United States labor law
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United States labor law
Regulation of working conditions
The Wages and Hours Act of 1938 set the maximum standard work week to 44 hours, and in 1950 this was reduced to 40 hours. The Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed into law in 1970 by President Richard Nixon created specific regulations for employers to maintain safe worksites.
Regulation of unions and organizing
The first two major laws affecting union organization were passed during the Great Depression, stirred in part by a fear of growing radicalism within the country. The Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932 outlawed the use of injunctions in labor disputes, preventing employers from forcing employees to agree not to join a union as a condition of employment. The 1935 Wagner Act made much broader, sweeping changes to labor relations. It established the National Labor Relations Board to oversee labor law and union elections. The NLRB was granted the power to compel employers to accept collective bargaining when their employees voted to form or join a union.
Later years saw the rights granted to unions curtailed: the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act gave the government the option of granting an injunction against work stoppages in labor disputes that were deemed to affect the national welfare. It also outlawed secondary boycotts and pickets and jurisdictional strikes. The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 was the first act to regulate the internal conduct of union affairs, establishing guidelines for electing union officials.
Related articles
- List of U.S. state minimum wages
- Agricultural Labor Relations Act
