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75th Anniversary of National Labor Relations Act: Unions the Answer Then and Now
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In this crosspost from Huffington Post, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis reaffirms the importance of the National Labor Relations Act, which gave workers freedom to form unions.
July 5 marked the 75th anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act—also known as the Wagner Act—one of the lesser known, but key components of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. In addition to Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, a federal minimum wage and laws regulating child labor—all controversial concepts at the time that we now take for granted as basic elements of fairness—the New Deal included the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) which protected workers’ rights to join or form unions and engage in collective bargaining.
The NLRA was signed into law when our nation was in the grip of the Great Depression. At a time when the economy was spinning out of control, some critics were hesitant about a law that empowered workers. Sound familiar?
But President Roosevelt and his Labor Secretary, Frances Perkins, understood the importance of giving workers bargaining power and saw the NLRA as central to his strategy to rebuild the economy. The famous economist John Maynard Keynes would later write a letter to FDR praising his efforts to restore the American economy and emphasizing the expansion of collective bargaining as an essential effort to the economic recovery.
Collective bargaining helped create our middle class. Working people were able to share in the gains of their productivity and labor and management together forged creative solutions to create the powerful engine of the American economy we all are proud of.
In order to rebuild the middle class today, we need to level the playing field for all working people and update our labor laws to fit the 21st century workplace. That’s why the President and I support the Employee Free Choice Act, which would update the NLRA so workers can form unions if they choose to without fear or pressure. In addition, millions of workers are not covered by the NLRA including public sector workers, farm workers, domestic workers, and more. So other laws, like the Public Safety Cooperation Act would ensure that firefighters and other public servants have a voice on the job, too.
Some people say that given the state of the economy, we can’t afford unions right now. They’ve got it backwards.
Workers are facing unprecedented challenges and they need the voice on the job that unions provide. Leveling the playing field is a win for workers and employers. Most employers believe that investing in their workforce makes good business sense, but businesses that play by the rules and respect workers’ rights should not have to compete unfairly with those who do not.
As we work together to overcome our own Great Recession we need strategies that create good jobs. That means realizing the promise of the Wagner Act, in the words of FDR, to achieve both “common justice and economic advance.”
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5 Comments
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I have been working on a contract in MN for the past month and have seen the nurses picket in Coon Rapids.
I am married to a nurse who works at a hospital in St. Marys, Pa. The have a severe staffing problem and have had one for the last 15 years. They are intimidated and afraid to organize. This is a community hospital that seems to be heading towards being a for profit hospital. They seem to be caught between a rock and hard place. We’ve had two hospitals close or severely limit services in neighboring towns. If ours closes the closest hospital will be 30 miles away.
I am happy to see a successful contract process in MN, too bad we can’t have something like that in rural PA
Sorry, Sec. Solis, the NLRA did have a disastrous impact on American employees and businesses.
Until 1937, when the U.S. Supreme Court unexpectedly upheld the NLRA and it finally took effect, private-sector employment had increased every year since 1932, for a total gain of 6.9 million jobs. But within just a few months of the April 1937 decision upholding the NLRA, the bottom fell out of the economy. Ultimately, 1.9 million jobs disappeared in 1937. Private sector emplyment didn’t reach its pre-Depression level until 1941, as the nation mobilized for WW II.
If you want a similar disaster to befall employees and businesses today, passing the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” is a great idea.
Stan Greer
National Right to Work Committee
National Institute for Labor Relations Research
The National Institute for Labor Relations Research may sound like a legitimate group, but it is a front for ultra conservatives to spread anti-Union propoganda. While its officers are all active in Fox News like hysterics, you may recognize their Secretary’s name – Anne Coulter. They have nothing realistic to say about Unions.
In reply to Stan Greer, Say this, “Employee Free Choice Act” is an awful idea. Think about it.
I used the CPI (consumer price index) inflation calculator to compare my Armco Steel pay in 1970 of 4.85 per hour including bonus, and I would have to earn $32.66 per hour in 2010 to be even. I don’t work at Armco, aka AKSteel anymore, but I just wonder if journeymen maintaince men make that much. I’ll bet they don’t.