Taft-Hartley Act

Labor Watch
Republicans and Big Labor: GOP-Union Outreach Before Franklin Roosevelt
A review of the history shows that Republican political figures chasing the votes of working men and women have repeatedly sought to collaborate with union bosses who claim to speak…
by Michael Watson on April 23, 2025

Labor Watch
Republicans and Big Labor: Wagner and Taft-Hartley
After the war, unions flexed their NLRA-supercharged muscles with the largest strike wave in American history, which worsened inflation caused by military demobilization. That economic disruption swept the Republicans into…
by Michael Watson on April 23, 2025

Labor Watch
Republicans and Big Labor: The Two Minds of Tricky Dick
Richard Nixon had voted for Taft-Hartley in Congress, but opposed efforts to establish a national right-to-work law. After his decisive but narrow victory, President Nixon pursued a middle path on…
by Michael Watson on April 23, 2025

Labor Watch
Republicans and Big Labor: Reagan-Bush and Beyond
Running away from Big Labor, most prominently by Ronald Reagan’s Transportation Department sacking illegally striking PATCO air traffic controllers in 1981, did not harm the GOP.
by Michael Watson on April 23, 2025

Labor Watch
Who Is Big Labor, Anyway?
There are three persistent, widespread myths about union members. First, many believe that organized labor speaks for wage- and salary-earners as a class based on overwhelming membership. Second, many believe…
by Michael Watson on February 3, 2025

Labor Watch
Port Strike Halts: Now What?
The port strike has ended with a tentative wage agreement and disputes over automation and fees punted to next year. The wage agreement was the easy part. On January 15,…
by Michael Watson on October 8, 2024

Labor Watch
What You Need to Know About the Port Strike
Starting early this morning, port workers on the East Coast represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) labor union walked out on strike, halting operations at 36 ports from Texas…
by Michael Watson on October 1, 2024

Special Report
The Cases Against Sectoral Bargaining: Sectoral Bargaining
Leftists and their fellow travelers on the ostensible right like Oren Cass and his American Compass think tank look to Europe for their ideal of labor relations: “sectoral bargaining.” For…
by Michael Watson on August 8, 2024

Special Report
The Cases Against Sectoral Bargaining: The Practical Case
The reforms made by the Taft-Hartley Act advanced three pillars that would come to define the Republican and conservative approaches to labor-management relations. Sectoral bargaining explicitly opposes two of the…
by Michael Watson on August 8, 2024

Special Report
The Cases Against Sectoral Bargaining: The Political and Advocacy Case
Organized labor in the United States serves as a functional adjunct to the Democratic Party and the left-wing advocacy movement. Expanding the power of union commissars by adopting sectoral bargaining…
by Michael Watson on August 8, 2024