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Learn: History of Education in America

Submitted by dfoley on Mon, 2011-03-14 17:12

While we don't often consider "learning" as "doing something", it's important that each of us understands how much education has changed in America. It's hard to debate what's wrong with the current system without understanding how much education has become a monopolistic system that hardly stands up to the educational performance of the past. To help you gain clarity and knowledge on this issue, we've put together five topic overviews that tell the story of education in America. 

The five overviews are listed below and trace the evolution of education in America from the colonial period to today. If you haven't already, go through each topic page and consider the quotes, charts, primary documents, analysis, and more. We all but guarantee that you will come away with a great appreciation for true education and a greater understanding of the problems inherent in the modern, progressive education model. 


Education in Colonial America
Education in Colonial America


Horace Mann and American Education Reform
Horace Mann and Education Reform 1840.jpeg

 

John Dewey, Pragmatism, and Progressive Education
John Dewey Progressive Education

 

Progressive Education Since World War II
Progressive Education since WWII

 

Cost of Public Education: Good Return on Investment?
Education Costs

 

 

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Quote Page

Commentary or Blog Post

"The National Labor Relations Board is in the news for meddling in Boeing’s decision to build some aircraft in South Carolina rather than in Washington state. To most economists, the idea that a small regulatory board in D.C. should try to centrally plan $1 billion of private business investment is crackers.

However, the vast bureaucratic state in D.C. was built by overactive left-wing...

"It may be a difficult case to prove, but the complaint filed last month by the National Labor Relations Board against Boeing is a welcome effort to defend workers’ right to collective bargaining."

"U.S. Rep. David Bonoir of Michigan left Congress a few years back after rising high in the Democratic leadership. Now he's the chairman of American Rights at Work, a new non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and promoting workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain. He tells Farai Chideya about his new job."

"President Barack Obama's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is on a job-killing rampage. It's claiming unprecedented powers far beyond what federal law allows. Taken with Obama's other agencies, these executive actions paint a picture of what has become an imperial presidency.

A federal appeal is certain once NLRB's shocking attack on Boeing Co. goes through the administrative...

"The Taft-Hartley Act was a major revision of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (the Wagner Act) and represented the first major revision of a New Deal act passed by a post-war Congress."

"Of the enduring myths of economic history, few have hung on as tenaciously as the necessity and desirability of labor unions." Due to this fact, Robert Bidinotto praises Howard Dickman's book entitled Industrial Democracy in America. According to Bidinotto, the book "offers withering refutations of the historic, empirical, moral, legal, and economic arguments for compulsory...

"The American labor movement has been in eclipse for decades, but public- sector unions were one of its few remaining bastions. Now, their power too is waning."

"In what may be the strongest signal yet of the new pro-labor orientation of the National Labor Relations Board under President Obama, the agency filed a complaint Wednesday seeking to force Boeing to bring an airplane production line back to its unionized facilities in Washington State instead of moving the work to a nonunion plant in South Carolina."

"The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is responsible for enforcing a wide range of federal laws covering workplace safety and conditions, wage and hour regulations, unemployment and retirement benefits and job training. Its mission has become more critical during the 2008-2009 economic crisis, as it administers many programs designed to track employment and industry trends and to put the...

"You might think that a U.S. company’s decision to expand its manufacturing facilities and create 1,000 new jobs here at home — rather than overseas — would be hailed by the Obama Administration as a step in the right direction, especially with nine percent unemployment. You’d be wrong. Instead, President Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is doing all it can to throw a...

"The chairman of the National Labor Relations Board hopes to have another round of regulations in place by the end of the year that would make it easier for unions to establish and win representation elections in workplaces."

"Hundreds of recent federal rulings in disputes between unions and employers could be reopened after the Supreme Court said on Thursday that it was illegal for the National Labor Relations Board to decide the cases with only two sitting members."

"For the first time ever, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint that an employer engaged in unfair labor practices for firing an employee who made derogatory posts about her supervisor on Facebook." According to her employer, the employee was fired for other inappropriate conduct, but as this article makes clear, social media issues are becoming more prevalent in labor...

This piece reports on a June 2011 hearing concerning the NLRB lawsuit against the Boeing company. According to Rob Bluey, "Boeing had already built its plant in South Carolina and hired workers when the NLRB sued to stop it. The NLRB’s action was viewed as retaliation against a right-to-work state in favor of heavily unionized Washington state."

"A federal agency wants to dictate exactly where businesses can create jobs.

Last month, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Boeing’s decision to open a new aircraft plant in South Carolina. The agency charges that the manufacturer’s expansion plans constitute 'retaliation' against unions, including the International Association of Machinists and...

"The proposed rule announced today by the National Labor Relations Board to create a standard process for union elections is an important step toward giving workers a fairer way to choose whether to form a union. The rule would reform an election process that far too often resembles Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown’s foot just as he begins his kick, with scheduled elections...

"Doubling down on President Barack Obama's bold recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House announced Wednesday that Obama would also use his recess powers to fill three vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency charged with enforcing labor law."

"President Obama's attempt to unilaterally appoint three people to seats on the National Labor Relations Board and Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (after the Senate blocked action on his nomination) is more than an unconstitutional attempt to circumvent the Senate's advise-and-consent role. It is a breathtaking violation of the separation of powers and the...

"The current Supreme Court appears to be tentatively moving toward supporting the voluntary exchange rights of all workers. But, since all of these cases have been decided on legislative, not constitutional, grounds, all Congress has to do [to] again promote unionists’ privileges over the rights of others is amend the National Labor Relations Act. Moreover, as present justices retire and new...

"New regulations from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Department of Labor are designed to swell the ranks of unionized labor at the expense of workers, employers, and the U.S. economy. The new NLRB rules that would shorten union-organizing elections to between 10 and 21 days are an attempt to rush to elections before employers can present counterarguments. The proposal to...

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won a recall election Tuesday, dealing a blow to organized labor, unsettling President Barack Obama's re-election strategy and signaling to Republican lawmakers across the nation that challenging government unions could pay political and fiscal dividends."

"When federal agents ruled for a second time this year that a Catholic college cannot claim First Amendment protection from federal labor laws, they brazenly ignored instructions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and set up a potential Supreme Court confrontation."

"On this day in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reinstates Woodrow Wilson's National War Labor Board (NWLB) in an attempt to forestall labor-management conflict during World War II.

Engaged in a two-front war, the United States was supplying not only its own military but those of the other Allies as well. Roosevelt wanted to prevent potential labor union strikes, which would slow...

The NLRB’s latest salvo is a lawsuit against Arizona. Arizona is one of four states where voters last fall resoundingly added to their constitutions the right to secret-ballot elections in union organizing.

"Right-wing politicians and pundits are in an uproar over the National Labor Relations Board’s April 20 complaint alleging that aircraft manufacturer The Boeing Company broke the law by punishing unionized workers who had exercised their legally protected right to strike. While the case is still in the early stages—the NLRB hasn’t even held a hearing on the complaint, let alone reached a...

"The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint last month to stop Boeing from building its new 787 in South Carolina rather than Washington State. ... Laffer and Moore claim that the NLRB’s move is unprecedented, but it is actually highly reminiscent of the 'Equalization of Opportunity Bill.' The EOB forbade entrepreneurs from owning more than one business, in order to allow less...

"BOEING IS A GREAT AMERICAN COMPANY. Recently it has built a second production line—its other is in Washington State—in South Carolina for its 787 Dreamliner airplane, creating 1,000 jobs there so far. Who knows what factors led to its decision to do this? As with all such business decisions, there were many. But the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—a five-member agency created in 1935 by...

"The fates of the American economy and the presidency of Barack Obama are inextricably linked, and both of them hit a bump in April. The economy added 252,000 jobs each month between December and February, but that rate seems to be slowing. Payrolls rose by just 154,000 in March and by only 115,000 in April. Unemployment dropped in April, from 8.2% to 8.1%, but for the wrong reason: an exodus...

According to Christopher Westley, one of the few non-unionized areas is the temp workforce. In September of 2000, however, Westley reported that the unions were attempting to pull temp workers under the union umbrella. Westley goes on to report that the popularity of the temporary worker stems directly from the fact that they are non-unionized.

Noting that "[t]he labor movement is losing its customers," this piece declares that unions are seeking government help to regain their traction. Sherk then goes on to list a variety of recent actions which suggest a union-biased White House.

"Like all New Keynesians, I believe two things that are apparently contradictory:

1. We each get paid too much; 2. Because of 1, we all get paid too little.

It only makes sense if you understand fallacies of composition. What is true of each part isn't necessarily true of the whole."

"The Wisconsin Assembly early Friday passed a bill that would strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights — the first significant action on the new Republican governor's plan.

The vote put an end to three straight days of punishing debate, but the political standoff over the bill is far from over. The measure now goes to the Senate, where minority Democrats have been...

"A Wisconsin judge has struck down the politically divisive state law pushed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker that repealed most collective bargaining rights for public workers."

"A judge in the US state of Wisconsin has thrown out a controversial law that strips most public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

The law, championed by Republican Governor Scott Walker, has been in effect for more than a year.

A Dane County circuit judge ruled that key parts of the law violated the constitution and were null and void.

Unions welcomed the...

"Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin have become the target of a chilling email death threat.

An email reportedly sent to Republican state senators in Wisconsin details what appears to be a concerted effort by the sender to murder the lawmakers for their votes to constrict union benefits."

"Wisconsin's controversial new law limiting the collective bargaining rights of public employees had been blocked for months in the wake of a lawsuit that claims Republican legislators passed the bill without giving adequate public notice.

But the law has been revived from its deathbed, after the Wisconsin Supreme Court yesterday ruled that a lower-court judge who had enjoined the law...

