Business Review. 6.5.18. Read the article.

“Creating a strategic enforcement approach to address wage theft: One academic’s journey in organizational change,” by David Weil, Journal of Industrial Relations, 2018. Download the pdf.

“Lots of Employees Get Misclassified as Contractors. Here’s Why It Matters,” Harvard Business Review. 7.5.17. Read the article.

“How to Make Employment Fair in an Age of Contracting and Temp Work,” Harvard Business Review. 3.3.17. Read the article.

“Reflecting on a Fissured World,” by David Weil. Perspectives on Work, 2017. Download the pdf.

“Targeting Transparency.” with Archon Fung and Mary Graham. Science. vol. 340, June 21, 2013, pp. 1410-1411. Read the article.

“Broken Windows, Vulnerable Workers, and the Future of Worker Representation.” The Forum: Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. v.10, no. 1, May 2012, pp. 160-183. Read the article.

“Enforcing Labor Standards in Fissured Workplaces: The US Experience.” The Economic and Labor Relations Review, v. 22, no.2, July 2011, pp. 33-54. Read the article.

“Rethinking the Regulation of Vulnerable Work in the USA: A Sector-Based Approach” Journal of Industrial Relations, v. 51, no. 3, June 2009, pp. 411-430. Read the article.

“A Strategic Approach to Labour Inspection.” International Labour Review, vol. 147, no. 4, December 2008, pp. 349-375. Read the article.

“Regulating Labor Standards via Supply Chains: Combining Public/Private Interventions to Improve Workplace Compliance.” with Carlos Mallo. British Journal of Industrial Relations. v. 45, no. 4, December 2007, pp. 805-828. Read the article.

“Crafting a Progressive Workplace Regulatory Policy: Why Enforcement Matters.” Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal. v. 28, no. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 101-130. Read the article.

“Why Complain? Complaints, Compliance and the Problem of Enforcement in the U.S. Workplace.” with Amanda Pyles. Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal. v. 27, no. 1, Fall 2006, pp. 59-92. Read the article.

“Regulation by Transparency: The Effectiveness of Government Mandated Disclosure Policies.” with Archon Fung, Mary Graham, and Elena Fagotto. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. v.25, no.1, Winter 2006, pp.155-181. Read the article.

“The Contemporary Industrial Relations System in Construction: Analysis, Observations, and Speculations.” Labor History. v. 46, no. 4, November 2005, pp. 447-471. Read the article.

“Ratcheting Up: Linked Technology Adoption in Supply Chains.” with Margaret Hwang Smith. Industrial Relations. vol. 44, no. 3, July 2005, pp. 490-508. Read the article.

“A Strategic Choice Framework for Union Decision-making.” Working USA, vol.9, no.2, March 2005, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 327-347. Read the article.

“Public Enforcement / Private Monitoring: Evaluating a New Approach to Regulating the Minimum Wage.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review. vol. 52, no. 2, January 2005, pp. 238-257. Read the article.

“Assessing OSHA Performance: Evidence from the Construction Industry.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. v.20, no.4 (Fall 2001), pp. 651-674. Read the article.

“Valuing the Economic Consequences of Work Injury and Illness: A Comparison of Methods and Findings.” American Journal of Industrial Medicine. v. 40, no.4. (October 2001), pp. 418-437. Read the article. 

“Control Your Inventory in a World of Lean Retailing.” with Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, and Janice H. Hammond, Harvard Business Review, November / December 2000, pp. 169-176. Read the article.

"Are Mandated Health and Safety Committees Substitutes or Supplements for Labor Unions?" Industrial and Labor Relations Review. v.52, no.3, April 1999, pp. 339-360. Read the article.

"If OSHA is So Bad Why is Compliance So Good?." RAND Journal of Economics. v. 27, n.3 (Autumn 1996), pp. 618-640. Read the article.

"Diffusion and Performance of Modular Assembly in the U.S. Apparel Industry." with John T. Dunlop, Industrial Relations, v. 35, n.3 (July 1996), pp. 334-355. Read the article.

"The Information-Integrated Channel: A Study of the U.S. Apparel Industry in Transition." with Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond, Brookings Papers on Microeconomic Activity. Spring 1995, pp. 175-246. Read the article.

"Building Safety: Construction Unions and the Implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act." Journal of Labor Research, v.13, n.1 (Spring 1992), pp. 121-132. Read the article.

"Enforcing OSHA: The Role of Labor Unions." Industrial Relations, v. 30, n.1 (Winter 1991), pp. 20-36. Read the article.

Book Chapters and Major Reports

“Income Inequality, Wage Determination, and the Fissured Workplace.” in Bradford DeLong, Heather Boushey, and Marshall Steinbaum, (eds) On Thomas Piketty’s Capital. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017), pp. 209-231. Read the chapter.

“Fissured Employment: Implications for Achieving Decent Work.” in Deirdre McCann, Sangheon Lee, Patrick Belser, Colin Fenwick, John Howe and Malte Luebker (eds) Creative Labor Regulation: Indeterminacy and Protection in an Uncertain World. (Basingstoke/Geneva: Palgrave Macmillan/ILO, 2014), pp.108-133.

“Mending the Fissured Workplace.” in Stephanie Luce, Jennifer Luff, Joseph McCartin, and Ruth Milkman, eds. What Works for Low Wage Workers. (NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2014), pp. 35-62.

“Evaluating the Efficacy of NLRA Remedies--Analysis and Comparison with Other Workplace Penalty Policies.” with Morris Kleiner. Cynthia Estlund and Michael Wachter, eds. Research Handbook on the Economics of Labor and Employment Law, (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2012), pp. 209-247.

A Study of Food Safety and Other Consequences of Publishing Establishment-Specific Data. National Research Council-National Academy of Sciences. Committee on Disclosure. November 2011.

Improving Workplace Conditions through Strategic Enforcement. Report to the Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, May 2010.

“Open Government and Open Society” with Archon Fung. In Daniel Lathrop and Laurel Ruma, eds., Open Government. Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly, 2010), pp. 105-113.

“Mighty Monolith or Fractured Federation? Business Opposition and the Enactment of Workplace Legislation.” In Annette Bernhardt, Heather Boushey, Laura Dresser, and Chris Tilly, eds., The Gloves Off Economy: Problems and Possibilities at the Bottom of the Labor Market. (Champaign, IL: Labor and Employment Relations Association, 2008), pp. 287-314.

“Individual Rights and Collective Agents: The Role of New Workplace Institutions in the Regulation of Labor Markets.” In Richard Freeman, Larry Mishel, and Joni Hersch, eds., Emerging Labor Market Institutions for the 21st Century. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2005), pp.13-44.

“Globalization in the Apparel and Textile Industries: What is New and What is Not?” with Fred Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, and Janice Hammond. In Martin Kenney and Richard Florida eds., Locating Global Advantage: Industry Dynamics in a Globalizing Economy. (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004), pp. 23-51.

“The Role of Unions and Collective Bargaining in Preventing Work-Related Disability.” with Susan J. Schurman, Paul Landsbergis, and Barbara A. Israel. In Terry Thomason, John Burton, and Douglas Hyatt, eds. New Approaches to Disability in the Workplace. (Madison, WI: Industrial Relations Research Association, 1998), pp. 121-154.

"Analyzing Regulatory Performance: Insights on the Implementation of Federal Workplace Policy." In Bruce E. Kaufman, ed. Government Regulation of the Employment Relationship. Fiftieth Annual Research Volume. (Madison, WI: Industrial Relations Research Association 1997), pp. 429-474.