Origins of Labor Law Flashcards
Artisanal Period - production technology
Small craft shops, master/apprentice, masters understand the technology of production, localized production
Artisanal Period - nature of employee/employer relationship
State and contract (familial) - strict rules, allow the servant to eventually become the master
Some collective bargaining from craft guilds (standards for labor, agree to same pay)
Artisanal Period - laws of employee relationships
Master/servant have reciprocal rights and responsibilities
Employed for at least one year, only terminated with reasonable notice
Artisinal Period - criminal conspiracy
Acts done in concert to the detriment of the public (collective action) could be charged with criminal conspiracy
Philadelphia Cordwainers
1806 - shoemakers were charged with criminal conspiracy because they collectively chose not to work
Commonwealth v. Hunt
Artensial Period!
Collective actions is NOT illegal; look at the illegal ends and means
Looked now to civil conspiracy and injunctive relief
Veelahn v. Gunter
Upholsters were picketing production place
The majority put an injunction against the patrol and threats under civil conspiracy EVEN IF they were pursuing lawful wage increases
HOLMES DISSENT IS KEY! Argued the use of social pressure was lawful way for better wages and hours
Unions first developed among
Craftsman
Early Late Industrial Period - production
Tailoring/scientific management (study the best worker and use their template) - Tailorism
Mass production, the technology of production incorporated into the assembly line - Ford AL
Regional to national production
EIP - law of employment relationship
Lochner doctrine (freedom to contract), at-will employment, unilateral offers and acceptance
EIP - nature of employee/employer relationship
Most workers were individually contracted (freedom of contract)
Some collective bargaining contracts
EIP - bread and butter unionism
The movement accepted capitalism as the method for organizing production
Only sought to collectively negotiate with the employers on “bread and butter issues” like wages and hours
EIP - yellow dog contracts
Contracts that employers used to make employees sign that would say they would not support/associate labor unions
EIP - blacklists
List of employees that had been in unions, used to decline hires in the future
Lochner v. New York
Substantial due process through the 5th and 14th amendments
State can only infringe on liberties to protect vulnerable classes, regulate dangerous activities, and safeguard general health —— bakery workers did not fall into this
Constitutionally enshrines laissez-faire (employer/employee freedom to change terms or part ways)
EIP - Horace Wood Treatise 1877
Employees are contracted for indefinite terms, they could be fired for “just cause” that is a substantial breach of the employment contract
Jones v. Laughlin
Overturned Lochner
EIP - unilateral contracting
Employers controlled the terms of the employment contract, and employees readily accepted
EIP - Sherman Act; antitrust law
Used to jail employees
Eugene v. Debs (railway workers)
EIP - Clayton Act
Clarified that the Sherman Act did not include labor collective agreements
Specifically prohibited injunctions between employers and employees UNLESS needed to prevent irreparable injury
EIP - Duplex Printing
Nullified parts of the Clayton Act, only exempted Labor Activities that were legal before the Act’s passage and only protected an employer from hurting its own employees, not protecting against national boycotts
EIP - RLA of 1926
Laid the groundwork for NLRA
5 purposes:
(1) prevent interruption of service
(2) ensure the right of employees to organize
(3) provide complete independence of orgs. of both parties
(4) assist in prompt settlement of disputes over rates of pay, work rules, or working conditions
(5) assist in prompt settlements of disputes/grievances over the interpretation of existing K
EIP - Norris LaGuardia Act (1932)
1) No courts can issue a restraining order or permanent injunction from a labor dispute except in conformity with the act
2) attempt to create laissez-faire system for labor disputes with the federal government (not hindering or fostering emp. orgs.)
FDR passed something similar
EIP - National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)
1) Employees have the right to collectively bargain with their elected reps free from interference, restraint, or coercion of employees
2) No employee seeking employment shall be required to join a a company union or be prohibited from joining one
- Declared unconstitutional - Scheeter Poultry v. US
LIP - Wagner Act (1935)
Created the NLRB and NLRA
Section 7 of NLRA
Guarantees employees have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations
To bargain collectively through reps of their choosing
engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection
NLRA Section 8 - Prohibits these Labor Practices
1) interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of their rights (including freedom to join or organize labor orgs and to bargain collectively for wages/collective bargaining)
2) controlling/interefering with the creation or admin of labor orgs.
3) discriminating against (firing) employees who file charges or give testimony under the NLRA
4) discriminating against employees to discourage/encourage support for a labor org.
5) refuse to collectively bargain with reps
Section 9 - NLRA
Elections
Representative is voted in by a majority becomes the representative of all the employees in that unit
Only people part of the unit can vote
NLRB Functions
1) designates legal structure for the formation and decertification of unions/conducting elections
2) investigate charges by workers and employers
3) encourages agreements without adjudication
4) conducts hearings and decides on cases not settled in mediation
5) collective bargaining framework
6) Covers employers in interstate commerce
7) guarantees right to organize
Taft Hartley Act of 1947
Limits the unions because legislation believed they became too powerful
Allows workers to not be in union and decertify if they are unhappy with them
8(B) of Taft-Hartley Act
(1) prohibits unions from interfering with employees’ section 7 rights
(2) makes it unlawful to cause an employer to discriminate against an employee in violation of 8(a)(3) - close shops illegal
(3) imposes an obligation on unions to collectively bargain
(4) secondary boycott prohibition
(5) no excessive dues
(6) prohibited from featherbedding or causing an employer to pay for work not performed
8(C) of Taft-Hartley Act
Free Speech Clause - expression of views, arguments, and opinions were not evidence of a ULP absent threat of reprisal/promise of benefit
8(D) of Taft-Hartley Act
Duty to bargain collectively is a mutual obligation and they must meet in good faith
60 day cooling off period to terminate/modify
Landrum Griffin Act (1959)
Democratize labor unions
US v. Hutcheson
The Clayton and Norris-LaGuardia Acts exempt specified labor activities from federal antitrust laws
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959
Grants certain rights to union members and protects their interests by promoting democratic procedures within labor organizations
(b o r, reporting requirements, election standards, etc.)
Janus v. Am (free rider program)
Reps of a union represent all employees, including those who do not pay dues
