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54-496: Taft–Hartley was introduced in the aftermath of a major strike wave in 1945 and 1946 . Though it was enacted by the Republican -controlled 80th Congress, the law received significant support from congressional Democrats , many of whom joined with their Republican colleagues in voting to override Truman's veto. The act continued to generate opposition after Truman left office, but it remains in effect. The Taft–Hartley Act amended

108-561: A collective bargaining agreement , standing alone, may not constitute an unfair labor practice unless the employer has not only violated the contract but repudiated all or part of it. While the employees of the NLRB may assist individuals in filing charges, the employees of the NLRB cannot file charges on their own. Under the Act, "any person" (except an employee of the Board) may file a charge with

162-494: A federal court . If a court enters an injunction , then a strike by workers or a lockout by employers is suspended for an 80-day period; employees must return to work while management and unions must "make every effort to adjust and settle their differences" with the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service . Presidents have invoked this provision 37 times. In 2002, President George W. Bush invoked

216-544: A decision as to whether to issue a complaint or to dismiss the charge within thirty days of the filing of the charge. The Region may also ask the charging party to amend its charge to eliminate unsupported claims in an otherwise meritorious charge or to add new claims uncovered by the Region in the course of its investigation. A party unsatisfied with the Regional Director's decision to dismiss its charge can appeal

270-545: A list of prohibited actions, or unfair labor practices , on the part of unions to the NLRA, which had previously only prohibited unfair labor practices committed by employers. The Taft–Hartley Act prohibited jurisdictional strikes , wildcat strikes , solidarity or political strikes , secondary boycotts , secondary and mass picketing , closed shops , and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns. It also required union officers to sign non-communist affidavits with

324-475: A new collective bargaining agreement ; it did not, on the other hand, impose any "cooling-off period" after a contract expired. Section 206 of the Act, codified at 29 U.S.C. § 176, also authorized a president to intervene in strikes or lockouts , under certain circumstances, by seeking a court order compelling companies and unions to attempt to continue to negotiate. Under this section, if the president determines that an actual or threatened lockout affects all or

378-462: A no-strike clause, this part of the act has instead served as the springboard for creation of a "federal common law" of collective bargaining agreements, which favored arbitration over litigation or strikes as the preferred means of resolving labor disputes. The United States Conciliation Service , which had provided mediation for labor disputes as part of Department of Labor, was removed from that department and reconstituted as an independent agency,

432-587: A series of massive post-war labor strikes after World War II from 1945 to 1946 in the United States spanning numerous industries including the motion picture ( Hollywood Black Friday ) and public utilities. In the year after V-J Day , more than five million American workers were involved in strikes, which lasted on average four times longer than those during the war. They were the largest strikes in American labor history . Other strikes occurred across

486-494: A substantial part of an industry engaged in interstate or foreign "trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication" and that the occurrence or continuation of a strike or lockout would "imperil the national health or safety," the President may empanel a board of inquiry to review the issues and issue a report. Upon receiving the report, the president may direct the U.S. Attorney General to seek an injunction from

540-629: A veto override, Congress overrode his veto with considerable Democratic support, including 106 out of 177 Democrats in the House, and 20 out of 42 Democrats in the Senate. As stated in Section 1 ( 29 U.S.C.   § 141 ), the purpose of the NLRA is: [T]o promote the full flow of commerce, to prescribe the legitimate rights of both employees and employers in their relations affecting commerce, to provide orderly and peaceful procedures for preventing

594-667: Is free to substitute its own view of the law for that of the Administrative Law Judge and frequently reverses its own precedents. A party that is aggrieved by a decision of the NLRB can seek review by petitioning in the Court of Appeals . The Act gives parties a good deal of latitude as to which court they want to hear their case: either the Circuit in which the hearing was held or the Circuit Court of Appeals for

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648-447: Is no comparable statute of limitations for issuance of a complaint. The complaint may also be amended in some circumstances to include other alleged violations of the Act not specified in an unfair labor practice charge. The Region will usually renew its attempts to settle the matter after it has made the decision to issue complaint but before it has actually done so. It can settle unfair labor practice charges unilaterally, i.e., without

702-731: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"). Union leaders in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) vigorously campaigned for Truman in the 1948 election based upon a (never fulfilled) promise to repeal Taft–Hartley. Truman won, but a union-backed effort in Ohio to defeat Taft in 1950 failed in what one author described as "a shattering demonstration of labor's political weaknesses". Strike wave of 1945%E2%80%9346 The US strike wave of 1945–1946 or great strike wave of 1946 were

756-600: The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (United States) . This was done in part because industry forces thought the existing service had been too "partial" to labor. The Congress that passed the Taft–Hartley Amendments considered repealing the Norris–La Guardia Act to the extent necessary to permit courts to issue injunctions against strikes violating a no-strike clause, but chose not to do so. The Supreme Court nonetheless held several decades later that

