Labor Law
Labor laws were intended to balance the bargaining power between employees and employers. It gives employees the right to unionize. It also allows employees and employers to participate in certain activities for the fulfillment of their demands, such as the following:
• Picketing
• Lockouts
• Grievances
• Strikes
• On-the-job protests
• Seeking injunctions
The labor law is administered by the federal law, state law, decisions and regulations of administrative agencies, and judicial decisions.
Difference of Labor Law from Employment Law
Labor laws were intended to primarily deal with employer-union relationships while employment laws normally deal with employer-employee relationships. Most often, these terms are used interchangeably.
The National Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Act or NLRA, also known as the Wagner Act, was enacted by the United States Congress in July 1935 to regulate the labor-management relationships of business firms that are engaged in interstate commerce and to regulate on a national level union relationship and employer-employee bargaining.
The NLRA ensures the employees' rights to organize, form, join unions, and bargain together as a group with their employers without fear of management retaliation. It also guarantees them that they have the freedom to choose, whether to belong to a union or not. It compels the U.S. government to promote and encourage collective bargaining as the major way of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other protection. It is also an important method to insure peaceful industry-labor relationships.
Employers and employees who are regulated by the act are mostly those involved in businesses that affect the interstate commerce. Those that are not subject to the NLRA, their relationships may be administered by state or other federal statutes.
History of the National Labor Relations Act
The NLRA that regulates labor-management relationships was enacted in 1935, but before the enactment of the NLRA, workers already had the right to belong to trade unions and to hold back their work during industrial disputes. However, employers also had the right to keep under surveillance, cross-examine, fire, and blacklist workers for joining unions or taking part in strikes.
During the 1930's, workers began to organize militantly in large numbers, but since they were experiencing economic tough times where it was harder for a worker to find other jobs than it was for an employer to employ another worker, employees hesitated to belong to trade unions, thus, only 10% of the workforce of America was unionized in 1933.
Senator Robert F. Wagner, with the support of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, passed a bill before Congress in 1933 that would help forbid employer's unfair labor practices, that eventually became known as the National Labor Relations Act (NRLA) or the Wagner Act.
A great strike happened in 1934 and 1935 that included citywide general strikes and factory takeovers by workers. Workers were trying to form trade unions and the private security forces and the police were defending the welfare of the anti-union employers, resulting in vicious arguments. Some historians believed that the Congress enacted the NLRA because of the violence that has occurred, hoping that this would help prevent a greater, possible, revolutionary labor unrest.
The National Labor Relations Act was enacted by the Congress on July 5, 1935 and is now known after many years as the Magna Carta of American Labor.
Unfair Labor Practices
The NLRA forbids unions and employers from engaging in particular "unfair labor practices". It also creates a duty of both parties to engage in peaceful collective bargaining and also creates regulations and guidelines to know what union will stand for a particular group of employees.
Los Angeles Labor Law Attorneys
Laws like these were created to protect the rights of people but still, there are some who violates the law. If you are one of those people whose rights have been violated by unfair labor practices or acts against labor laws and you are living in Los Angeles, experienced attorneys are the ones who can help you. They will support you in your case, every step of the way.
Our expert Los Angeles attorneys can handle labor law violations and related issues. Visit our website at http://www.expertlosangelesattorney.com/ and avail of our free case analysis.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Kamille Pagibigan
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