Wagner Act Essays - Labour Relations, United States Labor Law

Wagner Act Wagner Act What was the need for the Wagner Act? Before the WA, rights of workers were protected by the National Industry Recovery Act of 1933. In 1935, the Supreme Court declared the NIRA unconstitutional. By doing so, workers lost their rights to join unions of their choice and to bargain collectively. In 1935 the unemployment rate was over 21% and more than 50% lived in poverty as we measure it today. Large employers were said to have immense control over their workers who had at best, one single place to work. Those workers were paid less than their economic contribution measured by their productivity. Before the WA, the federal government had refrained from supporting collective bargaining over wages and working conditions and from facilitating growth of trade unions. This new law marked a significant reversal of this attitude. American Federation of Labor and CIO took advantage of governmental encouragement by carrying out nationwide organizational campaigns. What was the Wagner Act of 1935? The Wagner Act was sponsored by Senator Robert f. Wagner, from New York. Passed in July 1935 with firm support from Franklin D. Roosevelt. The act is more commonly known as the National Labor Relations Act. Some say the NLRA is the single most important piece of labor legislation enacted in the 20th century in the United States. The law governs the labor-management relations of business firms engaged in interstate commerce. The general objective is to guarantee employees 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 concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection? -New Deal legislation designed to protect workers' right to unionization -implements the national labor policy of assuring free choice and encouraging collective bargaining as a means of maintaining industrial peace -Primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector -Established the federal government as the regulator and ultimate arbitrator of labor relations. It set up a permanent, three member National Labor Relations Board with the power to protect the right of most workers(except agricultural,airlines, railroads, and government) to organize unions of their own choosing and to encourage collective bargaining. -gave NLRB power to order elections whereby workers could choose which union they wanted to represent them. -recognized employee rights to collective bargaining,to associate as a group about hours, wages, and working conditions -guaranteed the right of workers to form unions by majority vote and bargain as a unified group -allows employees of certain companies to pick which union or person will negotiate for them -employees may request the NLRB to figure out an election between workers to choose a representative -prohibits employees from interfering with union effort to bring them into unions. -specifies unfair labor practices for employers -requires employers to bargain in good faith over mandatory issues -employers have the right to negotiate with representatives elected by the workers -prohibited anti-union tactics used by employers -employers said Wagner act gave employees too much power--argued it only allowed unions to force a business to hire only union members(which is a closed shop) -prohibited employers from refusing to bargain with any such union that had been certified by the NLRB as being the choice of a majority of employees -Prohibited employers from engaging in such unfair labor practices such as setting up a company union (formation of company-dominated unions) and fire or discriminate against workers who organized or joined unions. National Labor Relations Board... What is it? What does it do? The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the national labor relations act, the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sectors. Throughout the years, Congress has amended the Act and the Board and courts have developed a body of law drawn from the statute. -has two primary functions 1) to determine, through secret ballot elections, the free democratic choice by employees whether they wish top be represented by a union in dealing with their employers and if so, by which union 2) to prevent and remedy unlawful acts(unfair labor practices) by either employers or unions -processes only those charges of unfair labor practices and petitions for employee elections that are filed with the NLRB in one of its 52 regional, subregional, or resident offices. -has two major separate components 1) the Board itself has 5 members and primarily acts as a quasi-judicial body in deciding cases on the basis of formal records in administrative proceedings. members are appointed by the