"Wisconsin suspended enforcement of a new law reducing public sector union powers on Thursday after a judge ruled it had not taken effect, while Ohio enacted a similar measure curbing collective bargaining by state employees."

"Left unexamined is the American labor movement's long, ugly history of racism and discrimination, one that older left-leaning historians tried their best to downplay. But the problem historically wasn't just racist attitudes among white workers, it was the monopoly bargaining powers that the government granted to racist unions, allowing them to exclude blacks and other unwelcome groups from...

Chart or Graph

The graph above from the Federal Reserve Bank tracks the Federal Government's tax revenues (in green) and spending (in blue), and then indexes them to population growth. As you can see, taxes and spending growth have outpaced population growth.

"Charges alleging Unfair Labor Practices are filed by individuals, unions or employers at NLRB regional offices, prompting an investigation by regional field examiners and attorneys. More than half of all charges are withdrawn or dismissed. In cases where an investigation finds probable merit, the majority settle by agreements between the parties. If no settlement can be reached, the Regional...

"The Board sets policy for the Agency primarily through adjudication. Members review cases on appeal from Administrative Law Judges and Regional Directors. This chart shows annual Board output in contested cases, separating Unfair Labor Practice cases (C Cases) from cases involving elections and questions of representation (R, UD, AC and UC Cases)."

"In cases where employees are illegally fired for protected activity, the General Counsel often seeks backpay for the period of unemployment, as well as payment of dues, fines or other costs."

"Under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act, the NLRB may seek temporary injunctions against employers and unions in federal courts to stop serious unfair labor practices while a case moves through the Board's process. The General Counsel must first obtain authorization from the Board before filing a petition for an injunction."

"Under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act, the NLRB may seek temporary injunctions against employers and unions in federal courts to stop serious unfair labor practices while a case moves through the Board's process. The General Counsel must first obtain authorization from the Board before filing a petition for an injunction."

"Under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act, the NLRB may seek temporary injunctions against employers and unions in federal courts to stop serious unfair labor practices while a case moves through the Board's process. The General Counsel must first obtain authorization from the Board before filing a petition for an injunction."

"In cases where employees are illegally fired for protected activity, the General Counsel often seeks an offer of reinstatement from the employer."

"Because they invest less, unionized companies often become less competitive. As a result, these companies create fewer jobs. Research shows that unionized firms shed jobs more frequently and expand less frequently than non-union firms do. ...

This is not a coincidence: Unions directly cause these job losses. Employment falls between 5 percent and 10 percent when unions organize a...

"The number of union customers (i.e., dues-paying members) fell throughout the 1920s from a reported peak of 5 million in 1920 to fewer than 3 million in 1933. According to NBER figures, membership rose sharply to 7.2 million by 1940, then to 13.2 million by 1945, and 14.8 million by 1950. Figure 5-1 shows the pattern of membership from 1900 to 1951, a time span that includes the periods of...

"Clearly, the stylized facts of the post National Industrial Recovery Act and National Labor Relations Act of 1935 era are broadly consistent with the argument propounded by Rees. Thus, it seems appropriate to extend the earlier estimation of the deadweight economic losses associated with the existence of labor unions to encompass a more extended time period. This requires the developing of...

Analysis Report White Paper

"From colonial times trade unionists found the going difficult in North America. There was no prevailing ideology of 'working class solidarity' and unions were far from respectable; in fact, they had a well-earned reputation for being antisocial, even criminal. Some unions were secret societies with secret oaths, and unionists engaged in intimidation, threats,...

"The United States has had the bloodiest and most violent labor history of any industrial nation in the world. Labor violence was not confined to certain industries, geographic areas, or specific groups in the labor force, although it has been more frequent in some industries than in others. There have been few sections and scarcely any industries in which violence has not erupted at some time...

"The basic contention, reduced to its core, is that the evidence is consistent with the view that self-interested political activists -unionists, academics, bureaucrats, politicians, and a minority of big businessmen -played major roles in fostering a major expansion in the labor representation industry, an event essentially in their financial and nonfinancial interests. Some proponents...

"This paper examines the efforts of some circuit court judges to preserve the integrity of the judicial branch against the encroaching power of the New Deal administrative agencies, especially as represented by the National Labord Relations Board (NLRB). This paper offers a historical overview of the relationship between two circuits and the NLRB; one circuit welcomed the Board's aggressive...

"In routine tracking of education-related legislation, The Heartland Institute’s School Reform News has uncovered evidence that teachers unions across the country routinely inhibit teachers from joining or speaking out about competing, nonunion teachers associations. In at least one case, this intimidation has resulted in a teacher losing his job. Most of the incidents are smaller. Taken alone...

"Using a variety of statistical techniques, we conclude that labor unions have reduced U.S. output by significant amounts — trillions of dollars over time. Additionally, the employment-population ratio and the unemployment rate have been adversely affected by the presence of unions. From the very beginning, unionization materially lowered employment in the auto and steel industries, and union...

