The Norris–La Guardia Act (also known as the Anti-Injunction Bill) is a 1932
United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as ...
relating to
United States labor law
United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the United States. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "org ...
. It banned
yellow-dog contract
A yellow-dog contract (a yellow-dog clause of a contract, also known as an ironclad oath) is an agreement between an employer and an employee in which the employee agrees, as a condition of employment, not to be a member of a labor union. In the ...
s, barred the
federal courts from issuing
injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in p ...
s against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joining
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s. The common title comes from the names of the sponsors of the legislation:
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
George W. Norris
George William Norris (July 11, 1861September 2, 1944) was an American politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. He served five terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican, from 1903 until ...
of
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
and
Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia
Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City fr ...
of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, both
Republicans.
History
In the 1917
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case ''Hitchman Coal & Coke Co. v. Mitchell''
245 U.S. 229 (1917) the court established the Hitchman doctrine, which held that yellow-dog contracts were enforceable. In the aftermath of that case, the number of judicial injunctions against labor increased substantially, and organizing a union without the employer's consent became extremely difficult.
The law is formally the Act of March 23, 1932 (Ch. 90, ). It is currently
codified at , starting at et. seq.
Overview
The Act states that
yellow-dog contract
A yellow-dog contract (a yellow-dog clause of a contract, also known as an ironclad oath) is an agreement between an employer and an employee in which the employee agrees, as a condition of employment, not to be a member of a labor union. In the ...
s, where workers agree as a condition of employment not to join a
labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...
, are unenforceable in federal court. It also establishes that employees are free to form unions without employer interference and prevents the
federal courts from issuing
injunctions
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
in nonviolent labor disputes. The three provisions include protecting worker's self-organization and liberty or "collective bargaining", removing jurisdiction from federal courts vis-a-vis the issuance of injunctions in non-violent labor disputes, and outlawing the "yellow-dog" contract.
Section 13A of the act was fully applied by the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
with a 1938 decision, ''
New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.'', in an opinion authored by
Justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
Owen Roberts
Owen Josephus Roberts (May 2, 1875 – May 17, 1955) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1930 to 1945. He also led two Roberts Commissions, the first of which investigated the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the sec ...
. The Court held that the act meant to prohibit employers from proscribing the peaceful dissemination of information concerning the ''terms and conditions of employment'' by those involved in an active labor dispute, even when such dissemination occurs on an employer's private property.
In popular culture
The
Living Theater
The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/po ...
play ''Injunction Granted'' features a scene in which a judge grants injunctions against many trade unions. There follows a scene in which the Norris - La Guardia Act is passed.
Injunction granted: play script
scenes 20 and 21.
See also
* United States labor law
United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the United States. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "org ...
Notes
External links
Norris-LaGuardia Act from The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers
PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
)
New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.
* Paul F. Kelly
''The Norris-LaGuardia Act: The LMRA's Older Cousin''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris-La Guardia Act
1932 in American law
72nd United States Congress
United States federal labor legislation
United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes