Happy Labor day to all you working slobs and slobesses!
Today marks the kick off of the BT community tribute to labor. Inspired by Man Eegee’s leadership on the exploration of U.N. underreported stories, several Bootribbers have committed to writing a series of diaries about labor history. Over the next several days, you’ll read stories about heroes and heroines, about bravery and derring-do, about inspiration and empowerment, and about tenacity and solidarity. Sadly, you’ll also read about corruption and violence. Today will be a bit more prosaic – a brief look at the most significant laws governing labor in the United States.
First off, let me say that I am not a lawyer – nor have I played on TV, but I will attempt to lay out the basics as best I can.
Hold on to your hats – here we go.
The abuse of workers started early on in this country with slavery and indentured servitude. It took a civil war to end slavery and the legal basis for indentured servitude was not repealed until 1910! An antipathy for labor collectivism, grounded in British common law, held that unions represented a conspiracy that was a threat to the public good.
Some progress for workers occurred in the 19th century: Federal workers were granted a 10 hour day and the Department of Labor was formed – although it did not gain cabinet level status until 1913. Well into the early part of the twentieth century, strikes were illegal and labor leaders could be indicted for any damage or violence committed by any individual during an organized action.
The relationship between management and workers is governed by a web of federal and state laws, regulations and decisions by administrative agencies. Nonetheless, it is helpful to understand the most significant federal statutes of the last century as they often serve as basis from which the rest spring.
Until the passage of this act, industry was able to procure legal injunctions against strikes, boycotts and picketing on the basis that these actions were criminal conspiracies. After Norris-LaGuardia, injunctions were permitted only in a few cases, such as in the face of violent action. The act also prohibited management from requiring new hires to sign pledges that they would not join a union – so-called “yellow dog” contracts.
The Norris-LaGuardia Act essentially concluded that the Federal Government was neutral in the relationship between employer and employee and that market forces would work things out if left to their own devices.
1935 The National Labor Relations Act (The Wagner Act)
Following a period of poverty and turmoil resulting from the Great Depression, labor made great strides with the passage of the Wagner Act. This act explicitly affirmed the rights of workers to form labor organizations and to engage in collective bargaining.
The Wagner Act also established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) whose members are charged with enforcing the provisions of the act. These members are appointed by the President with consent of the Senate, and serve for a period of 5 years. NLRB members can thus be expected to reflect the biases of those who appointed them. The NLRB has the authority to oversee Union certification votes. It investigates and rules on complaints of unfair labor practices. It determines the make-up of individual bargaining units.
The Wagner Act also set the definition of what constitutes an employee, exempting certain workers such as domestic servants, agricultural workers, and individuals employed by a parent or spouse.
1935 SocialSecurity Act
With regard to workers, this act established a federal basis for unemployment insurance.
1938 The Fair Labor Standard Act (The Wages and Hours Act)
The Wages and Hours Act established minimum standards for workers who engage, directly or indirectly, in interstate commerce. It provided for a minimum wage, regulated overtime compensation and banned the use of child labor. This act has been amended numerous times, redefining classes of workers, setting new parameters for overtime, and, of course, raising the minimum wage.
1947 The Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)
The 1930s brought a number of protections to workers. The Taft-Hartley act sought to undo many of them. This act was vetoed by President Harry Truman who declared it to be a “slave-labor bill.”
Taft Hartley made closed shops illegal, required formal regulated certification elections, and forbade both jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts. Employers were exempted from the requirement of engaging in collective bargaining. Communists were barred from union leadership. The bill also forbade unions from contributing to political campaigns (a provision later overturned by federal courts).
I found a particularly succinct and cogent analysis of the devastating effects of Taft-Hartley. It was, however, written by none other than Ralph Nader – one of BT’s most “beloved” politicians.
The Taft Hartley Act makes it extremely difficult for employees to organize unions and should be repealed. Among the key provisions of Taft-Hartley:
– Authorized states to enact so-called right-to-work laws. These laws undermine the ability to build effective unions by creating a free-rider problem–workers can enjoy the benefits of union membership in a workplace without actually joining the union or paying union dues. Right-to-work laws increase employer leverage to resist unions by enabling them to benefit from free riders. Vastly decreased union membership follows, dramatically diminishing the unions bargaining power.
-Outlaws the closed shop which required that persons join the union before being eligible for employment with the unionized employer. (Still permitted are provisions that require any member of a bargaining unit to pay a portion of dues to that union.)
-Defined “employee” for purposes of the act as excluding supervisors and independent contractors. This diminished the pool of workers eligible to be unionized. The exclusion of supervisors from union organizing activity meant they would be used as management’s “frontline” in anti-organizing efforts.
-Permitted employers to petition for a union certification election, thus undermining the ability of workers and unions to control the timing of an election during the sensitive organizing stage, forcing an election before the union is ready.
-Required that election hearings on matters of dispute be held before a union recognition election, thus delaying the election. Delay generally benefits management, giving the employer time to coerce workers.
-Established the “right” of management to campaign against a union organizing drive, thereby scuttling the principle of employer neutrality.
-Prohibited secondary boycotts–boycotts directed to encourage neutral employers to pressure the employer with which the union has a dispute. Secondary boycotts had been one of organized labor’s most potent tools for organizing, negotiating, and dispute settlement.
1959 The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (Landrum-Griffin Act)
This Act was passed in reaction to collusion between certain unethical employers and labor leaders, violence among certain segments of unions and the misuse and diversion of union funds. It imposes regulations on the internal workings of unions and requires the filing of regular financial reports. Felons and communists are prohibited from becoming union officers for 5 years following their release or renunciation of party membership. Unfortunately, unscrupulous behavior on the part of some labor leaders, led the government to create a bill that protected workers from such behavior, but also strengthened many of the anti-labor provisions of the Taft Hartley Act.
The Late Twentieth Century
The 1960s saw the pendulum swing back in favor of workers with the passage of a number of significant pieces of legislation. The 1962 Work Hours Act legislated time-and-a-half pay for over 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week. The 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination based on race, sex or religion. 1967 saw the passage of the the Age Discrimination Act.
The trend continued into the 1970s. OSHA was created by statute in 1970 and in 1974 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act became law, “ensuring” that workers pensions were protected.
In the 1980s there was again some blowback from the management side. A number of laws and legal decisions curtailed the power of labor and its unions. Cutbacks in federal agencies limited the enforcement of existing labor law. A bit of relief came in the 1990s when the Supreme Court halted two common practices of the previous decade: management replacement of union workers with non-union ones and the use of bankruptcy laws to avoid paying pensions. (Egregious corporate abuse of pensions continues to this day and is worthy of another whole series of diaries.)
The 21st Century
Some of the most draconian laws to effect labor in the last hundred years have come under the guise of the “war on terror.” Both of The Patriot Acts are a serious threat to labor organizing. Unduly vague definitions of “domestic terrorism” put any person participating in any sort of labor action in serious legal jeopardy and labor leaders are placed in an even more severe predicament – they can be held liable for any violence or damage that occurs. If a police officer were to kill someone in the course of a labor action, the union officers could be arrested for the death since they organized the activity. Needless to say, immigrant labor leaders are the most at risk of all.
We seem to have come full circle. The gains of the last hundred years have not been entirely abolished, but this current administration’s intention to quell all dissent has potentially catastrophic implications for the labor movement.
There has been serious opposition to Labor in the past, and, as the coming diaries will show, courageous men and women made great sacrifices to keep the rights of workers from being totally obliterated.
Enjoy your barbeques and your softball. I’m off to work shortly, but I’ll check back later in the day to see what you all think.
In solidarity.
