Origins of Labor Law

Question 1

Artisanal Period - production technology

Answer 1

Small craft shops, master/apprentice, masters understand the technology of production, localized production

Question 2

Artisanal Period - nature of employee/employer relationship

Answer 2

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)

Question 3

Artisanal Period - laws of employee relationships

Answer 3

Master/servant have reciprocal rights and responsibilities

Employed for at least one year, only terminated with reasonable notice

Question 4

Artisinal Period - criminal conspiracy

Answer 4

Acts done in concert to the detriment of the public (collective action) could be charged with criminal conspiracy

Question 5

Philadelphia Cordwainers

Answer 5

1806 - shoemakers were charged with criminal conspiracy because they collectively chose not to work

Question 6

Commonwealth v. Hunt

Answer 6

Artensial Period!

Collective actions is NOT illegal; look at the illegal ends and means

Looked now to civil conspiracy and injunctive relief

Question 7

Veelahn v. Gunter

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Unions first developed among

Answer 8

Craftsman

Question 8

Early Late Industrial Period - production

Answer 8

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

Question 8

EIP - law of employment relationship

Answer 8

Lochner doctrine (freedom to contract), at-will employment, unilateral offers and acceptance

Question 9

EIP - nature of employee/employer relationship

Answer 9

Most workers were individually contracted (freedom of contract)

Some collective bargaining contracts

Question 9

EIP - bread and butter unionism

Answer 9

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

Question 10

EIP - yellow dog contracts

Answer 10

Contracts that employers used to make employees sign that would say they would not support/associate labor unions

Question 11

EIP - blacklists

Answer 11

List of employees that had been in unions, used to decline hires in the future

Question 12

Lochner v. New York

Answer 12

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)

Question 13

EIP - Horace Wood Treatise 1877

Answer 13

Employees are contracted for indefinite terms, they could be fired for “just cause” that is a substantial breach of the employment contract

Question 14

Jones v. Laughlin

Answer 14

Overturned Lochner

Question 15

EIP - unilateral contracting

Answer 15

Employers controlled the terms of the employment contract, and employees readily accepted

Question 16

EIP - Sherman Act; antitrust law

Answer 16

Used to jail employees

Eugene v. Debs (railway workers)

Question 17

EIP - Clayton Act

Answer 17

Clarified that the Sherman Act did not include labor collective agreements

Specifically prohibited injunctions between employers and employees UNLESS needed to prevent irreparable injury

Question 18

EIP - Duplex Printing

Answer 18

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

Question 19

EIP - RLA of 1926

Answer 19

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

Question 20

EIP - Norris LaGuardia Act (1932)

Answer 20

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

Question 21

EIP - National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)

Answer 21

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

Question 22

LIP - Wagner Act (1935)

Answer 22

Created the NLRB and NLRA

Question 23

Section 7 of NLRA

Answer 23

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

Question 24

NLRA Section 8 - Prohibits these Labor Practices

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Section 9 - NLRA

Answer 25

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

Question 26

NLRB Functions

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Taft Hartley Act of 1947

Answer 27

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

Question 28

8(B) of Taft-Hartley Act

Answer 28

(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

Question 29

8(C) of Taft-Hartley Act

Answer 29

Free Speech Clause - expression of views, arguments, and opinions were not evidence of a ULP absent threat of reprisal/promise of benefit

Question 30

8(D) of Taft-Hartley Act

Answer 30

Duty to bargain collectively is a mutual obligation and they must meet in good faith

60 day cooling off period to terminate/modify

Question 31

Landrum Griffin Act (1959)

Answer 31

Democratize labor unions

Question 32

US v. Hutcheson

Answer 32

The Clayton and Norris-LaGuardia Acts exempt specified labor activities from federal antitrust laws

Question 33

Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959

Answer 33

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.)

Question 34

Janus v. Am (free rider program)

Answer 34

Reps of a union represent all employees, including those who do not pay dues