Should employees or consumers be able to band together and collectively arbitrate disputes that they
may have with companies by means of class-wide arbitrations? In the United States this is a contro-
versial issue, and judicial decisions vary. The problem of possible unfairness caused by mandatory
arbitration clauses has been exacerbated by a recent trend: the increasing use by many U.S.A.
businesses of mandatory provisions that prohibit class-wide proceedings.