“Life in the fast lane, surely make you lose your mind”.
–Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey and Don Henley, The Eagles, 1976
The law, like a glacier, moves slowly. Significant changes in federal labor relations law – which deals with the relationship between employers and their employees’ bargaining representatives – are no exception. They’re quite rare. The basic framework of the law – the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), which was enacted in 1935 under President Franklin Roosevelt – has changed little in 91 years. The Act’s provisions for the right of private sector employees to form and join labor unions, to require employers to engage in “collective bargaining”, and to engage in protected “concerted activity” have been more or less intact for decades.
Historical Context
The NLRA, like almost all legislation, was passed to solve a perceived (or at least ostensible) problem. The problem in this case stemmed from inadequate wages and poor (and sometimes dangerous if not deadly) working conditions in the early 20th century. Employees, to protest them, engaged in strikes, which were economically disruptive and sometimes violent. The NLRA was a response to all that and was enacted to give employees the right to band together to seek better wages and working conditions, to promote industrial peace, and to try to bring some measure of balance to the typically lopsided relationship between employers and employees.
The Act compels employers and employees’ bargaining representatives...
Pauline Hanson funded a TV special called "Seeking the Truth, Finding Justice" that gained millions of views within hours. OUR VERDICT False. There is no record of the supposedly viral TV special....