This is a transcript of a speech by Reed Larson on the issue of labor unions. Teachers unions play a large role in the union world, and Larson deals specifically with this category in sections five, six, and seven. According to Larson, unions like the NEA seek to encourage a liberal agenda. This is demonstrated by their campaigns in favor of liberal political...

"Present Federal law regulating labor-management relations is largely a product of the New Deal era of the 1930s. While Congress has acted to raise the Federal minimum wage and has considered labor law reform affecting both private and public employees, no major new labor laws have been passed over the past several decades."

"Since its inception, federal labor law has been understood as a means of introducing the principles of U.S. democracy into the workplace. Senator Robert F. Wagner, author of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), explained the law’s core purpose. 'Only 150 years ago did this country cast off the shackles of political despotism,' Wagner declared. 'Today… we strive to liberate the common...

"This essay first outlines some basic principles of the common law of contract, property, and tort and explains what Norris-LaGuardia and the NLRA substituted for it. It then explains the ineffectiveness of the Taft-Hartley to ameliorate the worst excesses of Norris-LaGuardia and the NLRA despite its authors’ hopes. The third section discusses the phenomenon of government-sector unionism and...

"Under the Supreme Court's 1973 Enmons decision, vandalism, assault, even murder by union officials are exempt from federal anti-extortion law. As long as the violence is aimed at obtaining property for which the union can assert a 'lawful claim'--for example, wage or benefit increases--the violence is deemed to be in furtherance of 'legitimate' union objectives. By the Court’s peculiar logic...

"In a market economy, interactions between people take place within the context of voluntary exchange. The principal role for government in a market economy is to enforce the rules of voluntary exchange by protecting individual rights. That limited-government role allows for the largest degree of personal freedom, while also spurring economic growth and promoting general prosperity.

...

"Unions have a substantial impact on the compensation and work lives of both unionized and non-unionized workers. This report presents current data on unions' effect on wages, fringe benefits, total compensation, pay inequality, and workplace protections."

"Working people built America—its buildings, institutions, cultures and values. The history of work in this country helps us understand our social and economic status today and prepares us to navigate the economy and politics of the future."

"Lane Kirkland, the president of the AFL-CIO, recently claimed that the reason why labor unions are currently unpopular is 'for the same reason journalists are unpopular. We both assert our First Amendment rights.' In a 1984 monograph I argued that American labor unions enjoy more respectability than they deserve because most of the conventional wisdom regarding labor union history is in fact...

"The goal of labor laws is to equalize the bargaining power between employers and employees. The laws primarily deal with the relationship between employers and unions. Labor laws grant employees the right to unionize and allows employers and employees to engage in certain activities (e.g. strikes, picketing, seeking injunctions, lockouts) so as to have their demands fulfilled."

"Although labor unions have been celebrated in folk songs and stories as fearless champions of the downtrodden working man, this is not how economists see them. Economists who study unions—including some who are avowedly prounion—analyze them as cartels that raise wages above competitive levels by restricting the supply of labor to various firms and industries."

"During the 20th century, Congress passed a number of laws that affected the American
worker. Some laws provided a social safety net that protected workers against loss of
income due to unemployment, old age, or disability. Other laws protected workers’ rights to organize, bargain collectively, and be treated fairly by both their employers and union representatives. Separate laws...

"We estimate the effect of new unionization on the equity value of firms over the 1961-1999 period using a newly available sample of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) representation elections matched to stock market data. As in Dinardo and Lee (2004), the point estimates from a regression-discontinuity design – where we compare the stock market impact of close union election wins to close...

"In asserting that the Boeing Company is engaging in unfair labor practices by establishing a new aircraft assembly facility in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, instead of Washington State, which is heavily unionized, the National Labor Relations Board is twisting the law to benefit unions at the expense of the rule of law and the nation’s economy. The NLRB’s decision to issue a...

"From its inception in 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) held out the promise that Americans may enjoy democratic rights in the workplace similar to those we count on as citizens. When the bill was passed, the U.S. Senate explained that its purpose was to guarantee rights to 'a worker in the field of industry' similar to those provided to 'a citizen in the field of government.'...

"Congress defined employee under the National Labor Relations Act to say that an employee is any employee and is not limited to employees of a single employer. It was the intent of Congress that worker rights and labor organizing was to extend beyond the scope of a single employer, because only in this way could the bargaining power of employers and employees be equalized. Only protections...

"What we have needed is a book that reconsiders the economic role of labor unions, and does so by challenging fundamental assumptions. Here it is, in Power and Privilege. Anyone who seeks a comprehensive treatment of the effects of labor unions, as well as the legal and economic reasons for those effects, would do well to read this book. Morgan Reynolds shows that unions prevent women and...

"In the early days of the American labor movement, numerous bloody confrontations between labor and management marred the workers' struggle for higher wages, shorter hours and safer working conditions. ... The passage of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act) ... in 1935 manifested the federal government's concern for labor peace and the concomitant reduction of industrial strife. ......

