National Labor Relations Act

Guided at every stage by Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935—also called the Wagner Act—sought to extend democracy in America to the workplace. By legal right enforced by the courts and government mechanisms, workers were now guaranteed the right to group together in organizations of their choice to bargain with employers on issues of wages and conditions, and employers were prevented from what were called “unfair practices” in resisting the right of workers to organize themselves. More important, wages and conditions improved dramatically as deals were struck between the representatives of the workers and their employers. Within a very few years, labor unions came to represent the majority of mass-production workers, where previously they had been all but nonexistent. Remarkably, the act’s passage through Congress and into law provoked few contrary votes. At a stroke, industrial relations between workers and employers were transformed.