Presidents and Labor: Harry Truman and the Taft-Hartley Act
The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 is better known as the Taft–Hartley Act. It is a federal law that restricts the activities and power of labor unions. The act is still in force today. It was sponsored by Senator Robert A. Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr., and it became law on June 23, 1947 in spite of President Harry S. Truman's veto. It was despised by labor leaders who called it the "slave-labor bill". Truman said that it was a "dangerous intrusion on free speech" that would "conflict with important principles of our democratic society." However once the law was passed, Truman subsequently used it twelve times during his presidency.
This bill was one of more than 250 union-related bills that were in various stages in both houses of Congress in 1947. After World War II ended, 25 percent of the workforce was unionized. Approcximately 14.8 million workers had union contracts, and after the war, their promise not to strike so as not to impede the war effort was no longer a consideration. In the year that followed the Japanese surrender, more than five million American workers were involved in strikes, which lasted longer than those during the war. The Taft–Hartley Act was seen as a means of controlling the labor movement by imposing limits on labor's ability to strike and by prohibiting radicals from taking leadership positions in unions. The law was promoted by large business lobbies including the National Association of Manufacturers.
Effects of the act
Previously, the National Labor Relations Act was in effect, and its stated purpose was to "promote the full flow of commerce, to prescribe the legitimate rights of both employees and employers in their relations affecting commerce, to provide orderly and peaceful procedures for preventing the interference by either with the legitimate rights of the other, to protect the rights of individual employees in their relations with labor organizations whose activities affect commerce, to define and proscribe practices on the part of labor and management which affect commerce and are inimical to the general welfare, and to protect the rights of the public in connection with labor disputes affecting commerce." Taft–Hartley added a list of prohibited activities, known as unfair labor practices, on the part of unions. The Act prohibited jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes, solidarity or political strikes, secondary boycotts, secondary and mass picketing, closed shops, and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns. It also required union officers to sign non-communist affidavits with the government. States were allowed to pass right-to-work laws and the President could obtain strike-breaking injunctions if he was of the opinion that an impending or current strike imperiled the national health or safety.
Closed shops were bargaining agreements that required an employer to hire only labor union members. The amendments also authorized individual states to outlaw union security clauses entirely in their jurisdictions by passing right-to-work laws. A right-to-work law prevented unions from negotiating contracts or legally binding documents requiring companies to fire workers who refuse to join the union. The amendments required unions and employers to give 80 days' notice to each other and to certain state and federal mediation bodies before they could go on strike or take other forms of job action. The Act also authorized the President to intervene in strikes or potential strikes that create a national emergency, a reaction to the national coal miners' strikes called by the United Mine Workers of America in the 1940s. The Act also prohibited federal employees from striking.
The amendments required union leaders to file affidavits with the Department of Labor declaring that they were not supporters of the Communist Party and had no relationship with any organization seeking the "overthrow of the United States government by force or by any illegal or unconstitutional means". Just over a year after Taft–Hartley passed, 81,000 union officers from nearly 120 unions had filed the required affidavits. In 1965, The Supreme Court held this provision to be unconstitutional.
Taft-Harley also prevented from participation in union activities allowed employers to terminate supervisors engaging in union activities or those not supporting the employer's stance. The Act reversed existing law and now allowed employers to deliver anti-union messages in the workplace. This confirmed an earlier Supreme Court ruling that employers have a constitutional right to express their opposition to unions, so long as they did not threaten employees with reprisals for their union activities nor offer any incentives to employees as an alternative to belonging to the union.
After considering the matter for several days, Truman vetoed Taft–Hartley with a strong message to Congress. Truman had expressed no opinion on the bill prior to his veto message. The bill had passed both houses with strong bipartisan support. A clear majority of House Democrats voted for the bill, while Democrats in the Senate split evenly, 21–21. Despite Truman's efforts to stop a veto override, Congress overrode his veto with considerable Democratic support, including 106 out of 177 Democrats in the House, and 20 out of 42 Democrats in the Senate.
