National Labor Relations Act

Name: Porter Company v. National Labor Relations Board — Opinion of the Court
Author: Hugo Black

Definition and stakes

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, or Wagner Act, is a cornerstone of U.S. labor law, guaranteeing private-sector workers the right to form unions, negotiate collectively, and participate in strikes, while preventing employer interference. Central to its design was the creation of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce these rights and mediate disputes.

The Act aimed to correct power imbalances between employers and employees, though it excluded groups such as agricultural workers and government employees. Legal interpretations by justices like Hugo Black and Harlan F. Stone emphasized its support for collective action, while court decisions defined its boundaries in relation to state regulations. The Wagner Act continues to be essential in shaping labor relations, maintaining a balance between union rights and employer responsibilities through judicial review.

Quotes about “National Labor Relations Act”

Hugo Black, Hill v. State Of Florida Watson…

“ For the same reasons, the National Labor Relations Act does not preclude a state from requiring a labor union, or its officers and agents, as such, to procure licenses or make reports or perform other duties which do not materially obstruct the exercise of rights conferred by the National Labor Relations Act or other federal legislation. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Harlan F. Stone, National Licorice Company v. National Labor Relations Board…

“ Obviously employers cannot set at naught the National Labor Relations Act by inducing their workmen to agree not to demand performance of the duties which it imposes or by insisting more than in a private litigation, that the employer's obedience to the Act, cannot be compelled in the absence of the workers who have thus renounced their rights. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Felix Frankfurter, Algoma Plywood Veneer Company v…

“ The term 'unfair labor practice' is not a term of art having an independent significance which transcends its statutory definition. The State are free (apart from pre-emption by Congress) to characterize any wrong of any kind by an employer to an employee, whether statutorily created or known to the common law, as an 'unfair labor practice.' At the time when the National Labor Relations Act was adopted, the courts of many States, at least under some circumstances, denied validity to union-security agreements. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Byron White, National Labor Relations Board v…

“ The National Labor Relations Act, as originally passed and amendmed from time to time, is the work product of draftsmen skilled by long experience in labor affairs. These draftsmen thoroughly understood labor legislation terminology, especially the oft-used words 'restrain or coerce.' Sections 7 and 8 together bespeak a strong purpose of Congress to leave workers wholly free to determine in what concerted labor activities they will engage or decline to engage. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, Local 357, International Brotherhood of Teamsters…

“ If a union or employer is to be permitted to take action which substantially though unintentionally-encourages or discourages union activity, the union or employer ends served by the action must not only be of some significance, but they must also be legitimate, or at least not otherwise forbidden by the National Labor Relations Act. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William J. Brennan, Jr., National Labor Relations Board v…

“ National labor policy has been built on the premise that by pooling their economic strength and acting through a labor organization freely chosen by the majority, the employees of an appropriate unit have the most effective means of bargaining for improvements in wages, hours, and working conditions. The policy therefore extinguishes the individual employee's power to order his own relations with his employer and creates a power vested in the chosen representative to act in the interests of all employees. ”

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Source: Wikisource

William O. Douglas, National Labor Relations Board v…

“ Should the National Labor Relations Act be interpreted as having application to a business of purely local character, such as a laundry, merely because such business is located in a city on a state line and derives a substantial portion of its income from business which involves collections or deliveries of articles in a state other than that in which the business is located? ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert H. Jackson, Bethlehem Steel Company v. New York State Labor Relations Board…

“ What is before us is a very real and practical situation. The vast range of jurisdiction which the National Labor Relations Act has conferred upon the Board raises problems of administration wholly apart from available funds. ”

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Source: Wikisource

United States. Presidents, State of the Union Addresses (1790-2006…

“ If we want to keep our economy running in high gear, we must be sure that every group has the incentive to make its full contribution to the national welfare. At present, the working men and women of the Nation are unfairly discriminated against by a statute that abridges their rights, curtails their constructive efforts, and hampers our system of free collective bargaining. That statute is the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, sometimes called the Taft-Hartley Act. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Hugo Black, Porter Company v. National Labor Relations Board…

“ But the Act as presently drawn does not contemplate that unions will always be secure and able to achieve agreement even when their economic position is weak, or that strikes and lockouts will never result from a bargaining impasse. It cannot be said that the Act forbids an employer or a union to rely ultimately on its economic strength to try to secure what it cannot obtain through bargaining. It may well be true, as the Court of Appeals felt, that the present remedial powers of the Board are insufficiently broad to cope with important labor problems. ”