"The freedom to form a union is a democratic right that is under attack. Too many workers are prevented from freely choosing to band together in a union to bargain collectively with their employer on workplace issues."

"Periodically the subject of criticism, the Act and the National Labor Relations Board today are again the target of strong attack. Nonetheless, while some changes may be necessary, the Act and the Board should be retained. Both have survived for over half a century, and it is now likely that their centennial will be celebrated rather than their demise. ...

While much of the recent...

"In this Article, we ask whether the National Labor Relations Act, enacted over 70 years ago, can remain relevant in a competitive economy where nonunion employer discretion is the dominant form of workplace governance. The best opportunity for the NLRA’s continued relevance is the modification of its language and interpretation to enhance worker voice and participation in the nonunion private...

"The classic from the great labor economist W.H. Hutt argues that it is not the strike but the strike threat that makes unions so incredibly costly to American prosperity. It hangs over unionized companies like the sword of Damocles, intimidating property owners into giving into demands at the expense of profitability.

'The strike is a form of warfare,' he writes, 'and the expectation...

"In 1930, W.H. Hutt demonstrated several spectacular points: labor unions cannot lift wages overall; their earnings come at the expense of the consumer; their effect is to cartelize business and reduce free competition to the detriment of everyone. He demonstrated these points with intricate logic that took on the main economic arguments for labor unions. In 1954,...

"This paper explores the relationship between economic performance and US unionism, focusing first on what we do and do not know based on empirical research handicapped by limited data on establishment and firm level collective bargaining coverage. Evidence on the relationship of unions with wages, productivity, profitability, investment, debt, employment growth, and business failures are all...

"The first section of this article covers the relationship between unions, the rule of law, and economic rents from the origin of the union movement through the changing patterns of the three phases of its growth cycle as measured by membership... The second section discusses this more recent, self-substituting union movement that grew from the change in union orientation away from private...

"CEOs of multinational corporations, exotic dancers, and children with lemonade stands have at least one thing in common. They all expect a return for their effort. Most workers get that return in a subtle and ever-changing combination of money wages and working conditions. This article describes how they changed for the typical U.S. worker during the twentieth century."

Video/Podcast/Media

This podcast gives an overview of the governmental policies and programs leading up to and through the Great Depression. The latter half of the program delves into details behind New Deal programs and initiatives such as the AAA and the Wagner Act.

"The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently filed a complaint against Boeing for allegedly retaliating against its workers in Washington state for exercising their statutory right to go on strike and collectively bargain. Since then, right-wing pundits and politicians, outraged by the complaint, have attempted to undermine the NLRB's authority. Jim DeMint, saying the NLRB 'smacks of a...

"Less than one in thirteen private sector workers belong to a labor union, and both businesses and unions believe that the National Labor Relations Act is no longer relevant to today's workers. Businesses argue that the NLRA's adversarial labor-management framework does not fit into modern workplaces, while labor organizations contend employer intimidation prevents workers from unionizing and...

This news clip reports on the disagreement between the NLRB and Boeing over a new Boeing plant in South Carolina. The complaint arose over the fact that South Carolina is a "right to work state" where Boeing would not have to deal with union workers.

"How labor unions engaged in political activism to combat corporate influence on the U.S. Congress in the years following World War II."

"Professor Hayek shares a subtle and sophisticated understanding on the real world dynamics of labor unions."

In this two-part lecture, Woods details the development of American labor unions' power. He addresses the role of the NLRB and various court decisions, effects on employer and employee freedoms, and some common myths about the need for unionization. Part 2 is available here.

"In response to a question, Professor Freidman discusses the line between persuasion and coercion."

This video discusses a hearing on the issue of the NLRB's suit against Boeing. The video goes on to describe Boeing's plans for its airline plant and the jobs which the plant will create for the people of South Carolina.

"Stephen Moore and Thea Lee debated the merits of public sector unions. In a mock trial, Ms. Lee, assisted by Professor Shoemaker, defended against a charge that public service employee unions have harmed the country. Mr. Moore prosecuted. They made opening and closing statements and examined witnesses. The jury found against Ms. Lee in a split decision. Jeffrey Verdon presided.

...

"When the Republicans took control of Congress in 1947, Taft focused on labor-management relations as Chair of the Senate Labor Committee. Decrying the effect of the Wagner Act in tilting the balance toward labor unions, he wrote the 1947 Taft--Hartley Act, which remains the basic labor law. It bans 'unfair' union practices, outlaws closed shops, and authorizes the President to seek federal...

"Until 1937, the Supreme Court confined its interpretation of the interstate commerce clause to transportation across state lines, such as railroads. As a result, it found much early New Deal regulatory legislation unconstitutional. This approach led to a confrontation with the Roosevelt administration. Roosevelt proposed 'packing' the Court with additional justices he could appoint beyond the...

