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 Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...

relating to

United States labor law United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the US. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "organized in ...

. It banned yellow-dog contracts, barred the federal courts from issuing

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

s against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joining

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

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 Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

George W. Norris of

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

and Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, both Republicans.

History

The Supreme Court held in ''Coppage v. Kansas'' (1915) 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 contracts, where workers agree as a condition of employment not to join a

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, 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 an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

with a 1938 decision, '' New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.'', in an opinion authored by

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Owen Roberts. 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 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.

Notes

External links

As codified in 29 U.S.C. chapter 6
of the

United States Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

from LII
As codified in 29 U.S.C. chapter 6
of the

from the

US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Norris-LaGuardia Act
as amended
PDFdetails
in the GPObr>Statute Compilations collection

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 needing infoboxes Fiorello La Guardia

History

Overview

In popular culture

See also

Notes

External links