Representation

=toc= =Representation= = =

The National Labor Relations Act
The NLRA was enacted by Congress in 1935. It was hailed at the time and for many years after as the Magna Carta of America labor. Previously, employers had been free to spy on, interrogate, discipline, discharge, and blacklist union members. But in the 1930's workers began to organize militantly. A great strike wave in 1933 and 1934 included citywide general strikes and factory takeovers. Violent confrontations occurred between workers trying to form unions and the police and private security forces defending the interests of anti-union employers. Some historians believe that Congress adopted the NLRA primarily in the hopes of averting greater, possible revolutionary, labor unrest.

The NLRA guaranteed workers the right to join unions without fear of management reprisal. It created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce this right and prohibited employers from committing unfair labor practices that might discourage organizing or prevent workers from negotiating a union contract.

The NLRA's passage galvanized union organizing. Successful campaigns soon followed in the automobile, steel, electrical, manufacturing, and rubber industries. By 1945, union membership reached 35% of the work-force. In reaction, industrialists, and other opponents of organized labor sought to weaken the NLRA. They succeeded in 1947 with the passage of the Taft-Hartly Act, which added provisions to the NLRA allowing unions to be prosecuted, enjoined, and sued for a variety of activities, including mass picketing and secondary boycotts.

The last major revision of the NLRA occurred in 1959, when Congress imposed further restrictions on unions in the Landrum-Griffin Act.

The most important sections of the NLRA are Sections 7, 8, and 9. Section 7, is the heart of the NLRA. It defines //protected// activity. Stripped to its essential, it reads:

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 and protection.

Section 7 applies to a wide range of union an collective activities. In addition to organizing, it protects employees who take part in grievances, on-the-job protests, picketing, and strikes.

Section 8 defines employer unfair labor practices.

Five types of conduct are made illegal:
 * Employer interference, restraint, or coercion directed against union or collective activity (Section 8(a)(1))
 * Employer domination of unions (Section 8(a)(2))
 * Employer discrimination against employees who take part in union or collective activities (Section 8(a)(3))
 * Employer retaliation for filing unfair-labor-practice charges or cooperating with the NLRB (Section 8(a)(4))
 * Employer refusal to bargain in good faith with union representatives (Section 8(a)(5))

Threats, warnings, and orders to refrain from protected activities are forms of interference and coercion that violate Section 8(a)(1). Disciplinary actions, such as suspensions, discharges, transfers, and demotions, violate Section 8(a)(3). Failures to supply information, unilateral changes, refusals to hold grievance meetings, and direct dealings violate Section 8(a)(5).

Section 8 also prohibits union unfair labor practices, which include, according to legal construction, failure to provide fair representation to all members of the bargaining unit.

Section 9 provides that unions, if certified or recognized, are the exclusive representatives of bargaining unit members. It prohibits the adjustment of employee grievances unless a union representative is given and opportunity to be present, and establishes procedures to vote on union representation.

The NLRA sets out general rights and obligation. Enforcing the Act in particular situations is the job of the NLRB.

The Taft-Hartley Act
The Taft-Hartley Act passed in 1947 was a setback to the advances that the National Labor Relations Act had gained for U.S. workers and the U.S. Labor Movement in general. Sponsored by Senator Taft and Representative Hartley, this Act curtailed, stunted and otherwise suspended the growing power and ability of labor to advocate change and betterment on behalf of the U.S. worker. From the passage of the NLRA (National Labor Relations Act) in 1935 to the passage of this opprobrious Act in 1947, a mere twelve years were enough to produce the sentiment amongst business leaders that laborers and the U.S. labor movement had gone too far.

To those who may doubt the damage that the Taft-Hartley Act produced upon the labor movement within the U.S., one has to look no farther than five presidents who used the Act to suspend strikes while in progress; strikes which were obviously pushed forward to address grievances that the workers had and were unable to settle amicably with management. Taft-Hartley was the wrecking ball that demolished the path to progress that labor was mounted on. Though Taft-Hartley did not remove all the gains, the damage was sufficient that to this day Taft-Hartley has been used.

