>>> <JKSCHW at aol.com> 02/18/00 09:44AM >>>
CB: Trade unions were outlawed as criminal conspiracies until the New Deal , NLRA legislation. Criminal syndicalism >>
Justin: Nah.
&&&&&&&&&&
CB:
2. Employment Laws
URL: www.iatse491.com/rtw.html
2. Background In the beginning, which is not that long ago, concerted labor activity by workers and craftspersons was considered an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade. Laissez faire economic principles and traditional concepts of property dominated the nation's thinking and persuaded legislatures and courts to outlaw most labor activities which we take for granted today. While it was generally allowed that employees had the right to form unions and make contracts with employers, the employers had no duty to recognize or bargain with a union as representative of the employees. Most strikes, picketing, and boycotts, no matter how peacefully conducted, were declared illegal and criminal.
While the rights of employees and unions were severely restricted, there was little restraint placed upon employers. Employers had the absolute right to hire and fire; they could discriminate upon the basis of union membership, or for that matter, upon any other ground as well. In 1898, Congress passed a law prohibiting discrimination against union members in the railroad industry, but the law was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1908. Non-discrimination laws passed by various states were also declared unconstitutional. On the other hand, courts upheld the "yellow dog contract" whereby employees agreed not to join any union as a condition of employment. Employers were also permitted to circulate "blacklists" of union members and to form and require employees to join company dominated unions which competed with legitimate unions.
It was not until the passage of the Railway Labor Act in 1926, and the New Deal labor legislation in the early 1930's, the most important being the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, that things began to change. For the first time, the nation recognized the right of employees to form and join their own unions free of employer interference, and made it obligatory upon employers to recognize and bargain with unions selected by a majority of their employees. Passage of these laws came at the price of many lost lives and destroyed families in the often violent labor struggles that preceded them.
CB