The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), also known as the Wagner Act, is a Federal Law enacted by the Congress in 1935 to protect both employers and employees. It protects employees regardless of whether one is a member of a union or not. It grants them the right to form or join trade unions in order to improve their working conditions. NLRA stabilizes the employer-employee union relations (Bible, 2015). The Act also restrains certain private sector labors and management practices that may harm workers and the United States’ economy.
Historical Foundation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
Before 1935, workers in the United States had a right to down their tools and participate in industrial actions. However, employers too had a right to fire workers who had participated in strikes or had been enrolled in trade unions. It was easier for an employer to hire another employee than for a worker to find a job. By 1933, only 10% of the American workers had joined trade unions. In 1933, a bill that prohibited unfair labor practices by employers was submitted to the Congress by Senator Robert F. Wagner. With the backing of the Secretary of Labor and President Franklin Roosevelt, the bill became the …show more content…
It was created to enforce the NLRA (Green, 2017). It is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has regional offices in the country where the employers, the employees, and the unions file their charges to these regional offices. The NLRB is responsible for conducting investigations on the charges reported by employees, unions, and employers. It also facilitates settlements on the determined charges, enforces orders in the labor sector, and conducts decertification elections in the private sector. The NLRB protects both the rights of the labor union members and non-union members (Gonzalez, 2014). It is constituted of 40 judges and 5 board members who are appointed by the president through the