On February 27, 1939, the Supreme Court rules 6-2 in NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corporation that workers who engage in sit-down strikes—occupying employer property—lose the protections of the National Labor Relations Act and can be lawfully discharged even when the employer has committed unfair …
Supreme Court of the United StatesNational Labor Relations BoardFansteel Metallurgical Corporationorganized laborcorporate employerslabor-rightssupreme-courtsit-down-strikeswagner-actunion-rights
The “Little Steel” strike begins on May 26, 1937, when 75,000 steelworkers walk off their jobs at Republic Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, and Inland Steel after these companies refuse to sign contracts with the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) despite the …
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On April 12, 1937, the Supreme Court rules 5-4 in NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation to uphold the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), reversing years of judicial hostility to federal labor regulation and fundamentally expanding Congress’s commerce …
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The La Follette Civil Liberties Committee exposes and names the “Mohawk Valley Formula” in 1936-1937, documenting a systematic corporate strategy for breaking strikes and defeating union organizing campaigns that James Rand Jr., president of Remington Rand, developed during the 1936 …
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act, known as the Wagner Act after sponsor Senator Robert Wagner (D-NY), establishing federal legal protection for workers’ rights to organize unions, engage in collective bargaining, and strike without employer retaliation. …
Franklin D. RooseveltRobert WagnerU.S. CongressNational Labor Relations BoardAmerican workerslabor-rightswagner-actnlranew-dealcollective-bargaining+1 more