National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD V. JONES AND LAUGHLIN STEEL CORPORATION
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD V. JONES AND LAUGHLIN STEEL CORPORATION, 301 U.S. 1 (1937), a Supreme Court decision that, by a five-to-four decision, upheld the validity of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The Jones and Laughlin Corporation was engaged in interstate commerce, argued the Court, and thus, "Congress had constitutional authority to safeguard the right of respondent's employees to self-organization and freedom in the choice of representatives for collective bargaining." The Court thus reversed the lower court, which had ruled that the federal government had no constitutional right to regulate labor relations in a manufacturing establishment. This was the first of fifteen formal decisions won by the National Labor Relations Board.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cortner, Richard C. The Jones and Laughlin Case. New York: Knopf, 1970.
Erik McKinleyEriksson
Andrew C.Rieser
See alsoCommerce Clause ; Wages and Hours of Labor, Regulation of .