810-546: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB has the authority to investigate and remedy unfair labor practices, which are defined in Section 8 of the Act. In broad terms, the NLRB makes it unlawful for an employer to: The Act similarly bars unions from: Applying this general language to the real world requires, in the words of Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter , "distinctions more nice than obvious". The substantive law applied by

864-404: The "overthrow of the United States government by force or by any illegal or unconstitutional means" as a condition to participating in NLRB proceedings. Just over a year after Taft–Hartley passed, 81,000 union officers from nearly 120 unions had filed the required affidavits. This provision was at first upheld in the 1950 Supreme Court decision American Communications Ass'n v. Douds , but in 1965,

918-581: The 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), adding new restrictions on union actions and designating new union-specific unfair labor practices . Among the practices prohibited by the Taft–Hartley act are jurisdictional strikes , wildcat strikes , solidarity or political strikes , secondary boycotts , secondary and mass picketing , closed shops , and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns. The amendments also allowed states to enact right-to-work laws banning union shops . Enacted during

972-553: The Act commands the General Counsel to seek injunctive relief. If the case is not settled following issuance of a complaint, then the case will proceed to hearing before an Administrative Law Judge of the NLRB. The Regional Director has the power to issue subpoenas for use by any party prior to the hearing; the Administrative Law Judge has that power once the hearing commences. The hearing is governed by

1026-500: The Board's decision to determine if it is supported by substantial evidence and based on a correct view of the law. While the courts are obligated in theory to give deference to the NLRB's interpretation of the Act, they do not always do so. The court may direct the NLRB to reconsider its decision or reverse it outright if it is convinced that the Board is in error. The court may also reverse Board actions that it considers to be an abuse of

1080-403: The Board's order requires payment of backpay, the Region will commence compliance proceedings if it is not able to resolve all disputes over the amount of backpay. These compliance proceedings are also held before an Administrative Law Judge, based on the compliance specification filed by the Region. The same procedural rights apply in these proceedings as in the earlier proceedings on the merits of

1134-455: The District of Columbia or any Circuit in which one of the parties against whom the complaint was brought resides or does business. The NLRB, as a matter of policy, only petitions in the Circuit in which the hearing was held. The NLRB's decisions are not self-executing: it must seek court enforcement in order to force a recalcitrant party to comply with its orders. The Court of Appeal reviews

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1188-506: The General Counsel. The Board will set aside an informal settlement agreement if the employer violates the agreement or commits other violations of the Act after the agreement. The Board can, by contrast, enforce a formal settlement like any other Board order by petitioning the Court of Appeals for an order enforcing it. The Board will also accept non-Board settlements, in which the charging party withdraws its charge in return for promises from

1242-742: The Labour Party, prior to the 1945 United Kingdom general election . Unfair labor practice An unfair labor practice ( ULP ) in United States labor law refers to certain actions taken by employers or unions that violate the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (49 Stat. 449) 29 U.S.C.   § 151–169 (also known as the NLRA and the Wagner Act after NY Senator Robert F. Wagner ) and other legislation. Such acts are investigated by

1296-485: The NLRB is described elsewhere under specific headings devoted to particular topics. Not every unfair act amounts to an unfair labor practice; as an example, failing to pay an individual worker overtime pay for hours worked in excess of forty hours in a week might be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act , but it is unlikely to amount to an unfair labor practice as well. Similarly, a violation of

1350-479: The NLRB's discretion, typically in the choice of remedies to be applied. Any aggrieved party may also ask the Supreme Court to review a decision of the Court of Appeals. Such review by the Supreme Court is, however, discretionary and rarely granted. If the Court of Appeals enforces the Board's order then the case will return to the Region for it to monitor the respondent's compliance. In those cases in which

1404-430: The NLRB. Such charges must be filed and served within six months of the events that constitute the basis of the charge. This deadline may be extended in some cases, e.g., if the party fraudulently conceals its violations of the law. Charges may also be amended if done so within six months of the alleged violation. The General Counsel of the NLRB is responsible for investigating unfair labor practice charges and making

1458-433: The Supreme Court held that this provision was an unconstitutional bill of attainder . The amendments expressly excluded supervisors from coverage under the act, and allowed employers to terminate supervisors engaging in union activities or those not supporting the employer's stance. The amendments maintained coverage under the act for professional employees, but provided for special procedures before they may be included in

1512-421: The act "was the first law barring unions and corporations from making independent expenditures in support of or [in] opposition to federal candidates". The law outlawed closed shops which were contractual agreements that required an employer to hire only labor union members. Union shops, still permitted, require new recruits to join the union within a certain amount of time. The National Labor Relations Board and