This video documentary describes union violence during the 1970s and 1980s. According to the video's authors, "[c]ompulsory union violence [was] created by the 1935 Wagner Act ... [and] made the 'closed shop' a national law and gave union bosses mandatory powers only equaled by government powers to tax."

Primary Document

"The organic act establishing the Department of Labor was signed on March 4, 1913, by a reluctant President William Howard Taft, the defeated and departing incumbent, just hours before Woodrow Wilson took office. A Federal Department of Labor was the direct product of a half-century campaign by organized labor for a 'Voice in the Cabinet,' and an indirect product of the Progressive Movement....

This case from 1935 marks one of the many times that the Supreme Court struck down New Deal legislation, this time dealing with the National Industrial Recovery act. The court ruled unanimously that the provisions of federal regulation authorized in this law were unconstitutional, as the Commerce Clause did not provide Congress with the power to regulate price and...

"Petitioner, operator of four shipyards, entered negotiations with the unions representing its employees for the purpose of securing a new agreement to replace the current contract, soon to expire. After a bargaining impasse was reached, petitioner temporarily closed down one yard and laid off employees at the others. The National Labor Relations Board found that the employer could not have...

Argued several years before the Wagner Act was even enacted, this case dealt with the issue of strikes and picketing in front of the American Steel Foundries in New Jersey. The American Steel Foundries alleged that the Tri-City Central Trades Council was "carrying on a conspiracy to prevent complainant from retaining and obtaining skilled laborers to operate its plant."

This economic classic is noted for providing us with terms for and expositions of such key economic ideas as the division of labor, "invisible hand," self-interest as a beneficial force, and freedom of trade.

"Members of a labor union, bent on unionizing a hosiery factory in which but a few of them were employed, forcibly, and in violation of civil and criminal laws of the State, took possession of the plant and held it during a protracted 'sit-down' strike, during which much of the machinery was willfully injured or destroyed and during which the business, largely interstate, was entirely...

In this speech, President Obama declared that he was a "prounion guy." In light of this, the President declared his support for labor and fair working practices, but he also declared that individuals should have the right to "look after ... [their] own interests" rather than join a union.

In a speech before a gathering of important AFL-CIO members, President Obama declared his support for unions and encouraged them to work together with the business industry. He also encouraged fair standards and practices for the labor movement.

In June of 2011, President Barack Obama hosted a press conference. One of the many issues he was asked about was the highly visible disagreement between the NLRB and the Boeing Company. The President refused to make a judgment call in the matter, but did say that "companies need to have the freedom to relocate. ... And if they're choosing to relocate here in the United States, that's a good...

"When negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement between petitioner employer and the union representing certain of its employees reached an impasse, some of the employees went out on strike, and petitioner then unilaterally granted a wage increase for employees who stayed on the job. Petitioner also advertised for and hired 'permanent' replacements for striking employees. Under...

"In its complaint, the labor board said that Boeing’s decision to transfer a second production line for its new 787 Dreamliner passenger plane to South Carolina was motivated by an unlawful desire to retaliate against union workers for their past strikes in Washington and to discourage future strikes." -...

A Supreme Court decision interpreting the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, Carter v. Carter Coal Co. ruled the Bituminous Coal Conservation Act unconstitutional and stated that labor boards haves powers over production, but not commerce.

"Section 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA), 49 Stat. 452, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 158(a)(3), permits an employer and an exclusive bargaining representative to enter into an agreement requiring all employees in the bargaining unit to pay periodic union dues and initiation fees as a condition of continued employment, whether or not the employees otherwise wish to...

A statement by Dwight Eisenhower, released with a 1960 report that highlighted the effectiveness of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.

Eisenhower wrote, "It is indeed heartening to see how the provisions of this law are being utilized by America's working men and women to safeguard against the corruption and abuses of power it was designed to correct. While such...

"Established minimum wages, overtime pay, record keeping, and child labor standards for private sector and government workers."

"Must an employer, under its duty to bargain in good faith 'with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment,' §§ 8(d) and 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act (Act), as amended, 49 Stat. 452, 29 U.S.C. §§ 158(d) and 158(a)(5), negotiate with the certified representative of its employees over its decision to close a part of its business? In this case, the...

President Franklin Roosevelt's reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the Wagner Act and the media's coverage to the ruling.

"There is hereby created in connection with the Department of Labor a board to be known as the National Labor Relations Board ....

The National Labor Board created by Executive Order of August 5, 1933, and continued by Executive Order No. 6511 of December 16, 1933, shall cease to exist on July 9, 1934 ....

The National Labor Relations Board shall have authority to conduct all...

"Whereas as a result of a conference of representatives of labor and industry which met at the call of the President on December 17, 1941, it has been agreed that for the duration of the war there shall be no strikes or lockouts, and that all labor disputes shall be settled by peaceful means, and that a National War Labor Board be established for the peaceful adjustment of such disputes:

...

