Of all the blows to the Labor movement in the United States few have had the lasting impact and damage to the rights of working men as the Taft Hartley Act of 1947. Its passage represented a huge step backward for the movement that has never been fully recovered. No matter what the acts original intentions, which at best were to balance the power between Labor Unions and Capital, and at worse was an attempt to crush the labor movement altogether, The act has done much more harm then good prompting such activist as Ralph Nader to state that its repeal would be "one important step in restoring workers" right to organize into unions to achieve a living wage in the Wal-Marts, McDonald's and other workplaces, and in revitalizing American democracy.".
Given the misuse (some examples of which will be illustrated later in this essay) and its effective crippling of the American Laborer, One might ask how did this law come to pass. In order to understand the Taft-Hartley Act, one must first be familiar with the Wagner Act of 1935. The Wagner Act was, at the time of its passage, the most important labor law American had ever passed. It gave much needed leverage to labor organizations and was quickly dubbed "labor's bill of rights." It covered all firms and employees in activities affecting interstate commerce (with notable exceptions being government employees, agricultural workers, and Rail worker already subject to the Railway Labor Act. It ensured workers of the right to both organize and join labor unions, as well as to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to strike if they deemed it necessary. It also set up the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a federal agency to administer the act. .
In addition to powers given to labor it also blocked Employers from utilizing five union harsh and unfair tactics. These are as follows:.
• Interfering with the ability of employees to organize unions and/or engage in collective bargaining.
Congress then presented him with its Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, the Taft-Hartley Act that greatly weakened the position of labor unions. ... His requests to have the Taft-Hartley Act repealed, his plans for agricultural stabilization, for construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and for the creation o...
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