1566-498: The act implicitly gave the courts the power to enjoin such strikes over subjects that would be subject to final and binding arbitration under a collective bargaining agreement. Finally, the act imposed a number of procedural and substantive standards that unions and employers must meet before they may use employer funds to provide pensions and other employee benefit to unionized employees. Congress has since passed more extensive protections for workers and employee benefit plans as part of

1620-654: The act. The law made pursuit of such injunctions mandatory, rather than discretionary, in the case of secondary boycotts by unions. The amendments also established the general counsel's autonomy within the administrative framework of the NLRB. Congress also gave employers the right to sue unions for damages caused by a secondary boycott, but gave the general counsel exclusive power to seek injunctive relief against such activities. The act provided for federal court jurisdiction to enforce collective bargaining agreements . Although Congress passed this section to empower federal courts to hold unions liable in damages for strikes violating

1674-437: The agreement of the charging party. The Board draws a distinction between formal and informal settlements, i.e., those that call for issuance of a formal Board order and those that do not. A party unhappy with the Regional Director's settlement of its unfair labor practice charges can appeal a formal settlement to the Board itself, which must approve any formal settlement in any case, but can only appeal an informal settlement to

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1728-434: The case to arbitration. In those cases the General Counsel does not dismiss the charge, but holds it in abeyance while the parties to the contract arbitrate their contractual dispute. If the Region finds merit in the charge it will file a formal complaint setting out the violations of the law allegedly committed by the respondent. While the Act requires that the original unfair labor practice be filed within six months, there

1782-413: The charges that the General Counsel has alleged and to seek additional or different remedies than those that the General Counsel has proposed. The Administrative Law Judge issues a recommended decision, which becomes final if not appealed to the NLRB. While the Administrative Law Judge's credibility determinations are ordinarily given great weight by the Board, they are not binding on it. The Board likewise

1836-472: The complaint or to prevent employees from suffering irreparable harm. Any injunction lapses once the NLRB issues its decision. The General Counsel does not have to prove that the allegations in the complaint are well-founded, but only that he has some evidence, together with an arguable legal theory, to support his claims. Even so, the General Counsel rarely uses this power to seek relief while complaints are pending, other than in secondary boycott cases, in which

1890-547: The courts have added other restrictions on the power of unions to enforce union security clauses and have required them to make extensive financial disclosures to all members as part of their duty of fair representation . On the other hand, Congress repealed the provisions requiring a vote by workers to authorize a union shop a few years after the passage of the act when it became apparent that workers were approving them in virtually every case. The amendments also authorized individual states to outlaw union security clauses (such as

1944-456: The decision whether to issue a complaint. This job is delegated to the Regional Director of the region of the NLRB in which the charge has been filed; the Regional Director in turn assigns it to an employee of the region. It is the responsibility of the charging party to identify the witnesses who can support its charge; should it fail to do so the Regional Director will typically dismiss the charge. The Regional Director generally seeks to reach

1998-400: The dismissal to the office of the General Counsel. The General Counsel's decision to dismiss a charge is not subject to further appeal and cannot be challenged in court. If the issues raised by an unfair labor practice charge could also be resolved through the grievance and arbitration procedure of the collective bargaining agreement covering these employees, then the General Counsel may defer

2052-498: The early stages of the Cold War , the law required union officers to sign non-communist affidavits with the government. In 1945 and 1946, an unprecedented wave of major strikes affected the United States; by February 1946, nearly 2 million workers were engaged in strikes or other labor disputes. Organized labor had largely refrained from striking during World War II , but with the end of the war, labor leaders were eager to share in

2106-567: The employees it represents. Secondary boycotts and common situs picketing, also outlawed by the act, are actions in which unions picket, strike, or refuse to handle the goods of a business with which they have no primary dispute but which is associated with a targeted business. A later statute, the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act , passed in 1959, tightened these restrictions on secondary boycotts still further. According to First Amendment scholar Floyd Abrams ,

2160-564: The gains from a postwar economic resurgence. The 1946 mid-term elections left Republicans in control of Congress for the first time since the early 1930s. Many of the newly elected congressmen were strongly conservative and sought to overturn or roll back New Deal legislation such as the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 , which had established the right of workers to join unions , bargain collectively, and engage in strikes. Republican senator Robert A. Taft and Republican congressman Fred A. Hartley Jr. each introduced measures to curtail

2214-421: The government. Union shops were heavily restricted, and states were allowed to pass right-to-work laws that ban agency fees. Furthermore, the executive branch of the federal government could obtain legal strikebreaking injunctions if an impending or current strike imperiled the national health or safety. In jurisdictional strikes, outlawed by Taft–Hartley, a union strikes in order to assign particular work to

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2268-464: The interference by either with the legitimate rights of the other, to protect the rights of individual employees in their relations with labor organizations whose activities affect commerce, to define and proscribe practices on the part of labor and management which affect commerce and are inimical to the general welfare, and to protect the rights of the public in connection with labor disputes affecting commerce. The amendments enacted in Taft–Hartley added