First was Truman, though initially vetoing the Act, used it a total of twelve times especially regarding the steel mills. Next came Eisenhower who had no qualms enabling the national emergency provisions of the Act to end strikes which the NLRA would have permitted if Taft-Hartley Act would not have been passed. In the October 10, 1959 edition of the New York Times, the headline read in bold print, "**EISENHOWER USES TAFT-HARTLEY ACT IN A MOVE TO END STEEL WALKOUT**" Eisenhower also used it in the New York port strike of 1953. Third was Nixon who in 1971, used provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act to stop the longshoremen's strike on the West coast. An impasse between the longshoremen and management led to the strike which Nixon incapacitated via the Act. Even Kennedy who might come as a shock to many invoked provisions of the Act to quell a seaman strike in 1961. As late as 2002, Bush also invoked provisions of the Act to open up the ports which were closed in an employer ploy to derail the demands sought by the longshoremen.

As stated, the most damaging component of the Taft-Hartley Act has been the national emergency provisions of the Act. The Act specifically states:

//national emergencies// //Sec. 206. [Sec. 176. Appointment of board of inquiry by President; report; contents; filing with Service] Whenever in the opinion of the President of the United States, a threatened or actual strike or lockout affecting an entire industry or a substantial part thereof engaged in trade,// //Page 281// //commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or with foreign nations, or engaged in the production of goods for commerce, will, if permitted to occur or to continue, imperil the national health or safety,//

This specific portion of the Act states the conditions for which a national emergency can be established. As stated, it effectively circumvents any strike since the OPINION of the president is deemed sufficient to warrant the possibility of a national emergency.It goes on to explain the bureaucratic process by which the national emergency opinion given by the president is to be systematically analyzed and cataloged by a board of inquiry chosen by himself, clearly a rubber stamping act. Then comes the portion within Taft-Hartley which destroys the ability for labor to continue the strike killing it dead in its tracks. The Act states:

//Upon receiving a report from a board of inquiry the President may direct the Attorney General to petition any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties to enjoin such strike or lockout or the continuing thereof, and if the court finds that such threatened or actual strike or lockout-- (i) affects an entire industry or a substantial part thereof engaged in trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or with foreign nations, or engaged in the production of goods for commerce; and (ii) if permitted to occur or to continue, will imperil the national health or safety, it shall have jurisdiction to enjoin any such strike or lockout, or the continuing thereof, and to make such other orders as may be appropriate.//

After his rubber stamping board of inquiry gives the President their findings and basically regurgitates his opinion, the President directs the Attorney General to petition any district court, key word is ANY which means a favorable court to the President's liking, to absolutely kill the strike in its tracks giving the union basically no recourse.

It has been a callous attempt by these presidents to invoke an injunction under the pretense of a national emergency if said strike were allowed to continue. These national emergency provisions of the Act have allowed five presidents to effectively seek an end to labor's right to continue a strike. It has stopped the collective bargaining process in its tracks and thereby removed pressure from management toward an agreement benefiting the workers. As a result, it has postponed the gains that the labor movement would have achieved in the interim had this Act not been passed.

Prior to Taft-Hartley, the "unfair labor practices" portion of the NLRA Act only contained those involving employers. With passage of Taft-Hartley, these provisions included "unfair labor practices" which they believed involved employees. These included closed shops (only union members can be hired), wildcat strikes (spontaneous strikes by workers without union organization, authorization and/or involvement), secondary boycotting ( getting others to boycott a firm which does business with the firm that is being striked or essentially boycotted thus the secondary boycott term), and the allowance of "right to work" laws which invalidated the open shop practice of new union membership. These were some of the ways in which Taft-Hartley amended the gains that the NLRA had achieved. Taft Hartley constrained the unions' ability and their members to continue improving the wages, working conditions and the overall general plight of the American worker.

For further information regarding the Taft-Hartley Act, visit the following sites:

Full text of the Taft-Hartley Act http://vi.uh.edu/pages/buzzmat/tafthartley.html

Exhaustive timeline of the Taft-Hartley Act [] New York Times article detailing Eisenhower’s use of the Act [] New York Times article detailing Nixon’s use of the Act [] New York Times article detailing Kennedy’s use of the Act [] New York Times article detailing Bush’s use of the Act [] National Emergency provisions and the Taft-Hartley Act [] 1954 Time magazine article on Taft Hartley []

UNIONS


media type="youtube" key="HlbfpzC_-I0" height="340" width="560"

Labor Union List found at: []

media type="youtube" key="p4ZNou0X-9k" height="344" width="425"

Sexual Harassment
media type="youtube" key="--ReQuYT2cI" height="344" width="425"

=Should You Get a Lawyer?=

[|Fair Labor Standards Act] [|Family and Medical Leave Act] [|OSHA complaints] [|OSHA whistleblower provisions]
 * Department of Labor:**