LANDRUMGRIFFIN ACT OF 1959

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LANDRUM-GRIFFIN ACT OF 1959

• By C. Ryan Courson

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AGENDA

• History of the Landrum-Griffin Act
• Purpose of the Landrum-Griffin Act
• Provisions of Landrum-Griffin Act
• Criticism of the Landrum-Griffin Act
• Questions

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Labor History

• During World War I, government spending grew
  approximately three times larger than its tax
  collections sending the United States into a
  severe recession The Great Depression.
• The unemployment rate soared during the late
  1920s and early 1930s, peaking at nearly
  twenty-five percent in 1933.
• Workers had the right to be members of unions and
  withdraw their labor during industrial disputes,
  employers also had the right to dismiss employees
  because they had joined unions or had gone on
  strike.
• By 1933, only ten percent of Americas workforce
  was unionized.
• In In 1935, under the Roosevelt administration,
  Congress authorized the creation of the National
  Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to help promote and
  protect unionized labor in the United States.

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Wagner Act

• Congress passed the Wagner Act, which empowered
  the NLRB to regulate labor relations in
  industries engaged in or affecting interstate
  commerce and granted the following rights to
  workers
• Right to join labor unions
• Right to bargain collectively with employers with
  union representative of their choosing
• Right to strike.
• The Wagner Act also prohibited employers from
  engaging in unfair labor practices, such as
• Refusing employees to exercise their right to
  organize and bargain collectively
• Refusing to negotiate in good faith with union
  representatives
• Encouraging or discouraging union membership
  through any special conditions of employment or
  through discrimination against union or non-union
  members in hiring

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Taft-Hartley Act

• In 1947, Congress amended the Wagner Act with the
  Taft-Hartley Act to help balanced the power
  between unions and employers
• President was given the authority to appoint a
  board of inquiry to investigate disputes that he
  or she believes would endanger national health or
  security
• Adding to the list of prohibited employer
  practices covered under the Wagner Act, the
  Taft-Hartley Act included a list of prohibited
  labor practices, which included
• Secondary boycotts
• Sympathy Strikes or Boycotts
• Encouraging or discouraging union membership
  through any special conditions of employment or
  through discrimination against union or non-union
  members in hiring
• Jurisdictional Strikes and Boycotts
• Banned closed shop and union hiring halls that
  discriminated against non-union members and only
  allowed union shops in states that allowed them.
  

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Purpose of the Landrum-Griffin Act

• The Landrum-Griffin Act was passed in 1959 by the
  U.S. Congress to protect workers from corruption
  among union officials and employers.
• The Act came about as a the result of looting of
  union treasuries and the denials of fundamental
  rights of union workers, which led to Senate
  hearing to investigate unlawful and unethical
  practices among union leaders and employers.
• Senate hearing uncovered evidence of collusion
  between dishonest employers and union officials,
  the use of violence by certain segments of labor
  leadership, and the diversion and misuse of labor
  union funds by high-ranking officials
• The Landrum-Griffin was enacted to provided
  stronger governmental regulation of internal
  union affairs.

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Provisions of the Landrum-Griffin Act

• Full financial disclosure of union funds.
• Union workers bill of rights, which guaranteed
  freedom of speech and periodic secret elections.
• Former members of the Communist party and former
  convicts were prohibited from holding a union
  office for a period of five years after resigning
  their Communist party membership or being
  released from prison.
• Secondary boycotting and organizational and
  recognition picketing (i.e., picketing of
  companies where a rival union is already
  recognized) are severely restricted.
• States were given the authority to process cases
  that fall outside of the province of the NLRB

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Criticisms of the Landrum-Griffin Act

• Strengthening union reporting with requirements
  such as independent public accountants
  certification, generally accepted auditing
  standards, and generally accepted accounting
  principles.
• Expanded the Act to cover all unions. Currently,
  government employee unions are exempt.  Recent
  embezzlement scandals in both types of union
  organizations warrant an expansion in
  Landrum-Griffins coverage.
•         
• Term limits on union bosses. Limiting terms to
  three or five years would increase transparency
  in union records making embezzlement more
  difficult.

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Questions?