National War Labor Board Established, No-Strike Pledge Constrains Unions

President Roosevelt establishes the National War Labor Board (NWLB) by executive order on January 12, 1942, creating a tripartite body of labor, industry, and public representatives to arbitrate wartime labor disputes. In exchange for labor’s “no-strike pledge” for the duration of the war, the board gains power to set wages, working conditions, and resolve disputes, but the arrangement ultimately favors employers by freezing wages while corporate profits soar.

The NWLB’s “Little Steel Formula,” adopted in July 1942, allows wage increases of only 15 percent above January 1941 levels to match cost of living increases. While wages are frozen, corporate profits reach record levels. Corporate profits after taxes more than double between 1939 and 1943, from $6.4 billion to $15 billion. Workers see their real purchasing power decline as inflation outpaces permitted wage increases.

The no-strike pledge, though voluntary, is enforced through intense patriotic pressure and government coercion. Unions that defy the pledge face loss of War Labor Board protections and public condemnation. Despite this, wildcat strikes proliferate as rank-and-file workers chafe under deteriorating conditions. In 1943 alone, over two million workers participate in work stoppages despite union leadership’s opposition.

The NWLB introduces “maintenance of membership” provisions requiring workers in unionized shops to remain union members for the contract’s duration, expanding union rolls. However, this bureaucratizes unions, making them dependent on automatic dues collection rather than active organizing. Union membership grows from 10.5 million in 1941 to nearly 15 million by 1945, but the character of unions changes.

The wartime arrangement establishes patterns that persist after the war. Unions become more centralized, less militant, and more dependent on government processes. The exchange of strike rights for formal recognition creates a template for business unionism that emphasizes stability over worker power. When Taft-Hartley passes in 1947, it exploits labor’s institutional weakness developed during wartime, restricting the very tools that made unions powerful in the first place.