"BY virtue of the authority vested in me under Tide I of the National Industrial Recovery Act approved June 16, 1933 (Public No. 67, 73d Congress), and in order to effectuate the purposes of said Act, it is hereby ordered as follows:

(1) The National Labor Board, created on August 5, 1933, to 'pass promptly on any case of hardship or dispute that may arise from interpretation or...

A letter from President Franklin Roosevelt dispelling the rumor that he was dissatisfied with the Wagner Act. Roosevelt wrote, "I wish to call to your attention the fact that I have no intention of appointing any commission to study the operation of the National Labor Relations Act."

A statement by President Franklin Roosevelt on the signing of the National Industrial Recovery Act.

Roosevelt said, in part, "History probably will record the National Industrial Recovery Act as the most important and far-reaching legislation ever enacted by the American Congress. It represents a supreme effort to stabilize for all time the many factors which make for the prosperity of...

In his Statement on Signing the National Labor Relations Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt lauded the Act's promise. "A better relationship between labor and management is the high purpose of this Act. By assuring the employees the right of collective bargaining it fosters the development of the employment contract on a sound and equitable basis. By providing an orderly procedure for...

The National Labor Relations Board was preceded by the National Labor Board. President Roosevelt created the Board in 1933 in conjunction with the NIRA. This statement reveals Roosevelt's NLB appointees.

A statement by President Harry Truman, attached to the veto of the Taft-Hartley Labor Bill. The veto was overridden on June 23, 1947 and the Labor Management Relations Act passed into law.

"What is euphemistically called collective bargaining by union leaders and "pro-labor" legislation is of a quite different character. It is bargaining and the point of a gun. It is bargaining between an armed party, ready to use its weapons, and an unarmed party under duress. It is not a market transaction. It is a dictate forced upon the employer."

A message to Congress by President Jimmy Carter calling for labor law (specifically the National Labor Relations) reform. Carter said, "I have pledged to make Federal regulatory agencies more responsive to the people they serve. Government regulation only works well if it is fair, prompt and predictable. Too often this has not been the case with the regulatory process that governs collective...

This legislation was the first of two acts that have amended the National Labor Relations Act.

The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act was the second act (after the Labor Management Relations Act) to amend the National Labor Relations Act.

"The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) guarantees employees 'the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, § 7, and makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer 'to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees' in the exercise of their § 7 rights, § 8(a)(1). Petitioner Lechmere, Inc., owns and operates a retail store located in a shopping plaza in a...

Composed and signed by a handful of Senate members, this letter urges President Obama to reject the NLRB's actions against the Boeing Company. The senators argue that the actions against Boeing by the President's own NLRB nominees clearly contradict the President's ambition to outperform the rest of the world in economic progress and job creation.

In a Labor Day statement, President Lyndon Johnson lauded the Wagner Act's role in America's economic triumphs. "America's record prosperity stands as a monument to labor's unflagging efforts to guarantee working men and women, and their families, their rightful stake in our national life.

It was not by mere accident that America's major thrust for social justice came after the Wagner...

The National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 was a forerunner of the Wagner Act. Signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, the Act was implemented by the National Recovery Administration and the Public Works Administration until it was ruled unconstitutional, in part, in May of 1935.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT

cited NLRA or the Act; 29 U.S.C. §§ 151-169

[Title 29, Chapter 7, Subchapter II, United States Code]


FINDINGS AND POLICIES

1.[§151.] The denial by some employers of the right of employees to organize and the refusal by some employers to accept the procedure of...

Compiled to mark the 75th anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), this piece gives a concise history of the events leading up to and following its passage. This collection also details the various pieces of labor-related legislation that preceded the Act.

"Respondents were members of a multiemployer bargaining group with a history of successful bargaining. After the union struck another member of the group, which continued operations using temporary replacements, respondents locked out their employees and utilized temporary replacements to continue business operations. The National Labor Relations Board found that, while the use of temporary...

National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation was a U.S. Supreme Court case that reversed the judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals and ruled the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 constitutional.

"The Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisdiction to entertain a petition for rehearing, filed at the same term and in time under its rules, of a judgment denying an application of the National Labor Relations Board for enforcement of an order, and the three months within which a petitioner must apply to this Court for certiorari to review the decision in such case runs from the date of the order...

According to Oyez, the details surrounding this case concerned the following:

"The union representing employees at a New Process Steel plant in Butler, Indiana failed to reach an agreement over a new contract with New Process Steel. The union subsequently filed unfair labor practices claims with the...

"In the circumstances of these cases, the nondiscriminatory refusal of the employers to permit distribution of union literature by nonemployee union organizers on company-owned parking lots did not unreasonably impede their employees' right to self-organization in violation of § 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, because the locations of the plants and of the living quarters of the...

"The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified unions as bargaining agents for lay teachers in schools operated by respondents, which refused to recognize or bargain with the unions; the NLRB issued cease-and-desist orders against respondents, holding that it had properly assumed jurisdiction over the schools. Exercise of jurisdiction was asserted to be in line with its policy of...

