Editing Norris–La Guardia Act

{{short description|U.S. federal labor law}}
[[Image:NorrisLaGuardia.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[United States Senate|Senator]] [[George W. Norris]] of [[Nebraska]] and [[United States House of Representatives|Representative]] [[Fiorello H. La Guardia]] of [[New York (state)|New York]], both [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]], were the chief sponsors of the Act]]

The '''Norris–La Guardia Act''' (also known as the '''Anti-Injunction Bill''') is a 1932 [[United States federal law]] relating to [[United States labor law]].<ref>Michael Evan Gold, ''An Introduction to Labor Law'' ([[Cornell University Press]], 1998), {{ISBN|9780801484773}}, p. 4. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ny5Gv2wr3_MC&dq=norris-laguardia+act+1932&pg=PA4 Excerpts available] at [[Google Books]]. ("The modern law of labor relations begins with the Norris–La Guardia Act of 1932, which is still in force today.")</ref> It banned [[yellow-dog contract]]s, barred the [[United States federal courts|federal courts]] from issuing [[injunction]]s against nonviolent labor disputes, and created a positive right of noninterference by employers against workers joining [[trade union]]s. The common title comes from the names of the sponsors of the legislation: [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[George W. Norris]] of [[Nebraska]] and [[United States House of Representatives|Representative]] [[Fiorello H. La Guardia]] of [[New York (state)|New York]], both [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]].

==History==
The Supreme Court held in [[Coppage v. Kansas|''Coppage v. Kansas'']] (1915) that yellow-dog contracts were enforceable. In the aftermath of that case, the number of judicial injunctions against labor increased substantially, and organizing a union without the employer's consent became extremely difficult.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=David M.|title=Freedom From Fear|url=https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn|url-access=registration|date=1999|publisher=Oxford University press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn/page/26 26-27]|isbn=978-0-19-503834-7 }}</ref>

The law is formally the Act of March 23, 1932 (Ch. 90, {{USStat|47|70}}). It is currently [[codification (law)|codified]] at {{Usc-title-chap|29|6}}, starting at {{USC|29|101}} et. seq.

== Overview ==
The Act states that [[yellow-dog contract]]s, where workers agree as a condition of employment not to join a [[trade union|labor union]], are unenforceable in federal court. It also establishes that employees are free to form unions without employer interference and prevents the [[United States federal courts|federal courts]] from issuing [[injunctions]] in nonviolent labor disputes. The three provisions include protecting worker's self-organization and liberty or "collective bargaining", removing jurisdiction from federal courts vis-a-vis the issuance of injunctions in non-violent labor disputes, and outlawing the "yellow-dog" contract.

Section 13A of the act was fully applied by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] with a 1938 decision, ''[[New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.]]'', in an opinion authored by [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Justice]] [[Owen Roberts]]. The Court held that the act meant to prohibit employers from proscribing the peaceful dissemination of information concerning the ''terms and conditions of employment'' by those involved in an active labor dispute, even when such dissemination occurs on an employer's private property.

== In popular culture ==
The [[Living Theater]] play ''Injunction Granted'' features a scene in which a judge grants injunctions against many trade unions. There follows a scene in which the Norris - La Guardia Act is passed.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120717013316/http://www.aladin0.wrlc.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-01000-00---off-0ftpp--00-1--0-10-0---0---0prompt-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-home---01-3-1-00-0-0-11-0-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=ftpp&cl=CL8.2&d=HASH2ece9cbea25f45122eb94a Injunction granted: play script], scenes 20 and 21.</ref>

==See also==
* [[United States labor law]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/chapter-6 As codified in 29 U.S.C. chapter 6] of the [[United States Code]] from [[Legal Information Institute|LII]]
* [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title29/chapter6&edition=prelim As codified in 29 U.S.C. chapter 6] of the [[United States Code]] from the [[United States House of Representatives|US House of Representatives]]
* [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-5312/uslm/COMPS-5312.xml Norris-LaGuardia Act] as amended ([https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-5312/pdf/COMPS-5312.pdf PDF]/[https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/COMPS-5312/ details]) in the [[United States Government Publishing Office|GPO]] [https://www.govinfo.gov/help/comps Statute Compilations collection]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=303&invol=552 New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.]
* Paul F. Kelly, [http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/labor_law/meetings/2011/ac2011/072.authcheckdam.pdf ''The Norris-LaGuardia Act: The LMRA's Older Cousin'']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris-La Guardia Act}}
[[Category:1932 in American law]]
[[Category:72nd United States Congress]]
[[Category:United States federal labor legislation]]
[[Category:United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes]]
[[Category:Fiorello La Guardia]]