National Labor Relations Board

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), independent agency of the U.S. government created under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act), and amended by the acts of 1947 ( Taft-Hartley Labor Act ) and 1959 ( Landrum-Griffin Act ), which affirmed labor's right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choice or to refrain from such activities. The board of five members (appointed by the U.S. President with the approval of the Senate for five-year terms) is assisted by 33 regional directors. This board determines proper bargaining units, conducts elections for union representation, and investigates charges of unfair labor practices by employers. Unfair practices include interference, coercion, or restraint in labor's self-organizational rights; interference with the formation of labor unions; encouraging or discouraging membership in a union; and refusal to bargain collectively with a duly chosen employee representative. The NLRB does not have the power to consider cases involving real estate brokers, agricultural employees, domestic workers, family workers, government employees, and church-run schools.

History

The Wagner Act, which established the NLRB, was validated by the Supreme Court in 1937. The NLRB functioned during World War II, but labor relations were mainly handled by the National War Labor Board (WLB), which existed from 1942 until 1945. A 12-man body, with the public, management, and labor equally represented, the WLB soon shifted from arbitration to formulating policies.

With the passage in 1947 of the Taft-Hartley Labor Act (also known as the Labor-Management Relations Act), the NLRB was converted into a purely judicial body, with the prosecution of unfair labor practices transferred to a general counsel. The board's action was dependent upon the filing by the union chiefs of affidavits proving that they were not Communists and of complete financial data. The NLRB's field of investigation was extended to cover the following practices as unfair to employers: refusal to bargain collectively, coercing employers in the selection of their bargaining agency, persuading employers to discriminate against certain employees, and conducting secondary boycotts or jurisdictional strikes.

In 1959 the Taft-Hartley Labor Act was amended by the Landrum-Griffin Act (also known as the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act), which repealed the requirement that a union must file a non-Communist affidavit and a financial report in order to obtain a hearing before the NLRB. The act also gave the states permission to assume jurisdiction over cases that the NLRB declined, even when interstate commerce was involved. Organizational and recognition picketing (i.e., picketing of companies where another union is already recognized) were made unlawful, and the NLRB general counsel was required to seek an injunction against such picketing if a violation was proved.

The Landrum-Griffin Act also affected policies of the board. It banned secondary boycott pressures and, with some exceptions, outlawed so-called hot-cargo agreements (i.e., express or implied contracts that prevent employers from doing business with persons declared off limits by unions). The NLRB's power was subsequently extended to postal workers (1970) and private health care institutions (1974), but a number of court rulings have reduced the board's power. During the 1980s organized labor attacked the NLRB for being pro-employer.

Bibliography

See bibliography under labor law.

National Labor Relations Board. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act) established a three‐member National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to interpret and apply the act.As an independent quasi‐judicial administrative agency with the power to enforce its rulings, the NLRB decided cases through a formal adversary process and developed a body of binding case law.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the act constitutional in 1937, the NLRB, under chairman J. Warren Madden, initially enforced it vigorously and literally. An unlikely coalition of critics, including business interests, congressional conservatives, old‐style union leaders, and even President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, sought to weaken the board, however, and consequently it began to act more cautiously and less decisively on behalf of labor.

The 1947 Taft‐Hartley Act further limited the NLRB, restricting it to adjudicative responsibilities and creating the office of general counsel to investigate charges, prosecute complaints, and represent the agency in court proceedings. By the 1990s, the NLRB, headquartered in Washington, D.C., had more than thirty regional offices across the United States.

The NLRB implements statutory language that, while broad, can also be unclear or ambiguous. In carrying out its statutory mandate, the board chooses among alternatives that affect opposed constituencies and that reflect conflicting views of what national labor policy should be. After 1954, when the NLRB had its first Republican‐appointed majority and general counsel, case doctrine underwent periodic modification depending on which political party held power. Democrats interpreted Taft‐Hartley in ways that encouraged collective bargaining and facilitated union organizing, while Republicans focused on provisions in Taft‐Harley protecting individual choice and the right to reject collective bargaining.
See also Industrial Relations; Labor Movements; New Deal Era, The; Strikes and Industrial Conflict.

Bibliography

James A. Gross , The Making of the National Labor Relations Board: A Study in Economics, Politics, and the Law, 1974.
James A. Gross , The Reshaping of the NLRB: National Labor Policy in Transition, 1937–1947, 1981.
James A. Gross , Broken Promise: The Subversion of U.S. Labor Relations Policy, 1947–1994, 1995.

James A. Gross