The Supreme Court ruled in the affirmative for all of these questions. This signified a major victory in the progression towards "card check."

"In the course of holding that respondent company committed 'unfair labor practices' when it refused to interview or retain 11 job applicants because of their union membership, the National Labor Relations Board determined that all of the applicants were protected 'employee[s]' as that word is defined in the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 152(3), even though they intended to try to...

A precursor to the National Labor Relations Act, the Norris-LaGuardia Act "curbed the power of the courts to issue injunctions or restraining orders against strikes, absent violence or fraud." Furthermore, "Congress declared the policy of the United States to be that workers were free to join unions and bargain collectively."

Pamphlets issued by opponents of the Labor Management Relations Act (also known as the Taft-Hartley Act). The pamphlet’s rhetoric included, "Common pickpockets are frowned upon in decent society. That's why it take [sic] something fancy, and even downright unreadable, like the Taft-Hartley law to make thievery appear respectable… But labor's house is built of bricks and won't blow in so easily...

This case emerged following a Pattern Makers strike in Rockford, Illinois and Beloit, Wisconsin. After several union members resigned during the strike and chose to go back to work, the union attempted to fine them. The NLRB declared that this was an unfair practice inconsistent with the law, a decision with which the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court agreed.

"The National War Labor Board was created as part of the war machinery of the country and it is passing out of existence as the need for war machinery is passing. Its existence has covered a term of barely 13 months, only one-half of which was a period of active hostilities. The War Labor Board served as a means of adjusting labor disputes without stopping production of things essential to the...

Addressing foreign labor leaders, President Richard Nixon said, "You have all heard of the American Revolution, of Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln, and many get the impression that it sprang full blown with a free trade union movement and all the other institutions that we now have in this country.

However, any student of American history knows that is not the case. There was no...

In a speech before a potentially hostile audience, President Ronald Reagan highlighted the similarities between himself and his unionized listeners. "Some people would have forgotten-except your president very graciously reminded you—that I am the first man to attain this high office who was formerly president of an AF of L-CIO union."

A photo of the author of Wagner Labor Act, Senator Robert E. Wagner, with the Act's administrator, NLRB Chairman J. Warren Madden, during a hearing before the Senate Judicial Subcommittee on January 27, 1938.

This document presents a speech by the initiator of the National Labor Relations Act. According to Senator Wagner, his bill "merely provides that employees, if they desire to do so, shall be free to organize for their mutual protection or benefit."

Over the decades, the Board has revised its rules periodically, looking for ways to achieve a broadly-shared goal: making the representation process work as well as possible.

"Mr. Chairman, Members of the House Committee on Education and Labor, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Bradley W. Kampas. I have actively participated in collective bargaining and labor contract administration for over 25 years. My experience includes negotiations on behalf of educational institutions, and I have negotiated in many first contract settings. While...

"My name is Clyde Summers, and I am Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law school. I have been asked to come here today by Chairman Boehner.

My limited purpose today is to provide some background on the Labor-Management Reporting Act of 1959, more commonly known as the Landrum-Griffin Act. I want to focus particularly on the fundamental premises and purposes of the...

"The Indiana State Building and Construction Trades Council and the Central Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council appreciate the opportunity to appear before this Subcommittee and express their views on one of the lawful, peaceful and effective means of Union organizing called 'salting.' This Union organizing tool is a highly successful method for labor unions to communicate with...

"The NLRB is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector. The statute guarantees the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, and to engage in other protected concerted activity with or without a...

"The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce. Nothing contained in the antitrust laws shall be construed to forbid the existence and operation of labor, agricultural, or horticultural organizations, instituted for the purposes of mutual help, and not having capital stock or conducted for profit, or to forbid or restrain individual members of such organizations from...

In the early 1940s, Congressman Howard Smith pursued a variety of hearings on the issue of the National Labor Relations Board. This article from TIME Magazine depicts some of the sentiments over the hearings and the labor industry at that time.

"To revise, codify, and enact without substantive change certain general and permanent laws, related to public buildings, property, and works, as title 40, United States Code, 'Public Buildings, Property, and Works'."

According to the U.S. Justice Department, the Hobbs Act "prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce. Section 1951 also proscribes conspiracy to commit robbery or extortion without reference to the conspiracy statute at 18 U.S.C. § 371....

A precursor to the National Labor Relations Act, the Railway Labor Act sought "to avoid any interruption of interstate commerce by providing for the prompt disposition of disputes between carriers and their employees." It also "protects the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively."

"AN ACT To provide conditions for the purchase of supplies and the making of contracts by the United States, and for other purposes."

According to this Supreme Court decision, "The Hobbs Act, which makes it a federal crime to obstruct interstate commerce by robbery or extortion, does not reach the use of violence (which is readily punishable under state law) to achieve legitimate union objectives, such as higher wages in return for genuine services that the employer seeks."

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