2322-489: The law in connection with the employer lockout of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union during negotiations with West Coast shipping and stevedoring companies. This was the first successful invocation of the emergency provisions since President Richard M. Nixon intervened to halt a longshoremen's strike in 1971. Section 305 of the Act prohibited federal employees from striking. This prohibition

2376-420: The other side. The Board is not, however, obliged to accept the parties' settlement agreement or to allow withdrawal of the charge. If the General Counsel believes that there is cause to issue complaint, then he can seek injunctive relief from a federal district court under Section 10(j) of the Act. Injunctive relief is usually ordered when necessary to preserve the status quo pending the Board's decision on

2430-430: The power of unions and prevent strikes. Taft's bill passed the Senate by a 68-to-24 majority, but some of its original provisions were removed by moderates, like Republican senator Wayne Morse . Meanwhile, the stronger Hartley bill garnered a 308-to-107 majority in the House of Representatives. The Taft–Hartley bill that emerged from a conference committee incorporated aspects from both the House and Senate bills. The bill

2484-524: The right to file a petition asking the board to determine if a union represents a majority of its employees, and allow employees to petition either to decertify their union, or to invalidate the union security provisions of any existing collective bargaining agreement. The amendments gave the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board discretionary power to seek injunctions against either employers or unions that violated

2538-525: The same bargaining unit as non-professional employees. The act revised the Wagner Act's requirement of employer neutrality, to allow employers to deliver anti-union messages in the workplace. These changes confirmed an earlier Supreme Court ruling that employers have a constitutional right to express their opposition to unions, so long as they did not threaten employees with reprisals for their union activities nor offer any incentives to employees as an alternative to unionizing. The amendments also gave employers

2592-421: The same rules of evidence that would apply in a federal court trial. The General Counsel functions as the prosecutor in these proceedings. Just as only the General Counsel can decide whether to issue a complaint, the General Counsel has exclusive authority to decide what charges to pursue. Interested parties may, however, intervene in these proceedings to present evidence or offer alternative theories in support of

2646-463: The strikes. According to Jeremy Brecher , they were "the closest thing to a national general strike of industry in the twentieth century." In 1947, Congress responded to the strike wave by enacting, over President Truman's veto, the Taft–Hartley Act , restricting the powers and activities of labor unions. The act is still in force as of 2024. The strike wave also caused a rally in support for

2700-806: The transfer of people from wartime sectors to traditional sectors, inflation was 8% in 1945, 14% in 1946, and 8% in 1947. Many of the protests from 1945 to 1946 were for better pay and working hours, but only one study done by Jerome F. Scott and George C. Homans of 118 strikes in Detroit from 1944 to 1945, found that only four were for wages, with the rest being for discipline and company policies or firings. Large strikes in 1945 included: In 1946, strikes increased: Others included strikes of railroad workers and general strikes in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Stamford, Connecticut; Rochester, New York; and Oakland, California . In total, 4.3 million workers participated in

2754-943: The union shop) entirely in their jurisdictions by passing right-to-work laws . A right-to-work law, under Section 14B of Taft–Hartley, prevents unions from negotiating contracts or legally binding documents requiring companies to fire workers who refuse to join the union. Currently all of the states in the Deep South and a number of states in the Midwest, Great Plains, and Rocky Mountains regions have right-to-work laws (with six states— Alabama , Arizona , Arkansas , Florida , Mississippi , and Oklahoma —going one step further and enshrining right-to-work laws in their states' constitutions). The amendments required unions and employers to give 80 days' notice to each other and to certain state and federal mediation bodies before they may undertake strikes or other forms of economic action in pursuit of

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2808-673: The world including in Europe and colonial Africa . Throughout the Second World War, the National War Labor Board gave trade unions the responsibility for maintaining labor discipline in exchange for closed membership . This led to acquiescence on the part of labor leaders to businesses and various wildcat strikes on the part of the workers. The strikes were largely a result of tumultuous postwar economic adjustments; with 10 million soldiers returning home, and

2862-475: Was promoted by large business lobbies, including the National Association of Manufacturers . After spending several days considering how to respond to the bill, President Truman vetoed Taft–Hartley with a strong message to Congress, calling the act a "dangerous intrusion on free speech ." Labor leaders, meanwhile, derided the act as a "slave-labor bill". Despite Truman's all-out effort to prevent

2916-655: Was subsequently repealed and replaced by a similar provision, 5 U.S.C. § 7311, which bars any person who "participates in a strike, or asserts the right to strike against the Government of the United States" from federal employment. The amendments required union leaders to file affidavits with the United States Department of Labor declaring that they were not supporters of the Communist Party and had no relationship with any organization seeking

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