Union leaders in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) campaigned for Truman in the 1948 election based upon Truman's promise to repeal Taft–Hartley. Truman never kept that promise. He won a surprise victory in the election, but a union-backed effort in Ohio to defeat Robert Taft in 1950 failed.
This bill was one of more than 250 union-related bills that were in various stages in both houses of Congress in 1947. After World War II ended, 25 percent of the workforce was unionized. Approcximately 14.8 million workers had union contracts, and after the war, their promise not to strike so as not to impede the war effort was no longer a consideration. In the year that followed the Japanese surrender, more than five million American workers were involved in strikes, which lasted longer than those during the war. The Taft–Hartley Act was seen as a means of controlling the labor movement by imposing limits on labor's ability to strike and by prohibiting radicals from taking leadership positions in unions. The law was promoted by large business lobbies including the National Association of Manufacturers.
Effects of the act
Previously, the National Labor Relations Act was in effect, and its stated purpose was to "promote the full flow of commerce, to prescribe the legitimate rights of both employees and employers in their relations affecting commerce, to provide orderly and peaceful procedures for preventing the interference by either with the legitimate rights of the other, to protect the rights of individual employees in their relations with labor organizations whose activities affect commerce, to define and proscribe practices on the part of labor and management which affect commerce and are inimical to the general welfare, and to protect the rights of the public in connection with labor disputes affecting commerce." Taft–Hartley added a list of prohibited activities, known as unfair labor practices, on the part of unions. The Act prohibited jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes, solidarity or political strikes, secondary boycotts, secondary and mass picketing, closed shops, and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns. It also required union officers to sign non-communist affidavits with the government. States were allowed to pass right-to-work laws and the President could obtain strike-breaking injunctions if he was of the opinion that an impending or current strike imperiled the national health or safety.
Closed shops were bargaining agreements that required an employer to hire only labor union members. The amendments also authorized individual states to outlaw union security clauses entirely in their jurisdictions by passing right-to-work laws. A right-to-work law prevented unions from negotiating contracts or legally binding documents requiring companies to fire workers who refuse to join the union. The amendments required unions and employers to give 80 days' notice to each other and to certain state and federal mediation bodies before they could go on strike or take other forms of job action. The Act also authorized the President to intervene in strikes or potential strikes that create a national emergency, a reaction to the national coal miners' strikes called by the United Mine Workers of America in the 1940s. The Act also prohibited federal employees from striking.
The amendments required union leaders to file affidavits with the Department of Labor declaring that they were not supporters of the Communist Party and had no relationship with any organization seeking the "overthrow of the United States government by force or by any illegal or unconstitutional means". Just over a year after Taft–Hartley passed, 81,000 union officers from nearly 120 unions had filed the required affidavits. In 1965, The Supreme Court held this provision to be unconstitutional.
Taft-Harley also prevented from participation in union activities allowed employers to terminate supervisors engaging in union activities or those not supporting the employer's stance. The Act reversed existing law and now allowed employers to deliver anti-union messages in the workplace. This confirmed an earlier Supreme Court ruling that employers have a constitutional right to express their opposition to unions, so long as they did not threaten employees with reprisals for their union activities nor offer any incentives to employees as an alternative to belonging to the union.
After considering the matter for several days, Truman vetoed Taft–Hartley with a strong message to Congress. Truman had expressed no opinion on the bill prior to his veto message. The bill had passed both houses with strong bipartisan support. A clear majority of House Democrats voted for the bill, while Democrats in the Senate split evenly, 21–21. Despite Truman's efforts to stop a veto override, Congress overrode his veto with considerable Democratic support, including 106 out of 177 Democrats in the House, and 20 out of 42 Democrats in the Senate.
Union leaders in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) campaigned for Truman in the 1948 election based upon Truman's promise to repeal Taft–Hartley. Truman never kept that promise. He won a surprise victory in the election, but a union-backed effort in Ohio to defeat Robert Taft in 1950 failed.