Norris–La Guardia Act
{{short description|U.S. federal labor law}}
File:N.Y. Mayor visits Veteran Nebraska Senator. Washington, D.C., Dec. 30. Following a call on Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska today, New York's Mayor Fiorello La Guardia predicted that the LCCN2016874648 Trim.jpg George W. Norris of Nebraska (left) and Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York, both Republicans, were the chief sponsors of the Act]]
The Norris–La Guardia Act (also known as the Anti-Injunction Bill) is a 1932 United States federal law relating to United States labor law.Michael Evan Gold, An Introduction to Labor Law (Cornell University Press, 1998), {{ISBN|9780801484773}}, p. 4. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ny5Gv2wr3_MC&dq=norris-laguardia+act+1932&pg=PA4 Excerpts available] at Google Books. ("The modern law of labor relations begins with the Norris–La Guardia Act of 1932, which is still in force today.") It banned yellow-dog contracts, barred the federal courts from issuing injunctions against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joining trade unions. The common title comes from the names of the sponsors of the legislation: Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska and Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York, both Republicans.
History
The Supreme Court held in Coppage v. Kansas (1915) that yellow-dog contracts were enforceable. In the aftermath of that case, the number of judicial injunctions against labor increased substantially, and organizing a union without the employer's consent became extremely difficult.{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=David M.|title=Freedom From Fear|url=https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn|url-access=registration|date=1999|publisher=Oxford University press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn/page/26 26-27]|isbn=978-0-19-503834-7 }}
The law is formally the Act of March 23, 1932 (Ch. 90, {{USStat|47|70}}). It is currently codified at {{Usc-title-chap|29|6}}, starting at {{USC|29|101}} et. seq.
Overview
The Act states that yellow-dog contracts, where workers agree as a condition of employment not to join a labor union, are unenforceable in federal court. It also establishes that employees are free to form unions without employer interference and prevents the federal courts from issuing injunctions in nonviolent labor disputes. The three provisions include protecting worker's self-organization and liberty or "collective bargaining", removing jurisdiction from federal courts vis-a-vis the issuance of injunctions in non-violent labor disputes, and outlawing the "yellow-dog" contract.
Section 13A of the act was fully applied by the Supreme Court of the United States with a 1938 decision, New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co., in an opinion authored by Justice Owen Roberts. The Court held that the act meant to prohibit employers from proscribing the peaceful dissemination of information concerning the terms and conditions of employment by those involved in an active labor dispute, even when such dissemination occurs on an employer's private property.
In popular culture
The Living Theater play Injunction Granted features a scene in which a judge grants injunctions against many trade unions. There follows a scene in which the Norris - La Guardia Act is passed.[https://archive.today/20120717013316/http://www.aladin0.wrlc.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-01000-00---off-0ftpp--00-1--0-10-0---0---0prompt-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-home---01-3-1-00-0-0-11-0-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=ftpp&cl=CL8.2&d=HASH2ece9cbea25f45122eb94a Injunction granted: play script], scenes 20 and 21.
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/chapter-6 As codified in 29 U.S.C. chapter 6] of the United States Code from LII
- [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title29/chapter6&edition=prelim As codified in 29 U.S.C. chapter 6] of the United States Code from the US House of Representatives
- [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-5312/uslm/COMPS-5312.xml Norris-LaGuardia Act] as amended ([https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-5312/pdf/COMPS-5312.pdf PDF]/[https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/COMPS-5312/ details]) in the GPO [https://www.govinfo.gov/help/comps Statute Compilations collection]
- [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=303&invol=552 New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.]
- Paul F. Kelly, [http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/labor_law/meetings/2011/ac2011/072.authcheckdam.pdf The Norris-LaGuardia Act: The LMRA's Older Cousin]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris-La Guardia Act}}
Category:72nd United States Congress
Category:United States federal labor legislation
Category:United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes