Broken Promise: The Subversion Of U.S. Labor RelationsThe Wagner Act of 1935 (later the Wagner-Taft-Hartley Act of 1947) was intended to democratize vast numbers of American workplaces: the federal government was to encourage worker organization and the substitution of collective bargaining for employers' unilateral determination of vital work-place matters. Yet this system of industrial democracy was never realized; the promise was "broken." In this rare inside look at the process of government regulation over the last forty-five years, James A. Gross analyzes why the promise of the policy was never fulfilled. Gross looks at how the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) policy-making has been influenced by the President, the Congress, the Supreme Court, public opinion, resistance by organized employers, the political and economic strategies of organized labor, and the ideological dispositions of NLRB appointees. This book provides the historical perspective needed for a reevaluation of national labor policy. It delineates where we are now, how we got here, and what fundamental questions must be addressed if policy-makers are to make changes consistent with the underlying principles of democracy. |
Contents
A Fundamental Change in Labor Policy or Merely Adjustments to Eliminate Abuses? | 1 |
2 Political Maneuvering to Control a New Law a New Board and a New Labor Czar | 15 |
3 Improper Influences | 26 |
A Tale of Missed Opportunities | 42 |
5 TaftHurley Was Here to Stay | 58 |
A Misguided Process | 72 |
7 The Eisenhower Board Remakes Labor Policy | 92 |
8 Labor Law Reform Employer Style | 122 |
A Commitment to Industrial Democracy | 146 |