Constitutional and Legal Framework of Industrial Relations

As soon as the Wagner Act was adopted, employers` groups launched a campaign against it. The National Association of Manufacturers condemned the new law as unconstitutional, and in September 1935 the American Liberty League issued a lengthy letter arguing against the constitutionality of the law and advising employers to disregard it. Employers had ample reason to doubt the constitutionality of the Wagner Act. From the Liberty League to the 1936 presidential election, the Supreme Court declared much of President Franklin Roosevelt`s innovative New Deal economic legislation unconstitutional. Federal courts have issued nearly 100 injunctions against the application of the law, and the council has been virtually paralyzed until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the law. In November 1936, Roosevelt was re-elected by a landslide victory, and a few months later he unveiled his « judicial packaging plan » and complained about the « nine old men » on the Supreme Court who had blocked his New Deal plans. In the crucial Jones and Laughlin case of 1937, the Supreme Court saved the law in a 5-4 decision that upheld its constitutionality. The court upheld Congress` power to regulate employers whose operations involve interstate commerce, even if they were not directly engaged in the trade. The court noted the effects of the 1919 steel strike as an example of how a labor dispute in manufacturing can impede the movement of goods in interstate commerce.

It`s absolutely awesome! Really good insight. Employee feedback form.