During the industrial revolution, there was a major shift in the work relationship between employees and employers due to change from small scale to large scale production.
As workers sought better working conditions and rights to join unions, the employers were more concerned with a more predictable, flexible and less costly work force.
There was hence a need to mediate the needs of both parties and this led to the conception of employment and labor laws.
An employment or a labor law negotiates the working relationships between workers and employment entities, trade unions and the government.
The laws can further be split between those that govern tripartite relationships between unions, employers and employees and those that concerns employees’ rights at work.
In a broader perspective, employment and labor laws exists to govern issues such as wages and hours, workplace safety and health, compensation, employee benefits security, employee protection, and unions plus their members.
It is imperative to note that there exists a significant difference between employment and labor laws.
While employment laws basically deal with individual employee contracts where an employee is neither a member of a union nor bound by any collective bargain agreement (CBA), labor laws generally applies to work environments that are bound by a labor relations act and as such, the employee must be subject to a CBA or union membership.
Additionally, while employment contracts can be oral or written, CBAs cannot be oral. Although both laws handle similar issues, cases and procedures for both are entirely different.
Major Employment & Labor Acts
The Railway Labor Act (RLA)
This act was enacted in 1926 between railway laborers and the management. This act carries the possibility of a criminal prosecution in the event of a willful sabotage or interruption of interstate commerce.
The act binds railways or airline carriers and associated officers and agents in compliance with the specific guidelines involving labor management relations in the railway and airline industries.
The RLA act provides for prompt disposition of disputes between carriers and their employees and further protects employees’ rights to organize and bargain collectively.
Mandatory dispute resolution procedures (precluding strikes over union representation and grievance disputes) are laid down by the National Mediation Board (NMB) which administers the RLA.
The NMB is a three member independent agency appointed by the president. It is charged with the ability to hold mediating parties in good faith negotiations and to assist in reaching amicable settlements.
There are two types of disputes handled by the NMB. A major dispute (CBA) involves creation or modification of an existing collective bargain agreement on pay rates, working rules and working conditions which are subject to conciliatory procedures.
Minor disputes are grievances arising out of interpretation or application of existing contractual rights. Besides the NMB, it is important to note that the Federal Railroad Administration is occasionally involved in contractual disputes at key junctions.
The Norris-La Guardia Act
This is a legislative act passed in 1932 to curb certain legal and judicial injunctions against organized labor in the United States.
These injunctions includes but not limited to prevention of non-violent strikes, picketing, boycotts by labor groups and categorically prohibited yellow dog contracts.
By outlawing the yellow dog contracts, this act supported the very first federal labor laws supporting organized labor thereby marking a significant victory in labor reforms. This consequently fostered a trend towards more favorable government labor policies.
This act was more of a precursor for the Wagner Act of 1935. It came at a time of a great depression when employers sought to prevent workers from joining unions while federal judges employed the power of the courts to limit normal union activities.
This is because the judges perceived the unions to be in restraint of trade since they lacked strikes. However later on the courts began understanding the validity of workers seeking shorter working times and better wages.
This act was instituted by the United States federal law and cosponsored in congress by George Norris and Fiorello La Guardia.
The Wagner Act
Initially, the Wagner act was the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of the 1935 sponsored by a democrat, Senator Robert Wagner.
It is one of the most important labor legislations enacted in the United States during the 20th century.
The act established the legal rights of most workers (with the exclusion of domestic and agricultural workers) to organize or join labor unions to boost their collective bargaining power with their employers.
The National Labor Relations Board was a three member body charged with the responsibility of hearing and resolving labor disputes through quasi-judicial proceedings.
Additionally, this board had the power to determine if appropriate employee bargaining unit existed under CBA, conduct secret balloting for employees to determine whether they required union representation or not and requiring employers to bargain with the unions when necessary.
The Taft-Hartley Act
This act provides some limitations to the influence of unions by amending the Wagner act in 1947.
The act imparted powers to the employees to turn down union membership or even de-register from union membership if they determine that their representation in the collective bargaining was not desirable.
The act further required that unions honor existing contractual arrangements without striking and curb unnecessary strikes between companies doing business with the union employers.
The Taft-Hartley act was formerly the Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA) sponsored by Senator Robert A Taft and Fred A Hartley, Jr.
LMRA not only encouraged preservation of rights of labor to organize and bargain effectively but additionally outlawed the closed shops policy but permitted union shops only favored by majority of workers.
LMRA further instituted that:
i. Unions give a 60 days advance strike notification
ii. Authorized 80 days federal injunction if a strike threatened national safety
iii. Defined unfair union practices & restricted unions’ political contributions
The Landrum-Griffin Act
Formerly Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, this act was conceived as a legislative response towards the publicly acknowledged corruption and autocracy in certain labor unions in the 1950s.
This was in a move to foster democracy and honest in operations.
Federal penalties were instituted to deal with labor union officials who misappropriated union funds, those guilty of particular crimes and those who breached union members’ legal rights.
This act was sponsored by a democrat, Phil Landrum and a republican, Robert P. Griffin.
