Question

Part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation was the 1935 National Labor Relation’s Act (NLRA) or the Wagner Act. This legislation was the first effective and constitutional law that supported employees’ rights to unionize and collectively bargain. However, by 1947, Congress had evidently decided that major revisions in the Wagner Act were needed. This prompted passage of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) or the Taft-Hartley Act over President Truman’s veto.

1. Describe the Wagner Act. In particular, list and explain the unfair labor practices prohibited by this legislation.
2. What did the Wagner Act set up to enforce its provisions?

Answer 1

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Describe the Wagner Act. In particular, list and explain the unfair labor practices prohibited by this legislation.

Answer :

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (also known as the Wagner Act) is a foundational statute of United States labor law which guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes. Central to the act was a ban on company unions. The act was written by Senator Robert F. Wagner, passed by the 74th United States Congress, and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The National Labor Relations Act seeks to correct the "inequality of bargaining power" between employers and employees by promoting collective bargaining between trade unions and employers. The law established the National Labor Relations Board to prosecute violations of labor law and to oversee the process by which employees decide whether to be represented by a labor organization. It also established various rules concerning collective bargaining and defined a series of banned unfair labor practices, including interference with the formation or organization of labor unions by employers. The act does not apply to certain workers, including supervisors, agricultural employees, domestic workers, government employees, and independent contractors.

Unfair labor practices prohibited by National Labor Relation's Act can be described as below

Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section 158 (a)(3) of this title."

Unfair labor practices

Under section 8 (29 U.S.C. § 158) the law defines a set of prohibited actions by employers, employees, and unions, known as an unfair labor practice. The first five unfair labor practices aimed at employers are in section 8(a). These are,

(a) (1) "to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in section 7". This includes freedom of association, mutual aid or protection, self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively for wages and working conditions through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other protected concerted activities with or without a union.

(a) (2) "to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial or other support to it"

(a) (3) "by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization"

(a) (4) discriminating against employees who file charges or testify.

(a) (5) refusing to bargain collectively with the representative of the employer's employees.

What did the Wagner Act set up to enforce its provisions?

Ans : It set up a permanent three-member (later five-member) National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with the power to hear and resolve labour disputes through quasi-judicial proceedings. Specifically, the NLRB was empowered to decide, when petitioned by employees, if an appropriate bargaining unit of employees existed for collective bargaining; to conduct secret-ballot elections in which the employees in a business or industry could decide whether to be represented by labour unions; and to prevent or correct unfair labour practices by employers.

The Wagner Act was significantly weakened by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, passed by a Republican-controlled Congress over the veto of Democratic Pres. Harry S. Truman. The Taft-Hartley Act prohibited the closed shop (an arrangement that makes union membership a condition of employment), allowed states to prohibit the agency shop (an arrangement that requires employees who are not union members to pay fees to a union to cover the costs of its bargaining on their behalf), narrowed the definition of unfair labour practices, and specified unfair union practices, among other provisions.

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