Employer tactics used to prevent or minimize union membership growth
Discuss some employer tactics used to prevent or minimize union membership growth prior to the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. Which, if any, of these tactics would be lawful today? Why, or why not? Examine the challenges for unions and employers in the modern workplace.
Sample Solution
Employer tactics used to prevent or minimize union membership growth
Labor unions are groups of workers who have come together to fight and protect their common interests. The struggle of workers in 18th and 19th century America to improve their working conditions led to the beginning of a national labor policy. Employers used some tactics to prevent or minimize union membership growth prior to the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. This tactics include: establishing picket lines where the strikebreakers enter the workplace; discouraging strike breakers from taking or keeping strikebreaking jobs; raising the cost of hiring strikebreakers for the company; and employing public relations tactics. The NLRA was a major turning point in American labor history because it was supposed to put the power of government behind the right of workers to organize unions and bargain collectively with their employers about wages, hours, and working conditions.
