Unfair Labor Practices And The Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Labor unions have existed in one way or another since the birth of our country in 1776. They were created in an effort to protect the working population from abuses such as sweatshops and unsafe working conditions. From the start of our Nation there were a few unions organized unions in a scattered fashion, but many were disbanded after they had achieved their goals, such as when the printers and shoemakers briefly unionized in Philadelphia and New York City in 1778 to conduct the first recorded strike for higher wages. Three years later in 1971 the first successful strike happened, when Philadelphia carpenters campaigned for a ten-hour workday. This caused the need for skilled and unskilled laborers to skyrocket during the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War and also got the ball rolling with Labor unions. At this point in our Country, there had been nothing done yet for workers’ rights, conditions, pay, and so on. People at this time saw that they could come together and do something to make their lives better for themselves and their families. Many of these dates were important in shaping our country’s labor policies into what they are today. In 1847 New Hampshire enacts as the first state to enforce a 10-hour workday law. In 1909 the International Ladies’ Garment workers’ Union calls a strike in New York, demanding a 20-percent raise and a 52-hour workweek. Within two days, more than 20,000 workers from 500 factories walk off the job. This largely successful uprising

One of the positive aspects of unions in America is their ability to improve the working conditions of most American workers. During the Industrial Revolution, working conditions for employees became

Facts: In Davis Supermarkets, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board 2 F.3d 1162 (DC. Cir. 1993), the Court was asked to decide a dispute between an employer (Davis) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB had found that Davis committed unfair labor practices, which Davis disputed. A union (Local 23) was attempting to organize a local at Davis. Several employees signed authorization cards for the union. Six of those employees were terminated in a mass layoff that impacted eight employees. Davis then fired or constructively fired three more employees who had filed authorization cards. Davis's chairman of the board then informed employees that he wanted them to sign authorizations with the Steelworkers, a competing union. However, Davis maintained that the employees were terminated for cause, not because they signed authorization cards for Local 23.

Title: Unions have played a significant role in workforce history, have they outlived their purpose.

When speaking of unfair labor practices, it is imperative to note that, according to the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, they include any attempts of an employer to prevent employees from organizing or creating their unions, restrain or interfere with their rights to support the existing union, affect their intentions and perceptions of union activities, threatening an employee with firing them or taking away their benefits predetermined by their competence if they choose to support the union (Legal Information Institute, n.d.; Noe et al.,

Historically, unions have made major improvements in workers’ conditions and wages. There has been legislation in favor of support to unions and worker needs and there has been legislation to restrict union power. The Wagner Act, commonly referred to as the National Labor Relations Act, and the Taft-Hartley Act are two of the many laws created to balance union power. This paper will look at both Acts, the impacts they have had, and what changes could be made to make them more relevant to today’s society.

The fact that many US employers look down on, discourage, and blatantly combat unionization is not a recent occurrence as successful organization thereof can result in decreased profits and inflated personnel costs. Fossum (2012) argues that ‘employers have long resisted attempts to unionize” (p. 215) and implemented various strategies to remain union free and greedily persist in their efforts toward heightened profitability through utilization of unfair labor practices.

The disintegration of America’s middle class has not gone unchallenged, however. As American workers have seen their once healthy wages and robust benefits slip from their grasp, many have clinged tightly to the protection of unions. Nodding to the well-documented victories of union members in the mid-1900s, unions in today’s flexible economy have often resorted to the tried-and-true methods of collective bargaining to defend themselves. But while these techniques proved successful in the Fordist economies of the mid-1900s, they have been largely ineffective in their attempts to protect workers in a post-Fordist economy that has made employers less dependent upon their workers. As a result, union participation rates in the United States have dropped from nearly one in three during the 1950s to a modern rate of only one in ten—with the U.S now donning one the lowest unionization rates in the world. Amidst Fordism’s collapse, American workers have found themselves questioning where they can find their footing in today’s economy.

National Labor Relations Act in section 7 give all employees protection of concercted activities the employee is a member of a union or not (Prozzi, 1986). Employee can actively engage in concerted activities to bargain collectively or for mutual protection. Even though employees have protections under section 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act, those protections are not without limits. If employee organize a strike or a walk out, these are actions that protected under NLRA (Landry, 2016). The goal of a strike or a walk out is to apply pressure to an employer to correct some unfair employment practices under the current labor relations laws. A strike also gives the employee leverage against any form of retaliation for acted in

Unions have played a big role in protecting employees, but we have come a long way from the lessons we have learned of the past situations. In the 19th century the US became a new world for immigrants to produce a new life, working conditions required hard work, fighting, long hours for little pay, but most importantly, the unsafe conditions and manual labor that was bestowed upon these workers. This created labors to start a union, but there have been some major issues that ended badly such as the Haymarket riot, the homestead strike, and the Pullman strike, but it took these problems to form a better working conditions for the labor’s. We have learned from the past that employers try to get away with such acts, that laws

Labor unions became very prevalent during the Progressive Era when positions in factories were readily available but also steadily dangerous. Unions were drafted in order to protect the rights of workers regarding safety, wages, and benefits. It wasn’t until about the 1980’s when labor unions started to face a real decline and lack of memberships. In my opinion I believe the lack of manufacturing jobs in the US, newly implemented public policies, and increased lobbying from corporations are the root causes of the decline.

During the National Labor Union’s six year tenure, there were many decisive victories for the union workers. The Union was so well developed that it persuaded Congress to enact an 8-hour work day for federal workers (Rise of Unions, 2014). This was no easy

During Americas second industrial revolution, many people migrated to cities. There was too many people and not enough jobs for the number of people pouring in. Along with that, many jobs were being taken away by new technologies that were cheaper than hiring workers. Machines took the jobs of those who used to work menial tasks. As time went on in the history of labor unions, the purpose of it started to decline dramatically. Many places began to outsource jobs and many of companies moved to other countries. Union Memberships started to decline drastically. “Between 1975 and 1985, union membership fell by 5 million. In manufacturing, the unionized portion of the labor force dropped below 25 percent, while mining and construction, once labor’s flagship industries, were decimated. Only in the public sector did the unions hold their own. By the end of the 1980s, less than 17 percent of American workers were organized, half the proportion of the early 1950s”(History

The great depression brought unemployment levels up to nearly 25%(Carter, 2017). Beyond this, employers were keen to discriminate or terminate any workers attempting to join a union or otherwise organize since this would hurt the employer’s bottom line and ultimately require them to improve working conditions and benefits. Since the passage of the Wagner act and the 82 years after, unions and labor issues have changed quite drastically. Today’s workers are concerned with income inequality, the power that corporations have over law making policy versus the average worker, and advanced robotics making many entry level jobs obsolete (Kumar, 2015). Another issue plaguing workers is the speed at which inflation and prices for goods has increased compared to the slow crawl that wages have increased

State Department of Labor as a direct result of pressure from organized labor (MacLaury). Shortly after the creation of the Department of Labor, the Great Recession hit the nation. With the depression came an increased unemployment and lesser wages however significant legislation was also created during that time that impacted union membership. The most significant law was the Fair Labor Standards Act. Following shortly after this FLSA, the United States amended the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Occupations Health and Safety Act of 1970. Although these acts were supported by the power of unions, these acts in particular impact union membership which will be discussed later in the paper. It was at this time in the nation’s history that unions began to see a decline in membership. Unions today cast a wide umbrella of membership and consist of trade unions such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Laborers International Union of North America to service unions such as the United Food and Commercial Workers. Although their membership has declined, unions that were once affiliated with a defined group skilled labor employees now can be found in almost any industry representing any group of employees.