1. What
1.
role has the US Government been playing in labor relations?
The US Government has played numerous roles in labor relations. Based on the view point
of the individual that is; if they’re an employer or employee they might consider the US
Government involvement to be both good and bad for them at different points in history.
Federal Labor Relations Authority. Provides leadership in establishing policies and
guidance related to federal-sector labor management issues such as the resolution of
disputes and ensuring compliance with the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations
Statute.Their mission is to promote stable, constructive labor-management relations
through the resolution and prevention of labor disputes in a manner that gives full effect to
the collective-bargaining rights of employees, unions, and agencies.
The US legal system and US labor law emerged at the same time in the last 200 years.
Labor laws protected workers union activity, it prevented employers from intimidating
unions this was all achieved by congress enacting acts to protect union efforts. This was
somonething that was unheard of before this time.
A few of the acts that were enacted are as follows:
In 1890 congress passed the Sherman act to to outlaw monopolies
The norris act was enacted in 1932. This act seeks to protect unionization efforts by
limiting the jurisdiction and authority of the courts This Act forbids federal courts from
issuing injunctions that interferes with strikes etc.This act tries to remove courts from labor
relations.
With extreme unemployment in 1933 we saw the first prelude, the National Industrial
Recovery Act came on stream during the new deal of president Roosevelt. This Act sort to
encourage collective bargaining through representation of workers unions
Following this we saw the second prelude in thw form of The Railway LABOR act.
The National Industrial Recovery Act was ruled unconstitutional. This birthed the Wagner
Act or National Labor Relations Act. this bill was signed into law by President Franklin
Roosevelt on July 5, 1935. It established the National Labor Relations Board and addressed
relations between unions and employers in the private sector.The Wagner act specified five
types of illegal employer actions, these actions were called Unfair Labor Practices and they
are as follows
∙ Labor is more than a commodity.
∙ Labor and management are not economic or legal equals (in other words, there is an
imbalance of bargaining power).
∙ There is at least some conflict of interest between workers and employers that cannot be
resolved by unitarist management policies, but this is pluralist employment relationship
conflict, not class-based or societal conflict.
∙ Employee voice is important
2. Is
the government on the side of labor or management? Discuss.
2.
our government has not always embraced and supported unionization. It is a fact that for
numerous years during the commencement of the labor movement the government was
opposed to unions.During the late 19th to early 20th century, the general public was against
the labor movement and favored the government's reaction toward it. The labor movement
usually brought violence and anger, which led the government to use force against the
Unions which often instigated the violence.
There has now been a shift in the way government operates when we speak of unions this
has led to the enactment of many acts that now favor the empolyees and unions rather than
what obtained previously that favoured the employees .