National Labor Act

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Since 1926, Congress has enacted three major laws that govern labor-management relations for private sector and federal employees. The three major labor relations statutes in the United States are the Railway Labor Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. Each law governs a distinct population of the U.S. workforce. It is my goal to provide a brief history and overview of the aims of each of these statutes. The Railway Labor Act (RLA) was enacted in 1926, and its coverage extends to railway and airline carriers, unions, and employees of the carriers. The RLA guarantees employees the right to organize and collectively bargain with their employers over conditions of work and…show more content…
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress pursued policies to stabilize a weak economy and reduce unemployment. To these ends, the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) was enacted, which guaranteed workers the right to organize and to collectively bargain. By enabling unions to exert pressure on employers to increase wages, Congress believed workers would spend their higher wages, thus increasing the nation’s purchasing power. NIRA did not prohibit so-called company- dominated unions, unions that are organized or assisted by an employer to such an extent that they appear to be an employer’s creation and not an employee bargaining representative. Also, some employers refused to recognize employee selected unions, which prompted some employees to strike. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that NIRA was unconstitutional. In 1935 Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which is often called the Wagner Act, after its Senate sponsor, Senator Robert Wagner. Unlike its predecessor, the Wagner Act prohibited company- dominated unions and established the majority rule principle for worker representation. The act…show more content…
The order granted federal employees the right to join, or not to join, labor unions and to collectively bargain. These new rights, however, were not as extensive as those of private employees. For instance, federal employees could not negotiate over wages and were prohibited from striking. Additionally, an agency could require that employees negotiate over a collective bargaining agreement only during non-official time. In 1969, President Richard Nixon issued Executive Order 11491, which further developed the framework of federal labor-management relations. It provided that majority exclusive recognition would be the only form of union recognition, established the Federal Labor Relations Council (the predecessor to the current Federal Labor Relations Authority, FLRA) and the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP), and listed prohibited unfair labor practices for both unions and management. It also allowed employees to use limited “official time” to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement. Although federal employees were given collective bargaining rights under the executive orders (EOs) issued by Presidents Kennedy and Nixon, those rights were not necessarily secure, as
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